Starting position #916
Back-rank setup: RBBKRQNN
SP-916 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and e1, the queen on f1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 46.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 34 Morozov Balance Index: 34 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +31 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 622 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +41 → +14 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #46
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 119 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to c3 (b2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b4 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to c2 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a8 — Castling-960 · 1150
- Mate in 2: queen to g7 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: pawn to c6 (c5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c6 (d5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to c5 (e3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Winning blow: pawn to h8 (h7·9) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 5
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and e1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on f1, the knights on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine takes the centre with e4, and White's edge is +31 centipawns: e4 e5 c3 Ng6 Ng3 a6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.