Starting position #92
Back-rank setup: NBNRKRBQ
SP-92 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and f1, the queen on h1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 876.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 145 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +15 → +16 → +11 → +75 → +66
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +17 cp, +2 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #876
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 229 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g2 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g3 (h2·19) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to b4 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to f7 (f6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c6 (g2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: rook to e2 (g2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (a7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: rook to f7 (f1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Chess960 tactic on d6 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 48
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Commentary
Both rooks already stand on d1 and f1, so from e1 the king castles alone in either direction. The queen begins in the corner on h1, a knight in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move. The bishops occupy b1 and g1 at opposite ends of the rank. On the second rank, b2 begins with no defender. The recorded line opens f4 c6, then c3 Nd6 Nd3, and Black castles long: O-O-O.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.