Starting position #93
Back-rank setup: NNRBKRBQ
SP-93 · ThroneScout — Centre-file king, rim knight: 204 of the 960 positions share this pattern.
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 c1 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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 872.
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 11 Morozov Balance Index: 11 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +42 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 860 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +48 → +22 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #872
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 426 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b8 (b7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a3 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b7 (h1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to c7 (c8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to f7 (f8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: king to a3 (b4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (c3·20) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Castling-960 to the rescue on c1 (e1·3) — Castling-960 · 1620
- Mate in 3: queen to g7 (f8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on d7 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 45
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Commentary
The rook already stands on f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. The queen begins in the corner on h1 and the rooks are split wide, to c1 and f1. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move. The pawns on a2 and b2 begin with no defender at all. The line in the dataset opens f4 f5, then Nc3 Nc6 e4 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.