Starting position #14
Back-rank setup: QNNRKBBR
SP-14 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither 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 h1, the queen on a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 948.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 119 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (66 half-moves): +33 → +7 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 54): +20 cp, +6 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #948
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 901 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a3 (b2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (d5·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to d5 (c4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to c6 (b5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f1 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: queen to b5 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: bishop to d7 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e7 (e1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: bishop to e7 — Chess960 specifics · 1760
This position appears in course day 9
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Commentary
The king begins on e1, exactly where the classical setup places it, but the queenside rook is already on d1 — so long castling moves the king alone. The queen is in the far corner on a1, and the two bishops stand together on f1 and g1, opening onto a6, h3, a7 and h2. The knights on b1 and c1 have a3, c3, b3 and d3 in front of them. On the second rank, c2 starts without a defender. The recorded line opens f3 d5, then d4 e6 b3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.