Starting position #162
Back-rank setup: BNRNKBQR
SP-162 · ThroneGuard — King on a central file (d/e) with both knights on inner files — the classic-type setup.
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 h1, the queen on g1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 791.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 439 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 (41 half-moves): +27 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #791
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 834 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (b3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h4 (h1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to e7 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to b8 (g8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: queen to f7 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: queen to f1 (f2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: queen to e3 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: bishop to a6 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e5 (h2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on d6 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 29
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Commentary
The king begins on e1 and the queen far from him on g1, with castling ordinary in both directions. The corner bishop on a1 opens to h8 once the b-pawn moves; the second bishop is on f1. On the second rank, a2 has no defender at all. The rooks start on c1 and h1, the knights on b1 and d1. The engine's main line opens g3 b6, then Bg2 Bxg2 Qxg2 h5 — the bishops meet and the queen recaptures.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.