Starting position #163
Back-rank setup: BNRNKQRB
SP-163 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
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 g1, 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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 787.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Opening: main line
Stockfish's main line from the start of this setup, 15 moves deep (100 million nodes per move):
1. g4 g6 2. f4 Ndc6 3. e3 O-O-O 4. Nf2 b6 5. d4 f5 6. b4 Bb7 7. b5 Na5 8. Bxb7+ Nxb7 9. Nd2 d6 10. Qh3 Qf7
Evaluation after the line: 0.00 for White.
Best first moves for White (evaluation in pawns):
- g4 — +0.32
- e3 — +0.20
- b3 — +0.20
Balance
MBI 43 Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 553 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +30 → +52 → +43 → +11
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #787
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and g
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b7 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to b4 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to a6 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to d4 (e3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: knight to f6 (g4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (c7) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to a7 (a5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to e8 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f7 (f1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 60
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1. The pawns on a2 and h2 begin with no defender at all. The queen stands on f1 next to the king, the rooks on c1 and g1. The published line opens g4 g5, then e3 e6 d4 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.