Starting position #178
Back-rank setup: BNRNKBRQ
SP-178 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
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 h1.
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 775.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 353 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +43 → +54 → +16 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #775
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and g
- It becomes the daily position in 292 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c2 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f3 (g2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a6 (b5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h7 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to e2 (d1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (a5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: knight to d7 (c5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: knight to f7 (g5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Winning blow: knight to f3 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on h5 (g4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 43
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Commentary
The queen begins in the corner on h1, as far from the king on e1 as the rank allows. Castling is ordinary in both directions. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second is on f1. On the second rank, a2 has no defender at all. The main line of the run opens g4 g6, then h4 e6 Bg2 f5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.