Starting position #179
Back-rank setup: BNRNKRQB
SP-179 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
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 g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
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 771.
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 78 Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 221 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 (60 half-moves): +31 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #771
- 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 273 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: bishop to c4 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to g5 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to g5 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g8 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: king to f2 (e1·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 2: knight to g7 (h5) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: bishop to c3 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to d4 (c3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to b8 (b1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 62
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Commentary
The rook already stands on f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. Among the pawns, a2 begins with no defender at all, and e2 has only the king. The queen is on g1, the knights on b1 and d1. The engine's line opens g4 g5, then Ndc3 e6, and Black castles long: O-O-O Ndc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.