Starting position #194
Back-rank setup: BQNRKBNR
SP-194 · 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 b1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 663.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 92 Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 79 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 (70 half-moves): +12 → +18 → +24 → +3 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +12 cp, 0 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #663
- 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 246 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (a4·30) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to d8 (e6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to f8 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e2 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: rook to g8 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g6 (c2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: queen to f7 (h7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to d6 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on f5 (h5) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 76
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Commentary
The rook already stands on d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. The corner bishop on a1 opens to h8 once the b-pawn moves; the second bishop is on f1. Among the pawns, f2 is the one the king alone defends — exactly the square that carries this role in the classical setup. The queen is on b1, the knights on c1 and g1. The recorded line opens c4 c5, then e3 Nf6 b3 e6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.