Starting position #195
Back-rank setup: BQNRKNRB
SP-195 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
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 g1, 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 659.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 113 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 (70 half-moves): +24 → 0 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 49): +14 cp, 0 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #659
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 815 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c8 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (c5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (a4·26) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e5 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to d5 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to c4 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (e3·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: queen to f6 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to f8 (g8·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to b3 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 19
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. On the second rank, f2 has only the king to defend it. The queen stands on b1, the knights on c1 and f1. The line in the dataset opens b4 b5, then Ne3 Nb6 Nb3 h5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.