Starting position #199
Back-rank setup: QNBRKNRB
SP-199 · 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 d1 and g1, the queen on a1.
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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 658.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 312 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): +39 → +12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #658
- 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 400 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (d5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (d5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (b4·20) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to c7 (d5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g6 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: rook to g6 (g1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: queen to d8 (d3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to d4 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to b7 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on g8 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 29
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. The queen begins in the corner on a1, a bishop in the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. Three second-rank squares are exposed: c2 with no defender at all, e2 and f2 with only the king. The second bishop is on c1, the knights on b1 and f1. The published line opens d4 d5, then g3 Ne6 Ne3 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.