Starting position #203
Back-rank setup: QNRKBNRB
SP-203 · 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 d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on a1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 657.
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 10 Morozov Balance Index: 10 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +43 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 873 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (44 half-moves): +32 → +8 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #657
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 140 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d4 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to b7 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h5 (g4·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f2 (e2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (a1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to c1 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: queen to a3 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on e1 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 91
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. The queen begins in the corner on a1, a bishop in the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. Among the pawns, e2 leans on the king alone. The second bishop is on e1, the knights on b1 and f1. The engine's line opens d4 g5, then e3 d5 a4 a5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.