Starting position #204
Back-rank setup: QBNRKNBR
SP-204 · ThroneGuard — King on a central file (d/e) with both knights on inner files — the classic-type setup.
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 a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 668.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 93 Morozov Balance Index: 93 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: 0 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 71 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 46.0% (95% CI 33.0–59.6%).
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +12 → +4 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (4 000 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +9 cp, +9 cp against the base run — verified
- Sign verdict: even — within engine noise
- Self-play v2: 100 games at 1 000 000 nodes per move — White scored 47.5% (95% CI 38.0–57.2%)
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #668
- 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 1123 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f3 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f6 (e5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d3 (b1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f2 (g1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to c1 (h1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (a2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Castling-960 to the rescue on h8 (e8) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e6 (d5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (e4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (e3·26) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 91
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Commentary
The engine reads this starting position as exactly level — no edge at all on move one. The rook already stands on d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. The pawn on g2 begins with no defender at all. The queen is in the corner on a1, the bishops on b1 and g1. The main line opens c3 d5, then d4 c6 Nd3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.