Starting position #205
Back-rank setup: QNRBKNBR
SP-205 · 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 c1 and h1, the queen on a1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- 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 664.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 72 Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 272 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 (60 half-moves): +21 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #664
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 34 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g7 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f2 (e1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a1 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c1 (a1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to c7 (b8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to c8 (f5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to e4 (g6) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f7 (e6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to e7 (c7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Chess960 tactic on g8 (h8) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 6
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks split to c1 and h1. The queen holds the corner on a1, the bishops stand on d1 and g1. On the second rank, g2 has no defender at all. The knights are on b1 and f1. The published line opens e4 c5, then h4 f6 Bh2 b5 — the dark-square bishop retreats to h2 as soon as the h-pawn moves.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.