Starting position #206
Back-rank setup: QNRKNBBR
SP-206 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
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 h1, the queen on a1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 660.
The engine's main line opens with h3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 248 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 (53 half-moves): +28 → -11 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #660
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (c4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (f3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to b7 (a6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to c5 (c1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to d2 (d1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b6 (a7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (d4·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: bishop to c6 (d7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d3 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1620
This position appears in course day 22
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. Every pawn on the second rank starts with a defender, and the queen begins in the corner on a1. The bishops stand together on f1 and g1, the knights on b1 and e1. The second rook waits on h1. The recorded line opens h3, a quiet first move, and continues e6 Bh2 h6 e3 Bh7 — both bishops slide to the h-file.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.