Starting position #211
Back-rank setup: BNQRKNRB
SP-211 · 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 c1.
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 a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 643.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 78 Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 217 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): +35 → +11 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #643
- 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 803 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (g3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a4 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d7 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (f5·14) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to b8 (d6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: bishop to e5 (f6) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d7 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to f8 (f7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: knight to e7 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 2: knight to g6 (e5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
This position appears in course day 40
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Commentary
The rook already stands on d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. Three second-rank squares are exposed: a2 has no defender at all, e2 and f2 only the king. The queen is on c1, the knights on b1 and f1. The published line opens g3 g6, then Ne3 Ne6 Na3 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.