Starting position #241
Back-rank setup: BNRBKQNR
SP-241 · 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 f1.
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.
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 619.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 350 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (46 half-moves): +26 → +39 → +38 → +43
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #619
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 478 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b7 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to c2 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to g6 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to a1 (b1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g1 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to h5 (e2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: knight to g6 (e5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: pawn to f3 (g2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d6 (d3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2170
This position appears in course day 84
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks split to c1 and h1. The corner bishop on a1 opens to h8 once the b-pawn moves; the second bishop is on d1. Among the pawns, a2 is the one that starts without a defender. The queen stands on f1, the knights on b1 and g1. The published line opens b3 e6, then e4 b6 Bf3 Ne7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.