Starting position #257
Back-rank setup: BNRBKNQR
SP-257 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
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 g1.
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 603.
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 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 435 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): +15 → -14 → -7 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #603
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and h
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g2 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a3 (b1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to e4 (f3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to f2 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to c3 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: king to f2 (g1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to g6 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to e8 (e7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to d7 (c5·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d8 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 71
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks split to c1 and h1. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the other bishop stands on d1 and looks towards a4 and h5. Among the pawns, a2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on g1, the knights on b1 and f1. The engine's line opens b3 e6, then h4 f5 e3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.