Starting position #272
Back-rank setup: BBNRKNRQ
SP-272 · 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 e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on h1.
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.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 591.
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 1 Morozov Balance Index: 1 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +58 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 953 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 62.0% (95% CI 48.2–74.1%).
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +59 → +78 → +89 → +18
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #591
- 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 153 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h8 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·96) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (e3·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to g7 (a1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: pawn to d5 (d4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: pawn to c7 (c6·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: rook to c8 (c7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Winning blow: rook to f3 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Mate in 3: knight to g5 (e4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
- Chess960 tactic on e7 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 5
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Commentary
The queen begins tucked into the corner on h1, as far from the centre as she can start. The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second works the light squares from b1. On the second rank, f2 leans on the king alone. The recorded line opens g3 g6, then Ne3 a6 c4 Ba7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.