Starting position #275
Back-rank setup: BNRKNRQB
SP-275 · 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 d1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on g1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
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 579.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
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 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 246 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): +20 → +7 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #579
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 48 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b2 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to f7 (f1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to d1 (d2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to h1 (g1·28) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: knight to g6 (f8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c8 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 3: knight to e5 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to g7 (h7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (e6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on a7 (a8) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 56
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1; short castling moves the king alone, because the rook already stands on f1. Among the pawns, a2 has no defender, and e2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on g1, the knights on b1 and e1. The engine reached depth 50 here and calls it +19 centipawns, with the line g4 g5 Nc3 Nc6 b3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.