Starting position #291
Back-rank setup: BQNRKRNB
SP-291 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
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 f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
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: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 371.
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 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 244 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 (56 half-moves): +17 → +16 → +16 → +11
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #371
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 786 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c7 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b4 (a3·13) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (f5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (h1·29) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e5 (c3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g8 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: rook to f4 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (h5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on e8 (g8) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 6
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Both rooks already stand on their castling squares, d1 and f1, so the king walks alone in either direction from e1. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8 — and the engine's line uses that: after g3 g6 d4 b5 comes Bxa8 Qxa8, a trade in the far corner. The knights are on c1 and g1. The queen is on b1, the pawn on h2 the only one starting without a defender. The search here ran to depth 49 and calls it +19 centipawns.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.