Starting position #295
Back-rank setup: QNBRKRNB
SP-295 · 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 d1 and f1, the queen on a1.
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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: c2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 370.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
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 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 243 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 (60 half-moves): +26 → 0 → +2 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #370
- 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 37 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g7 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h3 (g2·34) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h3 (g2·37) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to g4 (h3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to d5 (d4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d8 (d1·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: king to g2 (g1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: queen to d8 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on c6 (b5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 11
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Commentary
Both rooks already stand on their castling squares, d1 and f1, so the king walks alone in either direction from e1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on c1. The knights are on b1 and g1. The pawns on c2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all. The engine's line is a classical-looking one: c4 Nf6 Nc3 O-O d4 d5, with Black castling on the fourth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.