Starting position #307
Back-rank setup: BNQRKRNB
SP-307 · 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 c1.
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.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 355.
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 28 Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 693 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +30 → +33 → +25 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #355
- 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 19 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e3 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e3 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·56) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (b5·12) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to g2 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to e2 (e1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to f3 (h1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to c7 (c8·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: queen to g8 (h7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to e5 (f3·20) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 4
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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. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. The knights are on b1 and g1, the queen on c1. The pawns on a2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all. The published line opens c4 Nf6, then b4 g6 g3 O-O.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.