Starting position #323
Back-rank setup: BNRQKRNB
SP-323 · 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 e1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on d1.
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 339.
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 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 141 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 (70 half-moves): +26 → -1 → 0 → -2 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +22 cp, +7 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #339
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 982 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a8 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b6 (c5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·69) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h8 (a1·25) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e7 (e1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a2 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to d6 (a3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e3 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (e5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 75
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Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. The queen is on d1, right beside her king, the knights on b1 and g1. The pawns on a2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all. The engine calls it +15 centipawns after a search to depth 49, with the line c4 c5 g3 g6 e3 Nf6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.