Starting position #355
Back-rank setup: BNRKRQNB
SP-355 · 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 d1, the rooks on c1 and e1, the queen on f1.
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.
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 307.
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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 349 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 (54 half-moves): +39 → +37 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #307
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 394 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h6 (g5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (d4·33) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h8 (a1·18) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to d2 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: bishop to e3 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: rook to e6 (e1·20) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: queen to g8 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: queen to g3 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to c1 (f1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 15
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. 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 f1. The pawns on a2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all. The engine pushes the g-pawn twice in six half-moves: g4 g6 e3 f5 g5 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.