Starting position #370
Back-rank setup: BNRKRBNQ
SP-370 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
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 h1.
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, f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 295.
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 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 671 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): +36 → +19 → +7 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #295
- 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 96 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Winning blow: queen to h6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (c3·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f7 (h5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a3 (b2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to b4 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to h8 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to a8 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: queen to a6 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on d4 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 5
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1, and in the engine's line it is Black who castles that way: g3 e5 Bg2 O-O-O f4 g6. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. The queen begins in the corner on h1, the knights on b1 and g1. Two pawns start with no defender at all: a2 and f2. The rooks are on c1 and e1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.