Starting position #371
Back-rank setup: BNRKRNQB
SP-371 · 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 d1, the rooks on c1 and e1, the queen on g1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 291.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 92 Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 77 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (56 half-moves): +12 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +12 cp, 0 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #291
- 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 1023 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (e3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e5 (a1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h1 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to d7 (e6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to d3 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f3 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Castling-960 to the rescue on e8 (d8) — Castling-960 · 1470
- Mate in 3: rook to b1 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to e4 (h4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Chess960 tactic on d8 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 43
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal — and the engine's line shows the first one using it: after b3 b6 e4 g5 comes Bxh8 Qxh8, a trade in the far corner. Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. The knights are on b1 and f1, the queen on g1. Among the pawns, a2 begins without a defender. The search ran to depth 50 and calls it +12 centipawns.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.