Starting position #415
Back-rank setup: RQNNKRBB
SP-415 · 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 a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 736.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 47 Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 508 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 (54 half-moves): +25 → +27 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #736
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1167 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e5 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (h1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b3 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to b2 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to f6 (b2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f5 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e4 (e1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 3: queen to d8 (a5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (c2·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: bishop to h6 (f4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 35
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Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on g1. The pawn on d2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on b1, the knights on c1 and d1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine takes the centre with e4 and a knight collects the pawn back: e4 f5 exf5 Nd6 c3 Nxf5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.