Starting position #431
Back-rank setup: RNQNKRBB
SP-431 · 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 a1 and f1, the queen on c1.
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 e2 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 720.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 162 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 (60 half-moves): +28 → +25 → +13 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #720
- 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 538 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c2 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to a3 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (f4·81) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to c4 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (h5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Mate in 2: queen to a6 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: queen to b3 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f2 (f1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: queen to c6 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on e6 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 142
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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. Among the pawns, e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on c1, the knights on b1 and d1, the second rook in the corner on a1. Both sides mirror each other for six half-moves: f4 f5 g3 g6 d4 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.