Starting position #446
Back-rank setup: RNNQKBBR
SP-446 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
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 h1, the queen on d1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 708.
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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 344 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): +32 → +18 → 0 → -3
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #708
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and h
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f3 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a2 (c3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (b5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f2 (e1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h5 (d1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Mate in 2: queen to g8 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: king to a2 (b1·31) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d6 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Winning blow: queen to g8 (h8·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on b5 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 47
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on d1 next to her king. The knights stand side by side on b1 and c1, the bishops together on f1 and g1. Among the pawns, b2 is the one that begins without a defender. The rooks sit in the corners, a1 and h1. The engine takes the centre with e4 and both sides mirror for six half-moves: e4 e5 Nc3 Nc6 f4 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.