Starting position #451
Back-rank setup: BRNNKQRB
SP-451 · 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 b1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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.
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: c2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 691.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 78 Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 214 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): +26 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #691
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and g
- It becomes the daily position in 423 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d4 (b3·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b8 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (h1·18) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to g1 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a8 (h1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to h1 (g1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: knight to f2 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Winning blow: queen to e8 (e5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 2240
This position appears in course day 73
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on f1 next to her king. Two pawns begin with no defender at all: c2 and h2, and d2 leans on the king alone. The knights are on c1 and d1, the rooks on b1 and g1. The engine pushes on the flank and the h-file opens for both: g4 g5 h4 h6 hxg5 hxg5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.