Starting position #454
Back-rank setup: RNBNKBQR
SP-454 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
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 g1.
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 c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 694.
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 47 Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 505 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 (60 half-moves): +48 → +15 → +26
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #694
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 739 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to g8 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to c2 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to f1 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a3 (b5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (a1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: king to d2 (d1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: king to c2 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: bishop to e4 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on f6 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 5
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks in the corners on a1 and h1. Among the pawns, c2 is the one that begins without a defender. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the queen on g1. Both knights, on b1 and d1, can reach c3, so the engine's third half-move carries a letter: Nbc3. The line runs b3 e5 Nbc3 Nbc6 e4 Ne6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.