Starting position #461
Back-rank setup: RNNBKQBR
SP-461 · 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 h1, 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.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 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 696.
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 7 Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +47 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 896 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: sharpening
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +38 → +52 → +43 → +48
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #696
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 732 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a2 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to d2 (e1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (b5·24) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to b5 (a4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to b8 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: king to b2 (c1·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f8 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: bishop to e6 (c4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to a5 (a6·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 62
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on f1 next to her king. The knights stand side by side on b1 and c1, the bishops on d1 and g1. Among the pawns, b2 is the one that begins without a defender. The rooks sit in the corners, a1 and h1. White's edge here is a wide one, +47 centipawns, and both sides mirror: e4 e5 f4 f6 Nc3 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.