Starting position #467
Back-rank setup: BRNNKRQB
SP-467 · 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 b1 and f1, the queen on g1.
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 a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
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 675.
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 99 Morozov Balance Index: 99 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +2 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 12 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 51.0% (95% CI 37.6–64.3%).
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +23 → +22 → +7 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +17 cp, +15 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #675
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to f6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d7 (c7) — Chess960 specifics · 850
- Winning blow: king to d2 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to a8 (a7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: bishop to d5 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: pawn to f7 (f6·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h8 (h1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (e7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Winning blow: rook to g1 (f1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on e8 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 32
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Commentary
The engine puts this start at +2 centipawns after a search to depth 49 — about as level as a game begins. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal, and in the line the second one is taken: after b3 b6 g4 comes Bxh1, and the queen recaptures in the corner: Qxh1 g6. The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. Among the pawns, c2 has no defender, and d2 leans on the king alone. The knights are on c1 and d1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.