Starting position #470
Back-rank setup: RNBNKBRQ
SP-470 · 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 g1, the queen on h1.
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 678.
The engine's main line opens with d4, 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 16 Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 805 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): +30 → +37 → +5 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #678
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 1223 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (g3·25) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to d6 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e2 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d2 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to g2 (g1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (c4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g5 (h4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: queen to g3 (c7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 2: rook to g8 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on a3 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 74
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on a1 and g1. Among the pawns, c2 is the one that begins without a defender. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the knights on b1 and d1. The queen begins in the far corner on h1. White's edge here is a wide one, +39 centipawns, and the line runs d4 g6 e3 h5 g3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.