Starting position #471
Back-rank setup: RNBNKRQB
SP-471 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
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 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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
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 674.
The engine's main line opens with d3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 100 Morozov Balance Index: 100 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: 0 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 3 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 50.0% (95% CI 36.6–63.4%).
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (28 half-moves): +12 → -1 → 0
- Deeper check (4 000 000 000 nodes, depth 57): +15 cp, +15 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth · S — slight edge
- Sign verdict: White edge — the minus was noise
- Self-play v2: 100 games at 1 000 000 nodes per move — White scored 50.0% (95% CI 40.4–59.6%)
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #674
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a 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
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to c6 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f6 (e5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to f6 (g6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (h1·26) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: knight to b6 (c4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Mate in 2: queen to e4 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 2: queen to d6 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to c1 (f1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Winning blow: bishop to c7 (a5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 11
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Commentary
The engine calls this one dead level: +0 centipawns after a search to depth 47. The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on c1. On the second rank, c2 has no defender, and e2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on g1, the knights on b1 and d1, and the line runs d3 f5 f4 d6 Bd2 Bd7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.