Starting position #478
Back-rank setup: RNNKRBBQ
SP-478 · 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 d1, the rooks on a1 and e1, 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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 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 676.
The engine's main line opens with Nc3, bringing the knight out to c3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 24 Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 731 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): +35 → +33 → +23 → +16
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #676
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and e
- 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: knight to b7 (c5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Winning blow: rook to e5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (c3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b4 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to b2 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to b1 (a1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: pawn to d6 (e5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (h1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Winning blow: rook to h7 (h5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Winning blow: king to e1 (e2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 5
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Commentary
The engine opens with a knight, Nc3 — the one from b1, with the second on c1 right beside it. The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and e1. Among the pawns, b2 has no defender, and c2 leans on the king alone. The bishops sit together on f1 and g1, the queen in the far corner on h1. The line runs Nc3 e5 e4 Nc6 Nd3 g6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.