Starting position #483
Back-rank setup: BQRNKNRB
SP-483 · 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 c1 and g1, the queen on b1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 563.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Opening: main line
Stockfish's main line from the start of this setup, 15 moves deep (100 million nodes per move):
1. g3 g6 2. c4 c5 3. b3 Bxa1 4. Qxa1 b6 5. d4 Bxh1 6. Rxh1 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Qb7 8. f3 d5 9. Nfe3 dxc4 10. Rxc4 Nc6
Evaluation after the line: +0.47 for White.
Best first moves for White (evaluation in pawns):
- g3 — +0.24
- h4 — +0.07
- b3 — +0.06
Balance
MBI 94 Morozov Balance Index: 94 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +10 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 55 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +18 → +12 → +8 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +10 cp, 0 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #563
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and g
- It becomes the daily position in 618 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (d5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b2 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to g6 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (c7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to g5 (f4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e7 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: rook to d8 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to f6 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to d6 (f8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (f5·31) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 31
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal — and in the engine's line all four leave their corners in two moves: after g3 g6 b3 b5 comes Bxa8 Bxa1. Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on c1 and g1. On the second rank, e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on b1, the knights on d1 and f1. The search ran to depth 49 and calls it +10 centipawns.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.