Starting position #493
Back-rank setup: QRNBKNBR
SP-493 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
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 h1, the queen on a1.
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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 568.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 5 Morozov Balance Index: 5 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +49 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 916 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (31 half-moves): +33 → -7 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #568
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 616 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d6 (c5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e4 (f3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to g8 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to f6 (e7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: bishop to e8 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (h3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g7 (a1·22) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (d5·33) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to h7 (b1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Winning blow: rook to g8 (h8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 82
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on b1 and h1. The bishops are on d1 and g1, the knights on c1 and f1. Among the pawns, g2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1. White's edge here is a wide one, +49 centipawns, and the engine takes the centre first: e4 b6 Ng3 f6 f4 Bf7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.