Starting position #509
Back-rank setup: RQNBKNBR
SP-509 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
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 h1, 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.
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 552.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 134 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (56 half-moves): +20 → +15 → +17 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +12 cp, -3 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #552
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1124 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to e6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d6 (c5·16) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h4 (h1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f4 (e3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f5 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to d5 (a2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: knight to f4 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (c4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e6 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d7 (d2·7) — Chess960 specifics · 2210
This position appears in course day 50
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks in the corners on a1 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 is on b1. The engine keeps the edge small, +15 centipawns, and both sides mirror: c3 e5 e4 c6 Ne3 Ne6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.