Starting position #514
Back-rank setup: BRNQKBNR
SP-514 · 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 e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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 f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 535.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 96 Morozov Balance Index: 96 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +8 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 36 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 (44 half-moves): +10 → +10 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 56): +6 cp, -2 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #535
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and h
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g7 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·27) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a4 (b3·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g7 (a1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: rook to e8 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c4 (e2·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to h5 (g4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: rook to c8 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Winning blow: queen to f8 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2380
This position appears in course day 23
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on d1 next to her king. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. Among the pawns, f2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The knights are on c1 and g1, the rooks on b1 and h1. The engine finds very little here — +8 centipawns after a search to depth 49: c4 c5 Nf3 e6 e3 Nf6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.