Starting position #515
Back-rank setup: BRNQKNRB
SP-515 · 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 b1 and g1, 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 531.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 300 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 (60 half-moves): +14 → -1 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #531
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and g
- It becomes the daily position in 1040 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to d5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d4 (a1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (b4·22) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b5 (a6) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: pawn to g4 (g3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: rook to e1 (f1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: rook to f6 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: rook to h1 (d1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: knight to f7 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (h8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 8
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on d1 next to her king. 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 f1, the rooks on b1 and g1. The engine's line opens b4 b5, then a4 bxa4 c4 Ne6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.