Starting position #523
Back-rank setup: RNQKBNRB
SP-523 · 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 d1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on c1.
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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
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 529.
The engine's main line opens with d3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 37 Morozov Balance Index: 37 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +30 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 605 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +31 → +13 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #529
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 977 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b3 (a2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to g8 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b2 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a7 (b5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (d5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to e2 (d1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c2 (c1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: pawn to b4 (b3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (e4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to h6 (h1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 26
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on c1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on e1. The pawn on e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The knights are on b1 and f1, the rooks on a1 and g1. The published line opens d3 d6, then f4 Bc6 c4 g5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.