Starting position #524
Back-rank setup: RBNQKNBR
SP-524 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
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 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.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: b2, g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 540.
The engine's main line opens with d4, 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 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 236 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): +22 → +41 → +20 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #540
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a 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: pawn to b5 (a4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h3 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·53) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d6 (e4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to e1 (f2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (d3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: knight to a8 (c7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (d6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to d4 (c3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (e2·10) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 31
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on d1 next to her king. Two pawns begin with no defender at all: b2 and g2, one on each wing. The bishops are on b1 and g1, the knights on c1 and f1. The rooks sit in the corners, a1 and h1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line runs d4 d5 c3 Nd6 f3 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.