Starting position #529
Back-rank setup: BRNBKQNR
SP-529 · 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 e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on f1.
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 d2 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 523.
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 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 472 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +23 → +45 → +12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #523
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 62 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b8 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b8 (b1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to c2 (d1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to f6 (b2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c4 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (c7·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Winning blow: queen to e3 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 2: queen to b2 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to e8 (e1·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Winning blow: pawn to g8 (g7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 53
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on f1 next to her king. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. The pawn on d2 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 published line opens b4 e6, then e3 Nd6 c4 f5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.