Starting position #532
Back-rank setup: RBBNKQNR
SP-532 · 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 a1 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.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 526.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 341 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: sharpening
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +35 → +35 → +39 → +36
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #526
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 52 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b7 (a6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e5 (f3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b7 (e4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to e8 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h5 (g5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: bishop to c6 (e4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a1 (e1·4) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b5 (f1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Winning blow: rook to f7 (h7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Winning blow: bishop to e7 (g5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 52
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on f1 next to her king. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. The rooks sit in the corners, a1 and h1, the knights on d1 and g1. The engine takes the centre with e4 and Black's queen comes out twice in six half-moves: e4 f5 exf5 Qxf5 d4 Qh5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.