Starting position #535
Back-rank setup: RNBKQNRB
SP-535 · 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 e1.
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 c2 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 514.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 59 Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 397 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): +23 → -4 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #514
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 1000 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b7 (h1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b4 (a3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to d7 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to g8 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b7 (h1·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a1 (d1·8) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Winning blow: knight to b6 (d5·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: knight to d6 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to h6 (g8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 35
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on e1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on c1. The pawn on c2 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 f4 f5, then d3 Ne6 h3 Rf8.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.