Starting position #548
Back-rank setup: RBBNKNQR
SP-548 · 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 g1.
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.
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 510.
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 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 470 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 (44 half-moves): +24 → +17 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #510
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 419 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e6 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f3 (g2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to c6 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to c2 (d1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f4 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: bishop to e7 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to g7 (g5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: bishop to e3 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to d5 (e3·17) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
- Chess960 tactic on c2 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 54
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks in the corners on a1 and h1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. On the second rank, e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The knights are on d1 and f1. The queen starts on g1 and steps across to f2 once that pawn has moved: f4 d5 Qf2 c6 b3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.