Starting position #561
Back-rank setup: BRNBKNRQ
SP-561 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
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 g1, the queen on h1.
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 f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 491.
The engine's main line opens with Nd3, bringing the knight out to d3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 423 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +46 → +18 → +24 → +23
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #491
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and g
- It becomes the daily position in 1291 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (g2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g4 (f3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c3 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to h1 (g1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to g6 (g1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c6 (h1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: knight to e5 (d3·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: rook to f8 (f1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to a8 (a1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f8 (g8·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 109
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Commentary
The engine opens with a knight, Nd3 — the one from c1, with the second on f1. Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on b1 and g1. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. On the second rank, f2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on h1, and the line runs Nd3 Nd6 h4 h5 e3 e6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.