Starting position #563
Back-rank setup: BRNKNRQB
SP-563 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
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 b1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 to g1.
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 483.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 80 Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 194 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): +9 → -9 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #483
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and f
- It becomes the daily position in 636 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e4 (g2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b2 (a1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to e1 (d1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to b5 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: knight to b5 (c3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (c6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: rook to c1 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to c5 (d3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Mate in 3: queen to g7 (h8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2170
This position appears in course day 52
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal — and in the engine's line the second one goes the whole way: after b3 g6 comes Bxh8, and the queen takes back in the far corner: Qxh8 f4 f5. The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from d1. Among the pawns, d2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on g1, the knights on c1 and e1. The second rook stands on b1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.