Starting position #566
Back-rank setup: RNBKNBRQ
SP-566 · 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 d1, the rooks on a1 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.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 486.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
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 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 338 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): +20 → +29 → +22 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #486
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 555 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (g5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e4 (h1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (g5·19) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b8 (b2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: pawn to e4 (f3·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (d7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to h6 (h5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: queen to f6 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 2: rook to f8 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d5 (h1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 18
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and g1. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the knights on b1 and e1. Among the pawns, f2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on h1. The engine opens on the kingside and the g-file comes open for both: h4 g6 g4 h5 gxh5 gxh5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.