Starting position #623
Back-rank setup: RNQKRNBB
SP-623 · 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 a1 and e1, the queen on c1.
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.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 240.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
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 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 336 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): +26 → +7 → +10 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #240
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1138 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b6 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a5 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to d1 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b3 (b2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: rook to e2 — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a8 (a6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 2: knight to a7 — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: rook to b7 (b5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to c7 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1820
- Winning blow: queen to b4 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 23
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on c1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on g1. The knights are on b1 and f1, the rooks on a1 and e1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and brings the queen out at once: d4 g6 Qd2 c5 f4 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.