Starting position #658
Back-rank setup: BRNKRBNQ
SP-658 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
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 e1, 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.
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 199.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 24 Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 726 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 (60 half-moves): +42 → +4 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #199
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 234 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (b3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (b4·11) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to g8 (e8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to g3 (h3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f6 (e5·25) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: rook to e8 (e1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: knight to e5 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: queen to d7 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: queen to e6 (e3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
This position appears in course day 69
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and e1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. Among the pawns, f2 has no defender, and c2 and d2 both lean on the king alone. The queen begins in the far corner on h1, the knights on c1 and g1. White's edge here is a wide one, +35 centipawns: e4 e5 g3 f6 b3 Nd6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.