Starting position #661
Back-rank setup: RNBBKRNQ
SP-661 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
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 a1 and f1, the queen on h1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
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 202.
The engine's main line opens with Nc3, bringing the knight out to c3.
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 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 188 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 (24 half-moves): +17 → +7 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #202
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 143 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g5 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c6 (h1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f1 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: rook to c7 (b7) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: queen to h7 (h8·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to c6 (f3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: knight to b5 (d4·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: rook to f6 (f1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to e6 (d4·22) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Winning blow: pawn to g6 (g5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 97
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Commentary
The engine opens with a knight, Nc3 — the one from b1, with the second on g1. The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, one on each colour. The queen begins in the far corner on h1, and the line runs Nc3 e6 h4 f5 d3 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.