Starting position #668
Back-rank setup: RBNKRNBQ
SP-668 · 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 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.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 204.
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 94 Morozov Balance Index: 94 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +10 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 50 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (68 half-moves): +16 → +25 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 51): +8 cp, -2 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #204
- 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 315 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g8 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e4 (e1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (h4·19) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to c2 (d1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to c5 (b7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to d4 (g1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d5 (h1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 3: queen to f7 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on e4 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 83
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and e1. The bishops are on b1 and g1, the knights on c1 and f1. Among the pawns, b2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on h1. The engine takes the centre with e4 and keeps the edge small, +10 centipawns: e4 c6 c3 f6 f3 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.