Starting position #67
Back-rank setup: BNNRKQRB
SP-67 · 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 d1 and g1, the queen on f1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: c2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 883.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 99 Morozov Balance Index: 99 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +4 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 15 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (62 half-moves): +25 → +17 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 49): +16 cp, +12 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #883
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1432 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (h7·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d4 (a1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c6 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c3 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d8 (d4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: queen to g6 (b1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (d4·63) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on c3 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 23
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 and h1, each with a single diagonal — to h8 and a8 — and a single pawn to unlock it. The king begins on e1 with the rook already on d1, so long castling moves the king alone. The queen stands next to the king on f1. The pawns on c2 and h2 start with no defender at all. The published line opens g4, the widest first move in this setup, and continues e6 b3 d5 c4 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.