Starting position #673
Back-rank setup: BQRBKNNR
SP-673 · 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 c1 and h1, the queen on b1.
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: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 475.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 91 Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 87 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +15 → +19 → +21 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 54): +19 cp, +6 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #475
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 189 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (h7) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d5 (e3·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to g3 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g3 (g2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: queen to g6 (b1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: rook to h6 (h3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: bishop to b3 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 2: queen to c7 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Chess960 tactic on e6 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 7
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on c1 and h1. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. The pawn on g2 has no defender, and f2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on b1, the knights side by side on f1 and g1. The search ran to depth 48 and calls it +13 centipawns: b4 Nf6 Nf3 b5 Ne3 Ne6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.