Starting position #675
Back-rank setup: BQRKNNRB
SP-675 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
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 c1 and g1, the queen on b1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
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 467.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 97 Morozov Balance Index: 97 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +6 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 26 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 (70 half-moves): +27 → +15 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 54): +14 cp, +8 cp against the base run — verified · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #467
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to c4 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (b6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to e8 (h8) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f1 — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to f7 (d5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (f7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to g7 (f7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Chess960 tactic on f8 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 3
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal — and in the line the second one goes the whole way: after g3 g6 Ne3 b6 comes Bxa8 Qxa8. On the second rank, f2 has no defender, and e2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on b1, the knights side by side on e1 and f1. The engine finds almost nothing for White here: +6 centipawns at depth 46.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.