Starting position #676
Back-rank setup: QBBRKNNR
SP-676 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
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 h1, the queen on a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
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 478.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 13 Morozov Balance Index: 13 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +41 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 837 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +44 → +35 → +3 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #478
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 260 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f4 (c1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a4 (b3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d8 (d1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to f2 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to g8 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to d4 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 2: bishop to g6 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to c1 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (e4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 94
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, g2 has no defender, and f2 leans on the king alone. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights side by side on f1 and g1. White's edge here is a wide one, +41 centipawns, and Black's rook recaptures on the sixth half-move: b3 Nf6 c4 d5 cxd5 Rxd5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.