Starting position #689
Back-rank setup: BRQBKNNR
SP-689 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
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 b1 and h1, the queen on c1.
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.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 459.
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 98 Morozov Balance Index: 98 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +5 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 16 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 (66 half-moves): +20 → -4 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 49): +14 cp, +9 cp against the base run — verified · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #459
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 483 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to g3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to b2 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to f4 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to a6 (a3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g1 (h1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: rook to b6 (g6) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: king to f1 (e1·22) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 2: pawn to c6 — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Winning blow: queen to g7 (g6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d6 (e4·23) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 23
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Commentary
The engine finds almost nothing for White here: +5 centipawns at depth 47. Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on b1 and h1. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. Two pawns begin with no defender at all: a2 and g2, and f2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on c1, the knights side by side on f1 and g1, and the line runs b4 Nf6 Nf3 b5 Ne3 Ne6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.