Starting position #691
Back-rank setup: BRQKNNRB
SP-691 · 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 d1, the rooks on b1 and g1, 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, f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 451.
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 72 Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 258 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +35 → +15 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #451
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and g
- It becomes the daily position in 631 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h8 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e2 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h1 (g1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (a8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: pawn to c4 (d3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to c6 (c4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: pawn to c5 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: pawn to d6 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to f6 (g5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1930
- Chess960 tactic on f7 (h7) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 47
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal — and in the engine's line the first one is traded off in place: after g3 g6 b4 comes Bxa1, and White takes back on the corner square: Rxa1 Nf6. The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on c1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. Two pawns begin with no defender at all: a2 and f2, and e2 leans on the king alone. The knights stand side by side on e1 and f1. The second rook is on b1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.