Starting position #771
Back-rank setup: BQRKNRNB
SP-771 · 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 f1, 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: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 179.
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 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 151 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 (42 half-moves): +31 → +10 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #179
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 649 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to b8 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to f8 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·62) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to a1 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b3 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to e1 (d1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to e4 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f3 (e2·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 3: queen to g8 (h8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 2380
This position appears in course day 36
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1; short castling moves the king alone, because the rook already stands on f1. Both corners hold a bishop, a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8, each with a single diagonal. On the second rank, h2 has no defender, and d2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on b1, the knights on e1 and g1 — both can reach f3, so the fifth half-move carries a letter. The line runs b4 b5 a4 a6 Ngf3 Ngf6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.