Starting position #82
Back-rank setup: BNNRKBRQ
SP-82 · 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 g1, the queen on h1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 871.
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 43 Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 556 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +41 → +31 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #871
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d 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 b4 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h4 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h8 (a1·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d8 (a8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to d8 (h8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: queen to f6 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: bishop to e5 (a1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to g7 (f6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d5 (c3·26) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Winning blow: rook to h1 (g1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 46
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Commentary
The king begins on e1 with the rook already on d1, so long castling moves the king alone. The queen is in the corner on h1, a bishop in the corner on a1 with its one diagonal to h8. Among the pawns, c2 starts with no defender at all, and f2 has only the king. The second bishop stands on f1, the knights on b1 and c1. The main line of the run opens g3 g5, then d4 e6 Bg2 Nc6 — the bishop takes the long diagonal as soon as it is opened.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.