Starting position #83
Back-rank setup: BNNRKRQB
SP-83 · 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 d1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
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 867.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 40 Morozov Balance Index: 40 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +29 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 584 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +38 → +47 → +76 → +61
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #867
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 435 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (b5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Winning blow: pawn to g3 (h2·9) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (f5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to b5 (a4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to e8 (h5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: bishop to b6 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: rook to c7 (c1·28) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 8
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Commentary
Both rooks already occupy their castled squares, d1 and f1, so the king castles alone from e1 in either direction. Both corners hold a bishop: a1 with a diagonal to h8, h1 with a diagonal to a8, each opened by a single pawn move. The queen stands on g1, the knights on b1 and c1. Among the pawns, c2 begins with no defender. The engine's line opens g4 g5, then Nc3 Nd6 Nd3 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.