Starting position #867
Back-rank setup: BQRKRNNB
SP-867 · 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 e1, 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: f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 83.
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 78 Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 208 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +44 → 0 → +5 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #83
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 844 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h5 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (g3·44) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to g1 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a5 (b4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Mate in 2: queen to b5 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: knight to d5 (e3·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1620
- Mate in 3: rook to d8 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to h8 (b8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on c5 (c4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 4
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Commentary
Both bishops start in the corners, on a1 and h1, each with a single long diagonal — one to h8, the other to a8. Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. On the second rank, f2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is tucked away on b1, the second rook on e1, and the knights are on f1 and g1 — their reaches do not overlap, so the line writes Ne3 and Nf3 with no file letter. White's edge is a narrow +18 centipawns: b4 b5 Ne3 Ne6 Nf3 Nf6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.