Starting position #944
Back-rank setup: BBRKRNNQ
SP-944 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
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 h1.
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 15.
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 6 Morozov Balance Index: 6 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +48 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 902 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +66 → +32 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #15
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and e
- 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: bishop to b7 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to h8 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b3 (a2·29) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to c2 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (e5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (b6·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (e7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Winning blow: rook to f5 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: rook to c2 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Chess960 tactic on h7 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 18
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. The queen begins in the corner on h1, and a bishop holds the opposite corner on a1 with its one diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on b1. On the second rank, f2 is the one that begins without a defender. The knights are on f1 and g1, standing shoulder to shoulder, and the second rook is on e1. White's edge here is a wide one, +48 centipawns, and the engine opens on the flank with g3: g3 c5 c4 Nf6 b3 Ng6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.