Starting position #948
Back-rank setup: RBBKRNNQ
SP-948 · ThroneGuard — King on a central file (d/e) with both knights on inner files — the classic-type setup.
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 a1 and e1, the queen on h1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
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 14.
The engine's main line opens with Nf3, bringing the knight out to f3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 318 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 (60 half-moves): +31 → -21 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #14
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 125 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (e5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·72) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (e5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to f4 (c1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: king to d1 (e2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: rook to a6 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to b4 (f4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: queen to a8 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to e8 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (c7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 79
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and e1. The queen begins in the corner on h1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. The pawn on f2 is the one that begins without a defender. The knights are on f1 and g1, and their reaches do not overlap, so the opening move is written Nf3 with no file letter. White's edge is a narrow +22 centipawns: Nf3 e5 e4 a6 c3 Ba7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.