Starting position #101
Back-rank setup: QNBBRNKR
SP-101 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on g1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2, g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 858.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 16 Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 814 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): +39 → +31 → +21 → +6
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #858
- The king starts on g, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 657 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a3 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (d5·18) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to d6 (b7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h8 (h2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: bishop to f8 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (f5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: rook to h8 (h4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: king to d1 (e1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: queen to d6 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f7 (e8) — Chess960 specifics · 1930
This position appears in course day 46
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Commentary
Two pawns lean on the king alone here: f2 and g2 both have him as their only defender. The queen starts in the corner on a1 and the king on g1, so short castling moves the rook alone. The bishops on c1 and d1 open onto h6, a3, h5 and a4. The knights hold b1 and f1. The engine's line opens d4 d6, then e4 h5 Ne3 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.