Starting position #104
Back-rank setup: QBNRBNKR
SP-104 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
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 d1 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 b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on 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 861.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 59 Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 408 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 (54 half-moves): +38 → +15 → +10 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #861
- The king starts on g, the rooks on d and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1249 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d6 (c5·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to h5 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e8 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e6 (f6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (e4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (e7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: king to g1 (h2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: king to f2 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d5 (e3·23) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on g2 (a8) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 81
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Commentary
Both castling moves are half-moves: the king is already on g1, the rook already on d1. The queen begins in the corner on a1, the bishops on b1 and e1. The knights start on c1 and f1, so one of them jumps to e3 or g3. On the second rank, g2 has the king as its only defender. The recorded line opens h4 h5, then d4 d5 b3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.