Starting position #108
Back-rank setup: QBNRNKBR
SP-108 · BastionGuard — King off-centre on c or f with both knights on inner files.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on f1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from f1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 860.
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 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 116 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 (70 half-moves): +20 → -2 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 54): +20 cp, +6 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #860
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and h
- It becomes the daily position in 523 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·14) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to a1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b6 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c2 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f1 (g1·18) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (h5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d4 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 3: queen to b5 (h5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to e8 (e7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g7 (g6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 53
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Commentary
The rook already stands on d1, so long castling moves the king alone from f1. The queen is in the corner on a1, the bishops on b1 and g1 at opposite ends of the rank. Every second-rank pawn starts defended. The knights hold c1 and e1. The engine's main line opens d4 d5, then f3 f6 Bf2 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.