Starting position #11
Back-rank setup: QNNRBKRB
SP-11 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), 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 f1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on a1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: c2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 945.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 680 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): +38 → +29 → +30 → +8
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #945
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 152 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (e3·10) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c3 (b1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b4 (e1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (b5·20) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to f6 (d5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: bishop to f7 (c4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to g7 (h6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to h5 (h4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 35
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Commentary
Two castling quirks meet in this setup: short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1, and long castling moves only the king, since the rook already occupies d1. The queen starts in the corner on a1 and a bishop in the other corner, on h1, its single diagonal opened by the g-pawn and running to a8. The bishop on e1 has two lines instead, unlocked by the d-pawn and the f-pawn. The pawns on c2 and h2 begin with no defender at all. The engine's line opens c4 c5, then Nb3 Nb6 d4 cxd4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.