Starting position #113
Back-rank setup: BNQBRNKR
SP-113 · 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 c1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 843.
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 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 813 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +41 → +61 → +52 → +45
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #843
- 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 201 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·113) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (e3·46) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (g2·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (f8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (h5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Castling-960 to the rescue on e1 (g1) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Mate in 3: bishop to f5 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to f5 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (h5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 2380
This position appears in course day 24
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Commentary
Three second-rank squares are worth watching: a2 has no defender at all, and f2 and g2 have only the king. The king starts on g1, so short castling moves the rook alone. The corner bishop on a1 opens to h8 once the b-pawn moves; the second bishop is on d1. The queen is on c1, the knights on b1 and f1. The engine's line opens d4 c5, then dxc5 a5 b3 Qxc5 — the black queen collects the pawn on the sixth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.