Starting position #12
Back-rank setup: QBNNRKBR
SP-12 · 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 e1 and h1, the queen on a1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 956.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 28 Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 698 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): +33 → -17 → -13 → -8
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #956
- The king starts on f, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 266 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to g2 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f5 (g4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (g2·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f6 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to f3 (d1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: king to g1 (f2·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to e8 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d6 (a3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to h7 (h4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on d7 (d6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 63
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Commentary
Castling here is ordinary in both directions: the king travels from f1 to g1 or to c1, and the rooks land on f1 and d1. The queen begins in the corner on a1, the bishops on b1 and g1 at opposite ends of the rank, their longer diagonals reaching h7 and a7. The pawn on d2 starts with no defender, and the pawn on g2 has only the king. The knights hold c1 and d1 in the middle of the row. The engine's main line opens e4 c5, then b3 e5 f3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.