Starting position #125
Back-rank setup: NQRBNKBR
SP-125 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
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 c1 and h1, the queen on b1.
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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 840.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 47 Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 526 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +20 → -1 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #840
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1008 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·14) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a5 (b4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c3 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c5 (d4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to c7 (d5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to f4 (h4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (b6·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: pawn to c6 (b5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: pawn to g5 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on d7 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 18
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, though the rooks begin apart on c1 and h1. The knight in the corner on a1 has one first move, b3. The queen is on b1, the bishops on d1 and g1. Among the pawns, d2 starts with no defender. The engine's line opens b4 b5, then a4 bxa4 c4 c6 — the wing opens by the fourth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.