Starting position #134
Back-rank setup: NRBQNBKR
SP-134 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest family.
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 b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 822.
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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 356 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (59 half-moves): +29 → +30 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #822
- The king starts on g, the rooks on b and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 231 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d6 (c5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d1 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (e5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to c5 (b4·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to h6 (f8) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to d8 (d4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: knight to e4 (g5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: knight to e5 (f7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e7 (e2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c4 (e2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 62
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Commentary
The queenside rook starts on b1 rather than in the corner, with a knight on a1 outside it. That knight has one first move, b3. The king is already on g1, so short castling moves the rook alone. On the second rank, a2 has no defender at all, and f2 has only the king. The recorded line opens c4 c5, then Nac2 d6 g3 g6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.