Starting position #135
Back-rank setup: NRBQNKRB
SP-135 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 b1 and g1, the queen on d1.
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: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 818.
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 91 Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 98 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +22 → +25 → +36 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 50): +20 cp, +7 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #818
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 337 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d4 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to e5 (d4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to g1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to h5 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to g5 (g7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: rook to a8 (a5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: bishop to a7 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to g4 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: knight to f3 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on e4 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 35
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, a bishop in the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. The pawns on a2 and h2 begin with no defender at all, and f2 has only the king. The queen stands on d1, the second bishop on c1. The line in the dataset opens c4 c6, then d4 d5 cxd5 cxd5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.