Starting position #138
Back-rank setup: NRQNBBKR
SP-138 · RampartScout — King on the wing (b/g) with a knight on the rim (a/h) — the rarest 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 c1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 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 821.
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 8 Morozov Balance Index: 8 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +45 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 884 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +36 → +37 → +16 → -17
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #821
- The king starts on g, the rooks on b and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·29) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e3 (e1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to c7 (d5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e6 (g4) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f2 (g1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to g6 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to g7 (g4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to g8 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 59
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Commentary
The knight in the corner on a1 has a single first move, b3, and the rook beside it starts on b1. The king is on g1, so short castling moves the rook alone. The pawn on a2 begins with no defender at all. The queen is on c1, the bishops on e1 and f1. The engine's main line opens d4 d5, then c4 dxc4 Qxc4 h5 — the queen recaptures on the fifth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.