Starting position #145
Back-rank setup: BNRBNQKR
SP-145 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight in a corner.
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 c1 and h1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 811.
The engine's main line opens with e3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 94 Morozov Balance Index: 94 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +10 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 60 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +23 → +35 → +21 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +12 cp, +2 cp against the base run — verified · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #811
- The king starts on g, the rooks on c and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 870 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c8 (c1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g5 (f3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f7 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f4 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to g6 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f7 (b3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to d7 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to c5 (c4·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (e6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
This position appears in course day 42
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Commentary
The rooks split to c1 and h1 with the king on g1 between them, so short castling moves the rook alone. The queen stands on f1, next to the king. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 and waits for the b-pawn before its diagonal to h8 opens. Among the pawns, a2 begins with no defender at all. The published line opens e3, a quiet first move, and continues c5 c4 e6 f4 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.