Starting position #147
Back-rank setup: BNRNQKRB
SP-147 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
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 g1, the queen on e1.
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 a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 803.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 16 Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 812 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): +45 → +17 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #803
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 210 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a4 (c3·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (d5·25) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (f4·79) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to g3 (h2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g7 (h6) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h6 (h3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (g3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: queen to h6 (h3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: knight to e7 (d5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
This position appears in course day 91
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Commentary
Both corners hold a bishop — a1 towards h8 and h1 towards a8 — and short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. The queen stands on e1, next to the king, with the knights on b1 and d1. The pawns on a2 and h2 begin with no defender at all. The rooks start on c1 and g1. The line in the dataset opens g4 g5, then h4 h6 c4 c5 — both sides push on the wing before touching the centre.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.