Starting position #153
Back-rank setup: NRNBBQKR
SP-153 · RampartScout — Wing king plus a rim knight, and only 72 positions qualify — the rarest pattern of 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 g1, the rooks on b1 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.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 809.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 43 Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 554 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +40 → +20 → +5 → +6
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #809
- 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 386 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a4 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·76) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d3 (c2·13) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to e6 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to g4 (h6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f2 (e1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f7 (e6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to d7 (c6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b4 (e1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 45
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Commentary
The knights start on a1 and c1, the corner one with b3 as its only move. The king is on g1 with the queen beside him on f1, so short castling moves the rook alone. No second-rank pawn begins undefended. The bishops stand together on d1 and e1. The line in the dataset opens e4 c5, then d3 d6 b4 b5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.