Starting position #154
Back-rank setup: NRNQBBKR
SP-154 · RampartScout — A knight in the corner and the king out on the wing (b/g); like every family, it is closed under mirror twins.
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 d1.
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.
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 805.
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 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 115 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): +17 → +1 → -9 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 50): +26 cp, +12 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth · M — moderate edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #805
- 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 522 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (c4·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d5 (e3·11) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to f5 (f1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f6 (g4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: pawn to h6 — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (d3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (d4·19) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: rook to g4 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b8·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Mate in 3: rook to g8 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 36
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Commentary
The queen holds d1 while the king stands on g1, so short castling moves the rook alone. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on c1. Every pawn on the second rank starts defended. The bishops are on e1 and f1, the rooks on b1 and h1. The main line of the run opens e4 e5, then h4 h5 c4 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.