Starting position #156
Back-rank setup: NBRNQKBR
SP-156 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 h1, the queen on e1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 812.
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 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 59 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): +18 → +1 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +23 cp, +13 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #812
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1056 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: bishop to f4 (h2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f4 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g3 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c8 (c1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to e3 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (e3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (a2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c5 (b3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: queen to f6 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to c8 (c7·10) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 39
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the rooks on c1 and h1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move. Among the pawns, g2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on e1 next to the king, the bishops on b1 and g1. The engine's main line opens d4 f6, then c4 c5 dxc5 Rxc5 — a rook takes back on the sixth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.