Starting position #157
Back-rank setup: NRNBQKBR
SP-157 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
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 b1 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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- 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 808.
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 80 Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 204 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 (60 half-moves): +22 → +26 → +12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #808
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1424 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d8 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f5 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a2 (c1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (f5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (f5·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h5 (e2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to h8 (e5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: knight to g6 (e7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to d3 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on h8 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 64
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Commentary
The rooks begin on b1 and h1, and castling is ordinary in both directions from f1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on c1. On the second rank, g2 is defended by the king alone. The queen stands on e1, the bishops on d1 and g1. The published line opens e4 e5, then Nab3 f6 f4 Bf7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.