Starting position #16
Back-rank setup: BBNQNRKR
SP-16 · RampartGuard — Both knights begin on inner files while the king sits on the wing (b/g); mirror twins stay together in this family.
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 f1 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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 943.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 37 Morozov Balance Index: 37 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +30 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 618 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): +38 → +59 → +30 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #943
- The king starts on g, the rooks on f and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 526 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g2 (e1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h7 (h5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 850
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to h1 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to d1 (c2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to f8 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to f6 (b2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: pawn to a7 (a6·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: queen to f7 (e7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (e5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on a8 (a7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 41
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Commentary
The king starts on g1 and takes no part in short castling: the h1 rook does the travelling, landing on f1. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1, its single diagonal opened by the b-pawn and running the whole board to h8; the other, on b1, works the light squares towards h7. The queen stands on d1, as in the classical setup, with knights on c1 and e1 beside her. Every second-rank pawn starts defended. The main line of the run opens h4 h5, then d4 d5 b3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.