Starting position #165
Back-rank setup: NRBBNKQR
SP-165 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 g1.
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 c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 794.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 5 Morozov Balance Index: 5 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +49 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 919 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +71 → +48 → +49 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #794
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 351 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (c4·11) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f4 (c1·26) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f5 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Mate in 2: knight to e7 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to h6 (d2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: queen to e8 (d8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to b6 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (g1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on d7 (d1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 22
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Commentary
The rooks begin on b1 and h1, with a knight outside them in the corner on a1 whose only move is b3. Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the queen on g1. On the second rank, a2 starts with no defender at all. The bishops stand together on c1 and d1. The line in the dataset opens c4 f6, then d3 c5 f3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.