Starting position #17
Back-rank setup: BNQBNRKR
SP-17 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
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 c1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 939.
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 72 Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 277 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): +15 → -23 → -12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #939
- 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 1348 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c5 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to g2 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (f1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to g5 (c1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to g6 (h5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: bishop to h7 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h6 (c1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Winning blow: pawn to f6 (g5·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Mate in 3: rook to h5 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
- Chess960 tactic on g5 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 213
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Commentary
The corner bishop on a1 has one diagonal, the b-pawn opens it, and it runs the length of the board to h8. The king is already on g1, so short castling moves only the rook, from h1 to f1. The queen stands on c1 between a knight and the second bishop, which opens from d1 along the c-pawn and the e-pawn. Among the pawns, a2 begins with no defender at all. The engine's line opens h4 h5, then c4 c5 e3 e6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.