Starting position #181
Back-rank setup: NRBBNKRQ
SP-181 · 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 g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
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 778.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 11 Morozov Balance Index: 11 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +42 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 858 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +33 → +18 → +5 → +3
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #778
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1043 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: queen to b8 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h7 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to g2 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: queen to d6 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: bishop to g7 (h6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: knight to d4 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: knight to e8 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: knight to g7 (h5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on d7 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 20
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. The queen is in the corner on h1, a knight in the corner on a1 whose only move is b3. The pawn on a2 starts with no defender at all, and f2 has only the king. The bishops stand together on c1 and d1, the rooks on b1 and g1. The published line opens g4 d6, then h4 h5 g5 g6 — the g-pawn walks two squares up the board in the first six half-moves.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.