Starting position #184
Back-rank setup: NBRNBKRQ
SP-184 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
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 c1 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 b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 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 781.
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 28 Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 696 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): +35 → +30 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #781
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 116 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (f4·18) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a8 (h1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to h5 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e1 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to e5 (c4·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to g6 (g5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: queen to c7 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: bishop to d5 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to e3 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on e4 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 98
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. The queen begins in the corner on h1, a knight in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move. Among the pawns, e2 is the one the king alone defends. The bishops are on b1 and e1, the rooks on c1 and g1. The main line of the run opens c4 c5, then g3 Nb6 Be4 g6 — the light-square bishop steps out to e4 on the fifth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.