Starting position #185
Back-rank setup: NRNBBKRQ
SP-185 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
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 d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 777.
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 47 Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 522 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (51 half-moves): +44 → +16 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #777
- 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 317 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (c4·19) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h1 (g1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to g5 (h4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e5 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: bishop to f7 (h5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to g7 (g4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 3: queen to a6 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to h6 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (c5·27) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
- Winning blow: queen to d3 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 163
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Commentary
Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender. 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 with b3 as its only move. The bishops sit together on d1 and e1, the second knight on c1. The engine's line opens g4 e5, then e3 d6 Nab3 g5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.