Starting position #196
Back-rank setup: QBBNRKNR
SP-196 · BastionGuard — Both knights begin inside the board while the king stands on c or f; a position and its mirror twin share this family.
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 e1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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 b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 670.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
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 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 520 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 (60 half-moves): +43 → +16 → +11 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #670
- The king starts on f, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a8 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f5 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to a4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f5 (b1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: bishop to g6 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: knight to c7 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to a3 (a2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: queen to b8 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e2 (h5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: pawn to f7 (g6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2150
This position appears in course day 39
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Commentary
The queen begins in the corner on a1 with both bishops beside her on b1 and c1. Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1. The knights start on d1 and g1, so one of them has f3 and h3 in front of it. Among the pawns, g2 is defended by the king alone. The main line of the run opens d4 d5, then h4 b6 c4 dxc4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.