Starting position #197
Back-rank setup: QNBBRKNR
SP-197 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), 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 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 c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2, 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 666.
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 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 177 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +31 → +10 → +4 → +2
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #666
- The king starts on f, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 628 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b2 (a1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f5 (e4·29) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c5 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to c7 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: queen to g8 (h7) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g7 (b2·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to e3 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 3: knight to e6 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to h8 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Winning blow: pawn to d7 (d6·21) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 86
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Commentary
The queen holds the corner on a1, and two second-rank squares lean on the king alone: f2 and g2. Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1. The bishops are on c1 and d1, the knights on b1 and g1. The engine's line opens d4 d5, then Nf3 Nf6 and both sides castle: O-O O-O. That is as classical as a Chess960 opening gets.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.