Starting position #20
Back-rank setup: NBBQNRKR
SP-20 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest 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 g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 942.
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 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 51, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 316 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): +40 → +5 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #942
- The king starts on g, the rooks on f and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 168 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (f4·69) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to d2 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (b4·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: pawn to f6 (e5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to c3 (d2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: bishop to f6 (d8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to f5 (g4·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: queen to h5 (g5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (b3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (d8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 234
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
A knight starts in the corner on a1, which leaves it a single first move: b3. The king is already on g1, so short castling moves only the rook, from h1 to f1. The bishops on b1 and c1 open along the a-, c-, b- and d-pawns, their longer lines reaching h7 and h6. The queen holds d1 and every second-rank pawn begins defended. The recorded line opens d4 d5, then Nb3 c6 Nf3 Nb6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.