Starting position #201
Back-rank setup: QNRBBKNR
SP-201 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
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 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 d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- 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 665.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 78 Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 218 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 (54 half-moves): +24 → +13 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #665
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and h
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a5 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d5 (c3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a5 (c3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (c3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c6 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to h1 (g1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: knight to h6 (f5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to a4 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to h7 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 28
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the rooks split to c1 and h1. The queen begins in the corner on a1, the bishops together on d1 and e1. Among the pawns, g2 leans on the king alone. The knights are on b1 and g1. The line in the dataset opens b4 a5, then b5 c6 a4 d5 — the queenside pawns lock by the fourth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.