Starting position #212
Back-rank setup: NBBQRKNR
SP-212 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
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 d1.
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 f2, g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 654.
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 96 Morozov Balance Index: 96 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +8 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 42 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (31 half-moves): +32 → +7 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +21 cp, +13 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #654
- 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 517 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f4 (c1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c3 (b2·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a3 (b2·30) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to e5 (e8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f1 (g1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: queen to d6 (h6) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: queen to g7 (g2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (c1·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
This position appears in course day 29
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Commentary
A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, while the knight on g1 has the classical f3 and h3. Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1. Both f2 and g2 lean on the king alone. The queen is on d1, the bishops on b1 and c1. The recorded line opens d4 d5, then Nf3 Nb6 Nb3 Nf6 — both corner knights step out to b3 and b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.