Starting position #213
Back-rank setup: NQBBRKNR
SP-213 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 b1.
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 BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 650.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 43 Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 552 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +27 → +26 → +8 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #650
- 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: pawn to b5 (a4·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h3 (g2·29) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (b4·23) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e8 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to d6 (d1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to h8 (h1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to g2 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 2: queen to f6 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (c1·20) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (d4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 95
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Commentary
The knight in the corner on a1 has one first move, b3; the knight on g1 has two. Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1. The pawns on f2 and g2 both have the king as their only defender. The queen stands on b1, the bishops on c1 and d1. The line in the dataset opens e4 e5, then c3 c5 Nf3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.