Starting position #216
Back-rank setup: NBQRBKNR
SP-216 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 d1 and h1, the queen on c1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from f1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- 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 BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 653.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 678 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +43 → +28 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #653
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and h
- It becomes the daily position in 300 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d8 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f4 (c1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to e8 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to h1 (g1·20) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e6 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to d6 (d1·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: rook to h8 (h7·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: pawn to e3 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to b8 (b5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on e6 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 1
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from f1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on g1. Among the pawns, g2 is defended by the king alone. The queen stands on c1, the bishops on b1 and e1. The engine's main line opens c4 c5, then Nb3 Nb6 d4 cxd4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.