Starting position #217
Back-rank setup: NQRBBKNR
SP-217 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
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 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 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 BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 649.
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 100 Morozov Balance Index: 100 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +3 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 6 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 50.0% (95% CI 36.6–63.4%).
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +20 → +8 → +3 → +7 → +6
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +6 cp, +3 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #649
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 582 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a4 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c8 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (d4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to h1 (g1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: king to e1 (f1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d7 (a4·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to c1 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: knight to e6 (c5·22) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Chess960 tactic on g5 (h7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 55
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Commentary
The engine puts this starting position almost exactly at level. Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the rooks on c1 and h1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move. On the second rank, g2 has only the king to defend it; the queen is on b1, the bishops on d1 and e1. The main line opens b4 b5, then d3 Nb6 Nb3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.