Starting position #22
Back-rank setup: NQBNRBKR
SP-22 · RampartScout — A knight in the corner and the king out on the wing (b/g); like every family, it is closed under mirror twins.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on g1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 934.
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 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 679 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): +37 → +41 → +22 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #934
- The king starts on g, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 865 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h2 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a3 (b2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e8 (e1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d7 (d6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: king to h2 (g1·30) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: bishop to g3 (f4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: queen to e8 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: knight to g5 (e6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on h6 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 54
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Commentary
As in every setup with a knight on a1, that knight has exactly one first move: b3. The rooks stand apart on e1 and h1 with the king between them on g1, so short castling moves the rook only. The bishop on c1 reaches h6 once the d-pawn moves; the one on f1 opens along the e-pawn and the g-pawn. Every pawn on the second rank has a defender. The main line of the run opens e4 e5, then c3 Ne6 Nc2 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.