Starting position #224
Back-rank setup: BBNRQKNR
SP-224 · BastionGuard — A c- or f-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
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 e1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from f1 to c1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
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 BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 639.
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 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 310 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +25 → +1 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #639
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1016 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d8 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d6 (c5·20) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e4 (b1·19) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d1 (f1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to f5 (d3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to h4 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: queen to h6 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to d7 (e6·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on e3 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 24
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
The rook already stands on d1, so long castling moves the king alone from f1. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second works the light squares from b1. On the second rank, g2 is defended by the king alone. The queen is on e1 next to the king, the knights on c1 and g1. The recorded line opens d4 d5, then b3 b6 Nf3 Nf6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.