Starting position #229
Back-rank setup: NRBBQKNR
SP-229 · 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 b1 and h1, the queen on e1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 634.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 80 Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 201 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): +31 → +18 → +9 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #634
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and h
- 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 d5 (c4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b7 (a6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h7 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to f1 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to e7 (e1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to g6 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to g8 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: queen to h6 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (d2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Winning blow: bishop to f4 (e3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2290
This position appears in course day 30
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the rooks on b1 and h1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3. The pawn on a2 begins with no defender at all, and g2 has only the king. The queen stands on e1, the bishops on c1 and d1. The published line opens f4 f5, then c4 c5 b4 cxb4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.