Starting position #233
Back-rank setup: NRQBBKNR
SP-233 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
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 c1.
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.
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 633.
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 96 Morozov Balance Index: 96 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +8 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 40 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +17 → +11 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +6 cp, -2 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #633
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1297 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to h7 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e4 (g5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to g3 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: bishop to g4 (d1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: pawn to c6 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to d5 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (g6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2010
This position appears in course day 11
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Commentary
The engine puts this starting position close to level. 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. Among the pawns, a2 begins with no defender at all and g2 has only the king; the queen is on c1, the bishops on d1 and e1. The main line opens b4 b5, then d3 d6 Nb3 Nb6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.