Starting position #25
Back-rank setup: NQNBBRKR
SP-25 · RampartScout — A wing-file king (b or g) and at least one corner knight: the rarest of the six families, just 72 positions.
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 f1 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 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 RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 937.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 490 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): +35 → +42 → +12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #937
- The king starts on g, the rooks on f and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 587 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to b5 (d6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e2 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to g2 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to b8 (f4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to h6 (f8) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a6 (b4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: knight to g6 (e5·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: bishop to b5 (c4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g7 (c3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Chess960 tactic on e7 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 347
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Commentary
A corner knight on a1 with b3 as its only move, a second knight on c1, and the queen between them on b1. The king starts on g1, so short castling moves the rook alone, from h1 to f1. The bishops on d1 and e1 sit side by side, opening onto h5, a4, h4 and a5. The pawn on g2 is defended by the king and nothing else. The published line opens h4 h5, then c4 c5 b4 cxb4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.