Starting position #265
Back-rank setup: NRKBBNQR
SP-265 · 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 c1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
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 601.
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 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 434 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): +30 → +20 → +4 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #601
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 92 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (g3·27) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f5 (f1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c2 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to d2 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to c6 (c1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to c2 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 3: queen to b2 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b7 (a6·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Chess960 tactic on c6 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 78
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone from b1. The bishops stand side by side on d1 and e1, one on each colour. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; the second knight is on f1. Among the pawns, a2 begins without a defender. The published line opens f4 f5, then Ng3 e6 e4 fxe4 — the knight swings to g3 before the centre opens.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.