Starting position #267
Back-rank setup: NRKNBQRB
SP-267 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 g1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 593.
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 61 Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 372 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): +28 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #593
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 314 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d6 (g3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to b1 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to g6 (g5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to f6 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f5 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: pawn to a4 — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to f7 (g8) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to d5 (f5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on g8 (g7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 105
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone from b1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on e1. The knights are on a1 and d1 — the corner one has b3 as its only move. The pawns on a2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all. The line in the dataset opens f4 Nb6, then Nb3 f5 Nc3 g6, three knight moves in six half-moves.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.