Starting position #27
Back-rank setup: NQNRBKRB
SP-27 · 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 f1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on b1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 929.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 47 Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 530 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): +29 → +48 → +14 → +7
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #929
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 123 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d4 (d1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d6 (c5·27) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b2 (b1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to e4 (c5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (h7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (e3·20) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 3: queen to g8 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on g6 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 21
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1; long castling moves the king alone, because the rook is already on d1. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only first move, and a bishop in the corner on h1 with a single diagonal to a8. The queen is on b1, the second bishop on e1. On the second rank, h2 has no defender at the start. The line in the dataset opens c4 c6, then g3 d5 c5 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.