Starting position #270
Back-rank setup: NRKNQBBR
SP-270 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 e1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-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 596.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 93 Morozov Balance Index: 93 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +11 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 70 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 (66 half-moves): +24 → 0 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 51): +22 cp, +11 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #596
- 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 102 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a7 (b5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a4 (b3·10) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c5 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (a7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to a2 (b1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to e2 (d1·19) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to f8 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to b7 (b4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: queen to c8 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to d5 (e5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 13
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Commentary
The engine keeps this one close to level, +11 centipawns after a search to depth 48. The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone from b1. The knights are on a1 and d1, the corner one with b3 as its only move. The bishops sit together on f1 and g1, the queen on e1. Among the pawns, a2 is the one that begins without a defender, and the main line runs f3 Nb6 Nb3 f5 Nc3 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.