Starting position #281
Back-rank setup: NRKBBNRQ
SP-281 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
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 h1.
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 585.
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 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 172 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 → +23 → +18 → +14
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #585
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e7 (b4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to g2 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to a3 (a8) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f2 (g1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: bishop to e3 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (b6·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c3 (b2·28) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: pawn to e8 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to f2 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 35
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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, and the queen watches from the corner on h1. The engine's line opens f4 f5, then Nb3 Nb6 h4 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.