Starting position #292
Back-rank setup: QBBNRKRN
SP-292 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
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 e1 and g1, the queen on a1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
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 382.
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 19 Morozov Balance Index: 19 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +49 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 778 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 51.0% (95% CI 37.6–64.3%).
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +26 → +28 → +9 → +1
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #382
- The king starts on f, the rooks on e and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 725 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h7 (g5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Winning blow: rook to f4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to a8 (a1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to c4 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g6 (h7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: queen to f7 (f6) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: queen to g6 (f6) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 2: queen to g7 (a1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: bishop to a2 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on e8 (f6) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 9
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Commentary
Black castles on the second half-move here: the engine's line runs c4 O-O b3 b5 Bb2 f6. The queen begins in the corner on a1, as far from the action as she can start. Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. A knight sits in the corner on h1 with g3 as its only move, the second on d1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, and the pawn on h2 is the only one starting without a defender.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.