Starting position #293
Back-rank setup: QNBBRKRN
SP-293 · 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 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 c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-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 378.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 26 Morozov Balance Index: 26 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +34 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 712 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (50 half-moves): +22 → +27 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #378
- 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 333 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f4 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·69) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g4 (d1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to d5 (c3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to e8 (h8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Mate in 2: bishop to g6 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: queen to a5 (a2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (d4·30) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: pawn to d6 (e5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Winning blow: queen to d5 (c5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 65
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Commentary
The cornered knight on h1 has one move, g3, and the engine plays it first. Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1, and White castles on the third half-move: Ng3 Ng6 O-O e5 d4 d6. The queen begins in the corner on a1. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, the second knight on b1. Among the pawns, 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.