Starting position #297
Back-rank setup: QNRBBKRN
SP-297 · 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 c1 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 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: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 377.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 673 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 (60 half-moves): +47 → +44 → +29 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #377
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 697 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e4 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e2 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to h1 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to g2 (g1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: king to g1 (f1·25) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to f1 (f2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 2: bishop to e5 (c7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to g8 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Mate in 3: rook to f7 (f1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 55
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Commentary
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 b1. The bishops stand side by side on d1 and e1, one on each colour. The queen begins in the corner on a1, and the pawn on h2 is the only one starting without a defender. The line in the dataset opens b4 d5, then a4 a5 b5 Nd7 — a queenside pawn race, with White's whole back rank still untouched after six half-moves.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.