Starting position #305
Back-rank setup: BNQBRKRN
SP-305 · 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 c1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 363.
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 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 672 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 (58 half-moves): +45 → +9 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #363
- 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 368 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h7 (g5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to g2 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f5 (e4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to f2 (g1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b8 (b1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Castling-960 to the rescue on g8 — Castling-960 · 1280
- Winning blow: bishop to f3 (d1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1620
- Mate in 3: queen to h6 (g6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to d8 (c8·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: pawn to h7 (h6·10) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 9
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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. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. The pawns on a2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all. The queen is on c1, and the engine's line runs b4 b5 Ng3 Nc6 c4 bxc4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.