Starting position #308
Back-rank setup: NBBQRKRN
SP-308 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
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 d1.
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 366.
The engine's main line opens with O-O, bringing the king out to g1.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 40 Morozov Balance Index: 40 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +29 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 580 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (52 half-moves): +35 → +12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #366
- 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 646 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to c3 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f5 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f4 (c1·25) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c5 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to g5 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Castling-960 to the rescue on g8 (f8·2) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e7 (f5·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Winning blow: rook to f1 (e1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f6 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 18
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Commentary
White can castle on move one here — and the engine does exactly that: O-O is its first move, the king on f1 and the rook on g1 simply changing places. The line runs O-O c5 c4 Ng6 d4 d5. Both knights start in a corner, a1 and h1, each with a single move: b3 and g3. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, the queen on d1. On the second rank, 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.