Starting position #32
Back-rank setup: BBNNQRKR
SP-32 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 927.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 4 Morozov Balance Index: 4 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +50 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 928 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +44 → +35 → +27 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #927
- The king starts on g, the rooks on f and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 710 days
Puzzles from this position
- Mate in 1: queen to g5 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f8 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (d5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b4 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g2 (f2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e5 (a1·23) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to b8 (b4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to h3 (g3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 3: queen to a3 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to f6 (e5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 2
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Commentary
The queen stands on e1, one file away from the square the classical setup gives her, with the king beside her on g1 — already on its short-castling square, so only the rook travels to f1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1, its diagonal to h8 waiting on the b-pawn; the other works the light squares from b1. The knights hold c1 and d1. On the second rank, g2 is defended by the king alone. The recorded line opens h4 h5, then d4 c5 dxc5 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.