Starting position #320
Back-rank setup: BBNRQKRN
SP-320 · 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 d1 and g1, the queen on e1.
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.
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 351.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 80 Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 197 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +28 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #351
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e4 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f3 (g2·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to f2 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to g7 (e5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: king to g1 (g2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: pawn to e7 (e6·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: queen to d7 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to f6 (e5·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Mate in 3: rook to h7 (g7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
- Chess960 tactic on g7 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 69
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1; the long one moves the king alone, because the rook already stands on d1. The queen is on e1, right beside her king. A knight sits in the corner on h1 with g3 as its only move, the second on c1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second works the light squares from b1. On the second rank, h2 is the only one starting without a defender, and the line runs c4 c5 Ng3 Ng6 e3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.