Starting position #347
Back-rank setup: NRKQBRNB
SP-347 · 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 c1, the rooks on b1 and f1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
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 321.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 20 Morozov Balance Index: 20 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +37 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 773 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 (37 half-moves): +57 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #321
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1369 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b4 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f2 (e2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to g6 (e6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: king to e1 (d1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: rook to d7 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: queen to f7 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b6 (c5·25) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Chess960 tactic on d6 (d5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 25
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Commentary
Both castlings are half-moves here: the king already stands on c1 for the long one, and the rook already occupies f1 for the short. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on e1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; the second knight is on g1. The pawns on a2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all. The engine takes the centre with e4, and Black recaptures with the queen: e4 g6 f4 d5 exd5 Qxd5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.