Starting position #37
Back-rank setup: NNBBQRKR
SP-37 · RampartScout — A wing-file king (b or g) and at least one corner knight: the rarest of the six families, just 72 positions.
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.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 922.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 447 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +50 → +11 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #922
- 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 414 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a5 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c7 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to h1 (g1·12) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: pawn to f5 (e4·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f5 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h8 (h4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: queen to f7 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to f8 (f7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Mate in 3: bishop to f7 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 63
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Both knights start on the edge files here: a1, with b3 as its only move, and b1 beside it. The queen is on e1 and the king on g1, so short castling moves the h1 rook to f1. The bishops on c1 and d1 open onto h6, a3, h5 and a4. The pawn on a2 begins with no defender at all, and the pawn on g2 has only the king. The published line opens f4 f5, then d3 Nb6 Nb3 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.