Starting position #38
Back-rank setup: NNBQRBKR
SP-38 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest family.
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 e1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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 f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 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 918.
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 93 Morozov Balance Index: 93 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +11 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 73 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 (70 half-moves): +32 → +7 → +3 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 51): +20 cp, +9 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #918
- The king starts on g, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 32 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g4 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (h4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to g6 (h5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f6 (e4·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d5 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b7 (c6·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e8 (b5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Mate in 3: queen to e8 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Winning blow: rook to d8 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f7 (c4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 42
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Commentary
The knight on a1 has one first move, b3, and the second knight stands next to it on b1. The king is on g1 with the rooks on e1 and h1, so short castling moves the rook alone. The queen holds d1, the bishops c1 and f1. On the second rank, a2 starts undefended, and the pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone. The recorded line opens c4 c6, then d4 d5 cxd5 cxd5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.