Starting position #381
Back-rank setup: NRKBRNBQ
SP-381 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 e1, the queen on h1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 296.
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 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 480 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (51 half-moves): +31 → +21 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #296
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 731 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e8 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h4 (g3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to c6 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·119) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to d3 (c2·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to g7 (g6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to d4 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to e2 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: knight to e5 (f3·19) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Chess960 tactic on d8 (f8) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 47
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone from b1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; the second knight is on f1. The bishops are on d1 and g1, the queen in the corner on h1. Among the pawns, a2 is the one that begins without a defender. The line in the dataset opens f4 Nb6, then Nb3 f6 e4 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.