Starting position #389
Back-rank setup: QRBBNNKR
SP-389 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
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 b1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 762.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
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 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 196 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 (18 half-moves): +41 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #762
- The king starts on g, the rooks on b and h
- 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
- Winning blow: pawn to b5 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to f6 (b2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h8 (g7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to f7 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d8 (c8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e7 (d5·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g6 (b1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
- Chess960 tactic on e3 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 182
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Commentary
The king begins on g1, already on the square short castling would give him, so that castling moves the rook alone. The queen starts in the far corner on a1. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, f2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The engine's line opens b4 d6, then a4 e5 d3 a6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.