Starting position #394
Back-rank setup: QRNNBBKR
SP-394 · RampartGuard — Both knights begin on inner files while the king sits on the wing (b/g); mirror twins stay together in this 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 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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: c2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 757.
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 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 479 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 (58 half-moves): +28 → +28 → +20 → +8
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #757
- The king starts on g, the rooks on b and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 87 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c5 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (a4·32) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to b4 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (c4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (g8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to a6 (a3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Winning blow: pawn to g7 (g6·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (b5·28) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Chess960 tactic on c4 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 69
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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 bishops sit together on e1 and f1, the knights on c1 and d1. Among the pawns, c2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen starts in the far corner on a1, the rooks on b1 and h1. The main line of the run opens c4 h5, then h4 c5 e3 e6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.