Starting position #396
Back-rank setup: QBRNNKBR
SP-396 · BastionGuard — King off-centre on c or f with both knights on inner files.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on f1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on a1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 764.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
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 478 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 (60 half-moves): +34 → +40 → +21 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #764
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1007 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to c2 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to e2 (f1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (d5·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (c2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Mate in 2: queen to g8 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: queen to g6 (h6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e8 (a8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c5 (c1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Mate in 3: rook to g7 (h7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
This position appears in course day 55
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the rooks on c1 and h1. The engine takes the centre with d4, and after c5 dxc5 it is a rook that recaptures: Rxc5, then f3 Rc8. The pawn on d2 has no defender, and e2 leans on the king alone. The queen starts in the far corner on a1, the bishops on b1 and g1. The knights are on d1 and e1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.