Starting position #400
Back-rank setup: BBRQNNKR
SP-400 · 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 c1 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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
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 751.
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 34 Morozov Balance Index: 34 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +31 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 638 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 (44 half-moves): +25 → +15 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #751
- The king starts on g, the rooks on c and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 698 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (g2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to e5 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (g5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: bishop to h5 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e7 (d5·19) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: queen to c2 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: queen to h7 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (h5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g5 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (g4·8) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 77
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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. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second works the light squares from b1. Among the pawns, f2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on d1, the knights on e1 and f1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and grabs on c5: d4 c5 dxc5 h5 c4 h4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.