Starting position #404
Back-rank setup: RBBQNNKR
SP-404 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
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 a1 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.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-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 750.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 165 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 (60 half-moves): +26 → -3 → -1 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #750
- The king starts on g, the rooks on a and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 909 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c8 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g5 (f3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d6 (f5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g4 (e3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to h2 (g1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (f8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e7 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h7 (d3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: bishop to h7 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c8 (a8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 76
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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 rooks sit in the corners, a1 and h1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. On the second rank, f2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The engine takes the centre with e4, and Black recaptures with the queen: e4 e5 c3 d5 exd5 Qxd5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.