Starting position #406
Back-rank setup: RQBNNBKR
SP-406 · 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 a1 and h1, the queen on b1.
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 f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 742.
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 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 239 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): +29 → +15 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #742
- 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 173 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d8 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f4 (c1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (d4·48) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a8 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: bishop to e6 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to a6 (a8) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f7 (g6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f7 (c4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: queen to e8 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on f5 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 36
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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. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The rooks sit in the corners, a1 and h1, the queen on b1. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the knights on d1 and e1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line runs d4 d5 c4 dxc4 e4 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.