Starting position #408
Back-rank setup: RBQNBNKR
SP-408 · RampartGuard — King on the wing (b/g) 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 g1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on c1.
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 e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 749.
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 10 Morozov Balance Index: 10 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +43 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 868 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (52 half-moves): +61 → +25 → +21 → +18
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #749
- 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 900 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a8 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to h1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f3 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to d4 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to c2 (d2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to g4 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: pawn to c7 (c6·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to g6 (h5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: rook to f5 (f1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g6 (b1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 192
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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 queen on c1. The pawn on e2 has no defender, and g2 leans on the king alone. The bishops are on b1 and e1, the knights on d1 and f1. White's edge here is a wide one, +43 centipawns, and the line runs d4 Nc6 c3 e6 h4 h5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.