Starting position #41
Back-rank setup: NNQBBRKR
SP-41 · RampartScout — King on b or g with a knight already on the edge — the least common of the position families (72 in all).
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 f1 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 d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 921.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 92 Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 82 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +21 → -4 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 48): +26 cp, +14 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth · M — moderate edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #921
- The king starts on g, the rooks on f and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 288 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c4 (e2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d4 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to e8 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to f6 (f1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c3 (h3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: king to f1 (g1·28) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: bishop to e3 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (f3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Mate in 3: queen to e8 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on e8 (e7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 198
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Commentary
Both knights start on the edge of the rank, a1 and b1, and the one in the corner has a single first move: b3. The queen is on c1, the bishops on d1 and e1, the king on g1 with the rooks on f1 and h1. Short castling therefore moves only the rook. Among the pawns, a2 begins with no defender at all, and g2 has only the king. The engine's line opens c4 c5, then f4 f5 Nc3 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.