Starting position #411
Back-rank setup: RQNNBKRB
SP-411 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions 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 f1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 737.
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 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 669 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 (60 half-moves): +39 → +28 → +9 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #737
- The king starts on f, the rooks on a and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Mate in 1: queen to f5 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·51) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (f4·58) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (c3·35) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e3 (f2·17) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f3 (h1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (a8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (d7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: bishop to f7 (d5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Chess960 tactic on g7 (c7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 4
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on e1. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on b1, the knights on c1 and d1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine takes the centre with e4 and the line runs e4 g6 g3 e5 c3 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.