Starting position #416
Back-rank setup: BBRNQNKR
SP-416 · 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 c1 and h1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 735.
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 24 Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 733 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 (52 half-moves): +34 → +31 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #735
- The king starts on g, the rooks on c and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 232 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c8 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f1 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to g3 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to c6 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to h8 (h7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e4 (e2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to c3 (f3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: pawn to b8 (b7·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: knight to f5 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on h8 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 27
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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. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second works the light squares from b1. On the second rank, g2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on e1, the knights on d1 and f1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line runs d4 b5 h4 h5 e4 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.