Starting position #424
Back-rank setup: RBNQBNKR
SP-424 · 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 d1.
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: b2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 733.
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 42 Morozov Balance Index: 42 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 559 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 56.0% (95% CI 42.3–68.8%).
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +39 → +23 → +3 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #733
- 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 606 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c7 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f2 (g1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g4 (d1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to e2 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (c6·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: knight to e6 (d4·20) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d7 (d6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: queen to e6 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to g4 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Winning blow: king to e2 (e1·20) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 46
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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 d1. Among the pawns, b2 has no defender, and g2 leans on the king alone. The bishops are on b1 and e1, the knights on c1 and f1. The engine takes the centre with e4 and the line runs e4 c6 d4 d5 c3 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.