Starting position #43
Back-rank setup: NNQRBKRB
SP-43 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
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 d1 and g1, the queen on c1.
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.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 913.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 146 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +19 → +21 → +19 → +8 → +5
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +15 cp, 0 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #913
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 735 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: rook to g5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e2 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to h3 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to f5 (e4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (d5·37) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: king to d2 (e1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h6 (c1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: rook to f7 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to f8 (e7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: bishop to g6 (e4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 38
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Commentary
Three squares on the second rank are worth noting: a2 and h2 begin with no defender at all, and e2 has only the king. Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1; long castling moves the king alone to c1, since the rook is already on d1. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, a bishop in the corner on h1 with a single diagonal to a8. The queen holds c1 and the second bishop e1. The published line opens b4, Black castles at once with O-O, and the line runs d3 d5 Nb3 Nb6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.