Starting position #434
Back-rank setup: BRNNQBKR
SP-434 · 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 b1 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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: c2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 711.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 345 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 (32 half-moves): +38 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #711
- The king starts on g, the rooks on b and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 191 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: queen to b1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b8 (b1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (g2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (g2·15) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f6 (d5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e8 (e5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to e3 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: queen to h6 (g6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Winning blow: queen to d5 (c6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 100
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Commentary
The king starts 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 bishop is on f1. Among the pawns, c2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on e1, the knights on c1 and d1. The engine opens on the flank and both sides mirror: h4 h5 d4 d5 b3 Nd6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.