Starting position #436
Back-rank setup: RBBNNQKR
SP-436 · 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 f1.
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 c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 718.
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 59 Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 403 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 (60 half-moves): +35 → +17 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #718
- The king starts on g, the rooks on a and h
- 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
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e3 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g6 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: bishop to e7 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: bishop to g5 (h6) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c2 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b2 (c1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 3: queen to c5 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a2 (b1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to c6 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
- Chess960 tactic on g8 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 117
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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. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The rooks sit in the corners, a1 and h1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, the queen on f1 beside her king. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line runs d4 f5 c4 c6 Nf3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.