Starting position #437
Back-rank setup: RNBBNQKR
SP-437 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
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 c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-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 714.
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 72 Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 265 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 (49 half-moves): +28 → +23 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #714
- 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 1204 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d5 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e4 (f3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a3 (b2·17) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c7 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (f5·27) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f2 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e4 (c3·20) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Winning blow: pawn to e7 (e6·26) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 29
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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 c1 and d1, the queen on f1 beside her king. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line runs d4 d5 c4 e6 cxd5 exd5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.