Starting position #440
Back-rank setup: RBNNBQKR
SP-440 · 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 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 e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 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 717.
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 28 Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 690 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (41 half-moves): +29 → +12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #717
- 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 575 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f4 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (h4·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·90) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c4 (d2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to d4 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: queen to g3 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c6 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to h7 (g6) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 3: king to h2 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to g4 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 42
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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 queen on f1 beside her king. The bishops are on b1 and e1, the knights on c1 and d1. The engine opens on the flank: h4 h5 d4 d5 Nd3 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.