Starting position #444
Back-rank setup: RBNNQKBR
SP-444 · BastionGuard — King off-centre on c or f with both knights on inner files.
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 a1 and h1, the queen on e1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 716.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 91 Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 94 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +14 → +14 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +16 cp, +3 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #716
- The king starts on f, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 872 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g3 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·27) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b6 (a5·10) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d3 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: knight to f6 (e4·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: queen to g8 (g7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (g5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: rook to f6 (f3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1620
- Mate in 3: knight to f4 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on d6 (d1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 18
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the rooks in the corners on a1 and h1. The bishops are on b1 and g1, the queen on e1 beside her king. The pawn on g2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The knights are on c1 and d1. The engine keeps the edge small, +13 centipawns: c3 f6 e4 c6 Ne2 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.