Starting position #445
Back-rank setup: RNNBQKBR
SP-445 · BastionGuard — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, with neither knight in a corner.
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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 712.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 93 Morozov Balance Index: 93 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +11 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 68 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 (70 half-moves): +36 → -8 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +13 cp, +2 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #712
- The king starts on f, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 363 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (c3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (a3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a4 (c3·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to b6 (a5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to d7 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: pawn to d3 (c2·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to e4 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: rook to f3 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 2: knight to d6 (b5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1640
- Mate in 3: queen to a5 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2170
This position appears in course day 74
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the rooks in the corners on a1 and h1. The knights stand side by side on b1 and c1, the bishops on d1 and g1. The pawn on b2 has no defender, and g2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on e1 beside her king. The engine takes the centre with e4 and brings both knights out: e4 e5 Nd3 Nc6 Nc3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.