Starting position #448
Back-rank setup: BBRNNKQR
SP-448 · BastionGuard — Both knights begin inside the board while the king stands on c or f; a position and its mirror twin share 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 f1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 703.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 238 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): +24 → +13 → +18 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #703
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and h
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a8 (e4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (b3·23) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c1 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b4 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: rook to e6 (e1·19) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: bishop to a5 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to h8 (c8·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: bishop to e6 (c4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
- Chess960 tactic on d6 (d1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 19
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the queen on g1 next to her king. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second works the light squares from b1. Among the pawns, d2 has no defender, and e2 leans on the king alone. The knights are on d1 and e1, the rooks on c1 and h1. The main line of the run opens c4 c5, then b3 b6 Nc3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.