Starting position #449
Back-rank setup: BRNBNKQR
SP-449 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), 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 f1, the rooks on b1 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 699.
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 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 107 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +19 → +44 → +38 → +5 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 49): +17 cp, +3 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #699
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 466 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to e5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b6 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h3 (g2·21) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (d3·26) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to f6 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c8 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: bishop to h5 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 3: rook to c7 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (b4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1820
- Winning blow: king to h1 (g1·38) — Chess960 specifics · 2340
This position appears in course day 33
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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 closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. Among the pawns, d2 is the one that begins without a defender. The knights are on c1 and e1, the rooks on b1 and h1. The engine keeps the edge small, +14 centipawns: c4 f6 b3 b6 f4 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.