Starting position #45
Back-rank setup: NNQBRKBR
SP-45 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 e1 and h1, the queen on c1.
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: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 920.
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 34 Morozov Balance Index: 34 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +31 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 652 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 (60 half-moves): +29 → +47 → +28 → +8
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #920
- The king starts on f, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1239 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g4 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (d5·17) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a5 (b3·14) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c4 (c1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to e1 (f1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to e6 (c5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e5 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: king to f2 (f1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: knight to g8 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: bishop to h5 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
This position appears in course day 46
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Commentary
The queen is on c1 with a knight on either side of her, one of them in the corner on a1 with b3 as its single move. The king starts on f1 and castling runs its ordinary course both ways. The bishop on d1 opens along the c-pawn and the e-pawn, the one on g1 along the f-pawn and the h-pawn. On the second rank, a2 starts undefended, and g2 has the king as its only defender. The line in the dataset opens e4 c5, then f4 d6 Be3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.