Starting position #452
Back-rank setup: RBBNNKQR
SP-452 · BastionGuard — A c- or f-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
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 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.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 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 702.
The engine's main line opens with d4, 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 40 Morozov Balance Index: 40 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +29 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 573 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): +35 → +27 → +45 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #702
- The king starts on f, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1093 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b3 (a2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to a4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (e3·11) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (d5·22) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to g4 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to e1 (f1·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e7 (e3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e1 (f1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: rook to f6 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (f6·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 41
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the queen on g1 next to her king. The rooks sit in the corners, a1 and h1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. On the second rank, e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line runs d4 c6 f3 f5 Qf2 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.