Starting position #465
Back-rank setup: BRNBNKRQ
SP-465 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
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 g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
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 683.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 7 Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +46 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 895 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +43 → +37 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #683
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1176 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d7 (e5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c4 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e4 (h1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to d7 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to h8 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: rook to h4 (h3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: pawn to g5 (g4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f3 (h1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 2: knight to h6 (f7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (f5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 2200
This position appears in course day 14
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. On the second rank, d2 has no defender, and f2 leans on the king alone. The queen begins in the far corner on h1, the knights on c1 and e1. White's edge here is a wide one, +46 centipawns: g4 b5 e4 e5 Bf3 g5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.