Starting position #469
Back-rank setup: RNBBNKRQ
SP-469 · BastionGuard — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, with neither knight in a corner.
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 g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 682.
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 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 304 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): +41 → +34 → +22 → +21
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #682
- The king starts on f, the rooks on a and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 512 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (c3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h6 (g5·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to d2 (e1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h8 (b2·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (c5·22) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: rook to f4 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: rook to h7 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: knight to f6 (e4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Chess960 tactic on e7 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 48
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, one on each colour. The pawn on f2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on h1, the knights on b1 and e1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine pushes the g-pawn twice in six half-moves: g4 h5 g5 g6 h4 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.