Starting position #484
Back-rank setup: QBBRNKNR
SP-484 · BastionGuard — Both knights begin inside the board while the king stands on c or f; a position and its mirror twin share this family.
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 d1 and h1, the queen on a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from f1 to c1.
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 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 574.
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 14 Morozov Balance Index: 14 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +40 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 824 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +45 → +35 → +6 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #574
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and h
- It becomes the daily position in 854 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c7 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b1 (a1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d6 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a3 (a1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to c4 (c2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e7 (d8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f6 (a1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to f7 (f1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d8 (d1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 4
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from f1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, f2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. Both knights, on e1 and g1, can reach f3, so the engine's fifth half-move carries a letter: Ngf3. White's edge here is a wide one, +40 centipawns: c4 c6 b3 d5 Ngf3 Ngf6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.