Starting position #488
Back-rank setup: QBRNBKNR
SP-488 · 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 c1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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 e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 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 573.
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 18 Morozov Balance Index: 18 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +38 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 788 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 (49 half-moves): +39 → +8 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #573
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and h
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f6 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d5 (c3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d3 (e2·10) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g7 (c3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c8 (c1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Mate in 2: rook to e8 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: rook to f7 (c7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Winning blow: pawn to d6 (e5·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on e6 (d7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 54
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from f1, with the rooks on c1 and h1. The bishops are on b1 and e1, the knights on d1 and g1. On the second rank, g2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1. White's edge here is a wide one, +38 centipawns: c4 c5 b3 b6 Nf3 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.