Starting position #537
Back-rank setup: RNKBBQNR
SP-537 · 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 c1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on b2 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 521.
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 34 Morozov Balance Index: 34 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +31 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 636 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 (58 half-moves): +25 → +19 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #521
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and h
- It becomes the daily position in 305 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f5 (e4·32) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to a3 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to a8 (c6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (e5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: knight to d4 (f3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to h4 (e1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a8 (c8·2) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Winning blow: king to a1 (b1·25) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: pawn to d5 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to c8 (c7·9) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 202
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone from a1. The bishops stand side by side on d1 and e1, one on each colour. On the second rank, b2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on f1, the knights on b1 and g1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line looks entirely classical: d4 Nf6 e3 e6 Nf3 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.