Starting position #56
Back-rank setup: NBNRBQKR
SP-56 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest 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 g1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 909.
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 9 Morozov Balance Index: 9 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +44 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 878 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +34 → +47 → +94 → +60
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #909
- The king starts on g, the rooks on d and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 398 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f6 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (e3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d4 (d1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f3 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: rook to f8 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: knight to g6 (e5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f3 (h5) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (d5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: bishop to g6 (h7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Chess960 tactic on h5 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 20
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Commentary
Both castling moves are half-moves here: the king is already on g1, the rook already on d1. The corner knight on a1 has one square, b3; the second knight is on c1. The bishop on b1 reaches h7 and the bishop on e1 reaches h4 once their pawns move. The queen stands on f1, immediately next to the king. On the second rank, b2 begins with no defender, the only such square in this setup. The recorded line opens c4 c6, then d4 d5 c5 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.