Starting position #573
Back-rank setup: RNKBNRBQ
SP-573 · 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 f1, the queen on h1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-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 488.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 28 Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 688 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): +31 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #488
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and f
- It becomes the daily position in 45 days
Puzzles from this position
- Mate in 1: knight to a7 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h5 (d1·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (f5·14) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to c4 — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (g2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f5 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: bishop to c5 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 1480
- Winning blow: knight to b5 (c3·24) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to d5 (f7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Chess960 tactic on b6 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 8
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Commentary
Both castlings are half-moves here: the king already stands on c1 for the long one, and the rook already occupies f1 for the short. The bishops are on d1 and g1, the knights on b1 and e1. On the second rank, b2 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 second rook in the corner on a1. The engine takes the centre with e4 and the kingside opens up: e4 g5 h4 f5 exf5 gxh4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.