Starting position #577
Back-rank setup: BQRBNKRN
SP-577 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
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 g1, the queen on b1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: d2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 283.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 105 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +17 → +9 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 54): +15 cp, +1 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #283
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 74 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (b5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f5 (g3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h3 (g2·44) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (e5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to g3 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e2 (e1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to b2 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h6 (h7) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: bishop to d4 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on f7 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 56
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1 and takes the a4 diagonal in the line. Two pawns begin with no defender at all: d2 and h2. The queen is on b1, the knights on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The search ran to depth 49 and calls it +14 centipawns: b4 b6 c4 c5 Ba4 Qd6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.