Starting position #580
Back-rank setup: QBBRNKRN
SP-580 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
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 d1 and g1, the queen on a1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 286.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 21 Morozov Balance Index: 21 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +36 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 755 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +16 → +33 → +29 → +6
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #286
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 309 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e7 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·25) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·87) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (e7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to d3 (d1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: rook to h8 (h7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h8 (f6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (a2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e7 (a3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
- Chess960 tactic on e1 (d1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 9
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Commentary
The cornered knight on h1 has g3 as its only move, and the engine plays it first: Ng3 O-O d4 d5 b3 Nf6, with Black castling on the second half-move. Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1; the long one moves the king alone, because the rook already stands on d1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, h2 has no defender, and e2 leans on the king alone. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the second knight on e1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.