Starting position #585
Back-rank setup: QRNBBKRN
SP-585 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 b1 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 d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- 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 281.
The engine's main line opens with O-O, bringing the king out to g1.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 298 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +43 → +35 → -7 → +3
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #281
- The king starts on f, the rooks on b and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 178 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c4 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b1 (a1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h4 (g3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a5 (b4·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to c6 (b5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to a5 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: bishop to h4 (e1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: rook to c4 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c8 (a8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on d7 (d6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 73
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
White castles on move one here: O-O is the engine's first move, the king on f1 and the rook on g1 changing places. The line then runs Ng6 Ng3 e6 d3 a5. The bishops stand side by side on d1 and e1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights on c1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.