Starting position #59
Back-rank setup: NNRQBKRB
SP-59 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
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 d1.
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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The second rank carries 3 pawns with no defender at all: a2, b2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 897.
The engine's main line opens with d4, 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 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 446 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): +29 → +33 → +10 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #897
- 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 711 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (c3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c2 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to h8 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (f4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e4 (g4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to f4 (d2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (h5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: bishop to f7 (g8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (c8·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 67
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Three pawns start with no defender at all — a2, b2 and h2 — which is as exposed as a Chess960 setup gets. Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, a bishop in the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. The queen stands on d1, the second knight on b1, the second bishop on e1. The engine's line opens d4 d5, then Nb3, Black castles with O-O, and it closes g3 g6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.