Starting position #597
Back-rank setup: RQBBNKRN
SP-597 · 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 a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-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 266.
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 91 Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 88 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): +23 → +10 → -1 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 49): +17 cp, +4 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #266
- The king starts on f, the rooks on a and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 541 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a5 (b4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h3 (g2·50) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Mate in 1: bishop to h7 (c2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 850
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f6 (h4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Castling-960 to the rescue on g1 (f1·2) — Castling-960 · 1150
- Mate in 2: queen to h7 (h4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to d4 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to f6 (h5·19) — Chess960 specifics · 1930
- Chess960 tactic on f7 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 36
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on b1, the knights on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine takes the centre with d4 and castles on the third half-move: d4 Ng6 O-O b6 c3 e6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.