Starting position #608
Back-rank setup: BBRNQKRN
SP-608 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
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 e1.
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.
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 255.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 2 Morozov Balance Index: 2 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +53 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 941 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +57 → +62 → +62 → +14
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #255
- 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 1188 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h7 (g5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c4 (c1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to e1 (f2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c1 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f6 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e3 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: rook to g8 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: rook to g4 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to e4 (f5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Chess960 tactic on f6 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 5
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second works the light squares from b1. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on e1 beside her king, the knights on d1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. White's edge here is a wide one, +53 centipawns, and both sides mirror: c4 c5 f4 f5 b3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.