Starting position #617
Back-rank setup: RNQBBKRN
SP-617 · 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 a1 and g1, the queen on c1.
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 249.
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 40 Morozov Balance Index: 40 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +29 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 569 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +41 → +22 → +19 → +3
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #249
- 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 611 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (d5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a5 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to d6 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to g2 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (c6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to f7 (f2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: rook to d7 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to h6 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to f7 (g8·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 22
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1, and both sides use it in the first four half-moves: d4 O-O O-O d5 c4 dxc4. 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 is on c1, the knights on b1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The rooks are on a1 and g1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.