Starting position #635
Back-rank setup: RNKQBRNB
SP-635 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), no knight on the a- or h-file.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 225.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
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 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 293 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 (50 half-moves): +40 → +29 → +12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #225
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and f
- It becomes the daily position in 907 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a3 (b2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b4 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d7 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (e6·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: rook to c3 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (f4·41) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to c6 (c5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: rook to b7 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: rook to e6 (d6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: pawn to c4 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
This position appears in course day 116
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Commentary
Both castlings are half-moves here: the king already stands on c1 for the long one, and the rook already occupies f1 for the short. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on e1. Among the pawns, h2 has no defender, and b2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on d1 beside her king, the knights on b1 and g1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine opens on the kingside and the g-file comes open for both: g4 g6 f4 f5 gxf5 gxf5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.