Starting position #64
Back-rank setup: BBNNRKQR
SP-64 · BastionGuard — Both knights begin inside the board while the king stands on c or f; a position and its mirror twin share this family.
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 e1 and h1, the queen on g1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
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: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 895.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 34 Morozov Balance Index: 34 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +31 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 650 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 (40 half-moves): +36 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #895
- The king starts on f, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 600 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (b3·21) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g3 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e2 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c3 (d2·13) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to g2 (f2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b6 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (b3·42) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h6 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Castling-960 to the rescue on h1 (f1·11) — Castling-960 · 1760
- Winning blow: rook to g4 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 138
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Commentary
The queen begins on g1 with the king beside her on f1 — the two of them at the short-castling end of the rank. Castling itself is ordinary in both directions. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 and waits for the b-pawn before its diagonal to h8 opens. Among the pawns, d2 starts with no defender. The main line of the run opens b4 f6, then f3 Qf7 e4 O-O.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.