Starting position #68
Back-rank setup: NBBNRKQR
SP-68 · 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 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.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 894.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 61 Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 377 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 (45 half-moves): +22 → +23 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #894
- 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 3 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f5 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f3 (e2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f6 (e5·20) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to e3 (e1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f7 (f6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: queen to g2 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 2: rook to f7 (h7) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Winning blow: queen to g3 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Chess960 tactic on g6 (h7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 40
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Commentary
A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, and no pawn on the second rank starts undefended. The king is on f1 with the queen beside him on g1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. The bishops on b1 and c1 open onto h7 and h6. The second knight holds d1, and the queen has a clear path once the f-pawn moves. The recorded line opens f4 f5, then both queens step forward — Qf2 Qf7 — and both sides castle: O-O O-O.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.