Starting position #681
Back-rank setup: QRKBBNNR
SP-681 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
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 b1 and h1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
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: g2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 473.
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 10 Morozov Balance Index: 10 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +43 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 866 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +42 → +60 → +36 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #473
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 460 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: bishop to a8 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to d4 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to g7 (h8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to a6 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: king to e3 (d2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to e8 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (d6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: queen to b8 (a7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: bishop to d6 (b4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on c4 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 64
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone from b1. The bishops stand side by side on d1 and e1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, g2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights side by side on f1 and g1. White's edge here is a wide one, +43 centipawns: b4 b5 a4 bxa4 c4 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.