Starting position #682
Back-rank setup: QRKNBBNR
SP-682 · 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 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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on c2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 469.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 43 Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 539 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): +24 → +23 → +8 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #469
- 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 1342 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to a3 (a1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c7 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 850
- Winning blow: queen to c3 (b3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to b5 (a6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to a3 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to b7 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: rook to a8 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b2 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1840
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c5 (b7) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 37
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone from b1. The bishops sit together on e1 and f1, the knights on d1 and g1. Among the pawns, c2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the second rook in the corner on h1. The engine's first move is the a-pawn, and both sides mirror: a4 a5 Nc3 Nc6 b3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.