Starting position #69
Back-rank setup: NNBBRKQR
SP-69 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 890.
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 47 Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 528 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): +37 → +19 → +13 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #890
- The king starts on f, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b4 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to f7 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (d3·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e4 (e1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b5 (a3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (h6) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e3 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c2 (d1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to g6 (f5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to f7 (f1·30) — Chess960 specifics · 2150
This position appears in course day 1
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Commentary
Both knights start on the edge files, a1 and b1, the corner one with b3 as its only move. The king is on f1, the queen on g1, and castling is ordinary both ways. The bishops on c1 and d1 open onto h6, a3, h5 and a4. On the second rank, a2 begins with no defender at all. The line in the dataset opens f4 Nb6, then Nc3 f5 Qf2 Qf7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.