Starting position #709
Back-rank setup: RKBBQNNR
SP-709 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight 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 b1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on e1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
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: g2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 442.
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 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 153 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (52 half-moves): +28 → +45 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #442
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1412 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to b8 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e1 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f6 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: knight to a3 (b1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (h1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: bishop to f4 (c1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to b8 (c7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: knight to d6 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f1 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to e8 (c6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
This position appears in course day 304
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, further from the kingside than in any classical setup — short castling costs him a five-square journey to g1. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, g2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on e1, the knights side by side on f1 and g1, the rooks in the corners on a1 and h1. The search ran to depth 50 and calls it +16 centipawns: a4 a5 f4 d5 e4 dxe4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.