Starting position #711
Back-rank setup: RKBQNNRB
SP-711 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
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 g1, the queen on d1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: f2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 434.
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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 331 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 (60 half-moves): +31 → +24 → +10 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #434
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1450 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to d8 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to c4 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (g6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b7 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: rook to d4 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: king to b1 (c1·28) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to b5 (c6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: queen to a8 (a6) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: rook to f1 (f2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 104
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on c1. Among the pawns, f2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on d1, the knights side by side on e1 and f1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine's first move is the a-pawn: a4 a5 e4 e5 g3 Ne6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.