Starting position #715
Back-rank setup: RKQNBNRB
SP-715 · 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 g1, the queen on c1.
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: e2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 433.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 16 Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 801 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): +31 → +17 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #433
- 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 193 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e7 (d5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to a2 (b1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to f2 (e3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to e6 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b3 (a3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Mate in 2: knight to b5 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: pawn to b4 (b2·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (f2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (c6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 55
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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 e1. Among the pawns, e2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on c1 beside her king, the knights on d1 and f1, the second rook in the corner on a1. White's edge here is a wide one, +39 centipawns, and the d-pawn goes two squares up: d4 a5 d5 d6 Bc3 a4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.