Starting position #727
Back-rank setup: RKBNQNRB
SP-727 · 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 e1.
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.
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 RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 418.
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 72 Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 257 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +21 → +17 → +4 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #418
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and g
- 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
- Winning blow: pawn to a3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h1 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f2 (g2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to b6 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to b5 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a6 (a5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to g8 (f8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to b4 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to b5 (b4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
This position appears in course day 54
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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. The pawn on c2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on e1, the knights on d1 and f1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine's first move is the a-pawn: a4 a5 g4 g5 e3 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.