Starting position #738
Back-rank setup: BRKNNBQR
SP-738 · BastionGuard — King off-centre on c or f with both knights on inner files.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 407.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
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 329 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 → +27 → +5 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #407
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b 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 e8 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Winning blow: queen to d3 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to g5 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to c5 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to e4 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to d4 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Winning blow: king to b1 (c1·37) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: bishop to f5 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to d6 (d1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
This position appears in course day 5
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone from b1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. The pawn on a2 has no defender, and d2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on g1, the knights side by side on d1 and e1, the second rook in the corner on h1. The engine's main line opens b3 b6, then f3 e6 e4 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.