Starting position #750
Back-rank setup: RKNNQBBR
SP-750 · RampartGuard — King on the wing (b/g) 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 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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
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 404.
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 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 124 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 (70 half-moves): +33 → +12 → 0 → 0 → +2
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +25 cp, +10 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #404
- 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 702 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f8 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to c1 (c2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e1 (a1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: knight to f6 (d7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (h1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d5 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: rook to f8 (f6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1410
- Mate in 3: queen to d5 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to b5 (f1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 92
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. The bishops sit together on f1 and g1, the knights side by side on c1 and d1. 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 rooks in the corners on a1 and h1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and keeps the edge small, +15 centipawns: d4 f5 Nd3 Nc6 f3 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.