Starting position #751
Back-rank setup: RKNNQRBB
SP-751 · 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 f1, 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 400.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 43 Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 536 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +19 → +12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #400
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 596 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (f5·16) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to c8 (h8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: king to c1 (b1·15) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: queen to c7 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f1 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b8 (b7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: rook to c8 (c1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: queen to c7 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on g8 (g7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 239
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Commentary
Short castling is two half-moves in one here: the rook already occupies f1, and the king still has five squares to travel to g1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on g1. 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 side by side on c1 and d1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine takes the centre with e4, and Black's rook goes out and comes back: e4 f5 exf5 Rxf5 g4 Rf8.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.