Starting position #757
Back-rank setup: RKBBNNRQ
SP-757 · 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 h1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: f2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 394.
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 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 103 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): +26 → +2 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 51): +15 cp, +1 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #394
- 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 120 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d3 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g1 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e5 (f3·14) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to c8 (a8) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b3 (d1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to b5 (f1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to g4 (h3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: bishop to b7 (f3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: queen to c4 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (g2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 20
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, f2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on h1, the knights side by side on e1 and f1. The engine keeps the edge small, +14 centipawns, and both sides mirror: a4 a5 f4 f5 d3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.