Starting position #759
Back-rank setup: RKBNNRQB
SP-759 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
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 g1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 386.
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 91 Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 84 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): +19 → -10 → +7 → +3 → +5
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 49): +9 cp, -4 cp against the base run — verified · E — even
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #386
- 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 216 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to c3 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: rook to b8 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: king to b2 (b1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to b4 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to d6 (d1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: knight to c6 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: queen to d8 (e8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to d6 (e7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Mate in 3: rook to d8 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 219
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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 c1. Among the pawns, e2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on g1, the knights side by side on d1 and e1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine keeps the edge small, +13 centipawns: a4 a5 g4 g5 e4 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.