Starting position #761
Back-rank setup: RKNBBNRQ
SP-761 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
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 d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on b2 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 393.
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 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 288 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): +29 → +20 → +9 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #393
- 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 685 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e8 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d7 (e5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to a4 — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to a3 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (b5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to h8 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to c8 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (d4·23) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to g8 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b7 (b1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1930
This position appears in course day 19
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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 d1 and e1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, b2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on h1, the knights on c1 and f1. The engine's first move is the a-pawn: a4 a5 h4 e5 d3 g6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.