Starting position #783
Back-rank setup: QRKNRNBB
SP-783 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
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 BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 176.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 6 Morozov Balance Index: 6 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +48 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 905 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +75 → +9 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #176
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 175 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e4 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d3 (c2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to d1 (c2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to c4 (d5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: pawn to a6 — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to b6 (g1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: rook to f2 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (d4·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Mate in 3: queen to d8 (b6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Chess960 tactic on e7 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 90
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on b1 and e1. The bishops sit together at the edge, on g1 and h1, and the cornered one has a single diagonal to a8. On the second rank, c2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights on d1 and f1 — both can reach e3, so a knight move there has to name its file. White's edge here is a wide one, +48 centipawns: b4 b6 f4 a5 b5 Qe4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.