Starting position #794
Back-rank setup: RQKNBBRN
SP-794 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins 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 c1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 165.
The engine's main line opens with e3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 0 Morozov Balance Index: 0 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +67 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 958 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 62.0% (95% CI 48.2–74.1%).
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +69 → +32 → +8 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #165
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 537 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f4 (g3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f6 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to a1 (b1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to c2 (b2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (d5·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to g7 (h8·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to f7 (h7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: queen to e6 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on f1 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 23
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on a1 and g1, and the queen stands right beside, on b1. The bishops stand side by side on e1 and f1, one on each colour. On the second rank, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The knights are on d1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. White's edge here is a wide one, +67 centipawns: e3 f5 c4 c6 f4 g5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.