Starting position #797
Back-rank setup: RQKBNRBN
SP-797 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
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 f1, 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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 168.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 72 Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 255 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): +26 → +29 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #168
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and f
- It becomes the daily position in 461 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g2 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·18) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: bishop to a6 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: queen to a6 (d3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to d5 (c4·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: queen to c5 (c6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to a7 (a8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: bishop to b6 (d4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1930
This position appears in course day 68
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Commentary
Both castlings are one-sided here: the rook already occupies f1 and the king already stands on c1, so each move sends a single piece. The bishops are on d1 and g1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, d2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen stands on b1, right beside the king, and the knights are on e1 and h1. The engine does not touch a pawn first: the knight goes from h1 to g3, the line runs Ng3 f5 f4 c6 c3 e6, and White's edge is +20 centipawns.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.