Starting position #815
Back-rank setup: RKQNRNBB
SP-815 · 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 e1, the queen on c1.
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.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 144.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 21 Morozov Balance Index: 21 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +36 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 747 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (42 half-moves): +29 → +36 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #144
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 359 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e7 (d5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to e5 (e1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to c2 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d4 (d2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 3: queen to a5 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: knight to c6 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 2: bishop to e6 (a2) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a1 (b1·10) — Castling-960 · 1920
- Winning blow: knight to d6 (b5·21) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 1
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. The queen stands on c1, right beside the king, and the rooks are on a1 and e1. The bishops sit together at the edge, on g1 and h1, and the cornered one has a single diagonal to a8. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The knights are on d1 and f1 — both can reach e3, so a knight move there has to name its file. White's edge is +36 centipawns, and the engine opens on the flank with g3: g3 f5 Nc3 g6 f4 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.