Starting position #825
Back-rank setup: RKNBBQRN
SP-825 · RampartScout — Wing king plus a rim knight, and only 72 positions qualify — the rarest pattern of 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 b1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 137.
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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 326 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): +27 → +32 → +23 → +5
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #137
- 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 484 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f4 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c5 (f2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d7 (f6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f5 (f4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to c3 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: bishop to g3 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: queen to a6 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (d4·24) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Mate in 3: bishop to b5 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Mate in 3: rook to b7 (c7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2210
This position appears in course day 154
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. A knight stands immediately to his right on c1, the second one in the corner on h1 with g3 as its only move. The bishops are on d1 and e1, one on each colour. On the second rank, h2 begins without a defender, and the pawn on b2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on f1, the rooks on a1 and g1, and White's edge is a narrow +22 centipawns: a4 a5 e4 g5 f4 gxf4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.