Starting position #831
Back-rank setup: RKNQRNBB
SP-831 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
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 d1.
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.
The pawn on b2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 128.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 285 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +39 → +27 → +16 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #128
- 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 262 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to f3 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to e1 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to c5 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to c2 (b1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·58) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (c7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to b5 (a4·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to d8 (d3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: bishop to f1 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on a8 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 250
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. The bishops sit together at the edge, on g1 and h1, and the cornered one has a single diagonal to a8. The queen keeps her classical square d1 even though the king has left the centre, and the rooks are on a1 and e1. On the second rank, b2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The knights are on c1 and f1, and White's edge is a narrow +21 centipawns: f4 f5 a4 a5 g4 g6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.