Starting position #834
Back-rank setup: BRKNRBQN
SP-834 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 b1 and e1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 119.
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 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 102 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +20 → +10 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 51): +19 cp, +5 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #119
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 41 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b4 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c4 (a6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a6 (f1·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to d5 (e4·13) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b5 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (b5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b4 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Castling-960 to the rescue on b1 (c1·3) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Winning blow: knight to c8 (e7·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: bishop to a6 (d3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2200
This position appears in course day 20
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone — and the engine plays it on its third move. A bishop holds the corner on a1 with one diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. The pawn on a2 begins without a defender, and the pawns on c2 and d2 lean on the king alone. The queen is on g1, the knights on d1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move, and the rooks are on b1 and e1. White's edge is a narrow +14 centipawns: f4 b6 Nc3 f6 O-O-O e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.