Starting position #840
Back-rank setup: RBKNBRQN
SP-840 · 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 a1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 125.
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 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 224 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): +31 → +29 → +7 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #125
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and f
- It becomes the daily position in 324 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (d3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e3 (f2·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to h7 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to d6 (e4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b6 (c4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: rook to c7 (c1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: knight to d5 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: bishop to d5 (a2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d6 (g3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to g3 (g2) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 132
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
The king already stands on c1 and the rook already occupies f1, so each castling sends a single piece — the rook one way, the king the other. The bishops are on b1 and e1, one on each colour. The pawn on e2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on g1, the knights on d1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move, and the second rook is on a1. White's edge is a narrow +19 centipawns: f4 f5 a4 c6 g3 a5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.