Starting position #844
Back-rank setup: RBKNRQBN
SP-844 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
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 e1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 124.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 415 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 (42 half-moves): +38 → +23 → +13 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #124
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and e
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f8 (f1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g8 (b3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e2 (d1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to f3 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to e6 (f5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: rook to b3 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: rook to c6 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e8 (c6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to a6 (f1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 67
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on a1 and e1. The bishops are on b1 and g1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, d2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on f1, the knights on d1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The search ran to depth 49 and calls it +25 centipawns: e4 e5 Ng3 Ng6 a4 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.