Starting position #846
Back-rank setup: RKNRQBBN
SP-846 · RampartScout — King on the wing (b/g) with a knight on the rim (a/h) — the rarest family.
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 d1, the queen on e1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on b2, c2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 116.
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 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 324 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 (60 half-moves): +20 → +4 → -5 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #116
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and d
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 785 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to c2 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to e5 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to a1 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to f7 (g5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: king to b1 (c1·23) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (a5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: knight to b6 (d5·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Winning blow: bishop to c7 (b6·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on b8 (d6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 41
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. A rook occupies d1, the square a classical setup keeps for the queen, and the second rook stands in the corner on a1. The knights are on c1 and h1 — the first right beside the king, the cornered one with g3 as its only move. The bishops stand side by side on f1 and g1, one on each colour. The pawns on b2 and c2 lean on the king alone; the other six start with a defender. The queen is on e1, and the engine takes the centre with e4: e4 e5 f3 Ng6 Ng3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.