Starting position #85
Back-rank setup: NNBBRKRQ
SP-85 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on f1, the rooks on e1 and g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
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 874.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 96 Morozov Balance Index: 96 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +8 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 43 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (62 half-moves): +17 → 0 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +10 cp, +2 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #874
- The king starts on f, the rooks on e and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 259 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to g8 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e4 (c3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h8 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (d1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (c4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: rook to h5 (h1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (b4·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (c7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on c7 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 32
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Commentary
The queen begins in the corner on h1 while both knights start on the a- and b-files, the corner one with b3 as its only move. Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1. The bishops on c1 and d1 open onto h6, a3, h5 and a4. The pawn on a2 begins with no defender at all, and f2 has only the king. The published line opens h4 h5, then Nb3 d6 d3 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.