Starting position #853
Back-rank setup: RKBBNRNQ
SP-853 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight in a corner.
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 f1, the queen on h1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 106.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 59 Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 385 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): +29 → +25 → +10 → +2
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #106
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to a1 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to a3 (b2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to a4 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: rook to d8 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e5 (e3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: knight to d7 (b6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: pawn to a4 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 173
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and the rook already occupies f1, so short castling is a solo five-square walk to g1. The queen begins in the corner on h1, the second rook in the other corner on a1. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, one on each colour. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The knights are on e1 and g1 — both can reach f3, so a knight move there has to name its file. White's edge is +24 centipawns, and the line lifts a rook to a3 behind the advanced pawn: a4 a5 e4 e5 Ra3 Ne7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.