Starting position #863
Back-rank setup: RKNRNQBB
SP-863 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
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 f1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The pawn on b2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 96.
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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 323 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): +26 → +39 → +24 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #96
- 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 446 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to f2 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f6 (e5·18) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to f3 (h1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: king to a1 (b1·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: pawn to b5 (a4·15) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (g2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (h4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to b5 (f1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (b8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: rook to d4 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 52
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
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 bishops sit together at the edge, on g1 and h1, and the cornered one has a single diagonal to a8. Among the pawns, b2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on f1, the knights on c1 and e1 — both can reach d3, so a knight move there has to name its file. White's edge is a narrow +22 centipawns, and the line runs in pairs: a4 a5 f4 f5 g3 g6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.