Starting position #873
Back-rank setup: QRKBBRNN
SP-873 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
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 b1 and f1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: g2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 89.
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 37 Morozov Balance Index: 37 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +30 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 591 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (57 half-moves): +48 → -10 → -16 → -11
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #89
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 778 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g2 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a6 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g2 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to b2 (a3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a6 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d2 (f3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g3 (h2·31) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b6 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (b5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (f8·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
This position appears in course day 21
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1 and the rook already occupies f1, so each castling sends a single piece — the rook one way, the king the other. The bishops are on d1 and e1, one on each colour. Two pawns begin without a defender, g2 and h2. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move, and the second rook is on b1. The engine takes the centre with e4, and White's edge is +30 centipawns: e4 Ng6 f4 e6 a4 a5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.