Starting position #875
Back-rank setup: QRKRBNNB
SP-875 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), 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 c1, the rooks on b1 and d1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
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 c2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 81.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 28 Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 684 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +44 → +33 → -28 → -6
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #81
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and d
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 740 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b3 (c2·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to c3 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e3 (g4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to b8 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to b1 (a2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e8 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: queen to f8 (c8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: knight to f6 (d5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Chess960 tactic on d8 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 130
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on b1 and d1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on e1. Among the pawns, c2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights on f1 and g1 — their reaches do not overlap, so the line writes Ne3 with no file letter. White's edge is +33 centipawns: b4 b5 a4 a6 Ne3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.