Starting position #88
Back-rank setup: NBNRBKRQ
SP-88 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
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 d1 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 b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 877.
The engine's main line opens with d4, 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 24 Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 742 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 (60 half-moves): +39 → +34 → +16 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #877
- The king starts on f, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 18 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g7 (h6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (c5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 850
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f5 (h3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to b8 (b7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to h7 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: knight to d5 (f4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: rook to d6 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to f8 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
This position appears in course day 4
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Commentary
Short castling swaps the king on f1 with the rook on g1; long castling moves the king alone, because the rook already stands on d1. The queen is in the corner on h1, a knight in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move. The bishops on b1 and e1 open towards h7 and h4. Among the pawns, b2 begins with no defender. The main line of the run opens d4 d5, then Nd3 h5 c3 Nd6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.