Starting position #889
Back-rank setup: RQKBBRNN
SP-889 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
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 a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 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 73.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 61 Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 365 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 (53 half-moves): +30 → +10 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #73
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and f
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g7 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to e4 (c2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to d6 (e4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: knight to a6 (c5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d7 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to c6 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to c8 (e8) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: king to f2 (e1·20) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Chess960 tactic on g8 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 47
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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 stands on b1, right beside the king, and the knights are on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine pushes forward the very pawn that starts bare, two squares at once, and White's edge is +23 centipawns: g4 g5 Ng3 e6 e3 f5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.