Starting position #89
Back-rank setup: NNRBBKRQ
SP-89 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
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 c1 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 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: a2, b2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 873.
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 61 Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 376 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): +40 → +24 → +18 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #873
- The king starts on f, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1187 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d8 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to f5 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f3 (e2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to h3 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: knight to e6 (c5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e7 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: queen to h7 (h3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d6 (h2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to d8 (c8·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Winning blow: rook to g2 (g1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 2200
This position appears in course day 58
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
The queen begins in the corner on h1 and the rooks split wide, to c1 and g1, with the king on f1 between them. Short castling exchanges those two pieces rather than marching the king across. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3. The pawns on a2 and b2 begin with no defender at all. The engine's line opens b4 d5, then Nb3 Nb6 d3 e6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.