Starting position #890
Back-rank setup: RQKRBBNN
SP-890 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
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 d1, 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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 69.
The engine's main line opens with e3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 147 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): +42 → +21 → +11 → +20
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #69
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and d
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to c3 (b2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (d4·35) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h4 (f3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to d5 (e4·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a1 (c1) — Castling-960 · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to e8 (c6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a8 (c8·3) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Mate in 3: rook to d2 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on a4 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 18
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on a1 and d1. The bishops stand side by side on e1 and f1, one on each colour. On the second rank, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. 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. White's edge is a narrow +16 centipawns, and the engine opens quietly with e3: e3 e6 d4 Nf6 Ng3 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.