Starting position #895
Back-rank setup: RQKRNNBB
SP-895 · BastionGuard — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, with neither knight 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.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 64.
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 11 Morozov Balance Index: 11 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +42 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 850 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +42 → +51 → +8 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #64
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and d
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1104 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to b2 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e4 (h1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to d1 (c1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to g6 (f6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h3 (g2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to b7 (h1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: king to b1 (c1·35) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Winning blow: rook to a5 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (f8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on c4 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 108
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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 sit together at the edge, on g1 and h1, and the cornered one has a single diagonal to a8. The pawn on e2 is the one that begins without a defender — a central pawn bare on move one. The queen stands on b1, right beside the king, and the knights are on e1 and f1, standing shoulder to shoulder. White's edge here is a wide one, +42 centipawns: g4 c6 h3 g6 c3 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.