Starting position #901
Back-rank setup: RKBBQRNN
SP-901 · RampartScout — A wing-file king (b or g) and at least one corner knight: the rarest of the six families, just 72 positions.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on e1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: g2, h2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 58.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 284 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +48 → -1 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #58
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1020 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: bishop to e1 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (e7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e4 (g5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: bishop to b7 (f3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d7 (e6·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (a5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to d8 (d4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: rook to d3 (e3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (e5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2150
- Chess960 tactic on a6 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 274
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and the rook already occupies f1, so short castling is a solo five-square walk to g1. The bishops stand side by side on c1 and d1, one on each colour. Two pawns begin without a defender, g2 and h2. The queen is on e1, the knights on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move, and the second rook is on a1. The engine takes the centre with e4, and White's edge is a narrow +21 centipawns: e4 e5 a4 a5 Ng3 Nf6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.