Starting position #902
Back-rank setup: RKBQRBNN
SP-902 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest family.
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 e1, the queen on d1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 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 RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 54.
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 2 Morozov Balance Index: 2 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +62 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 937 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 54.0% (95% CI 40.4–67.0%).
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +36 → +79 → +57 → +33
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #54
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and e
- 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 b6 (a5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d7 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to a2 (b1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to c2 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to a3 — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: bishop to e5 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b7 (b6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: pawn to g5 (g4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to a3 (a1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Winning blow: knight to f7 (d8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 63
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. The queen keeps her classical square d1 even though the king has left the centre, and the rooks are on a1 and e1. The bishops are on c1 and f1, one on each colour. On the second rank, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The knights are on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. White's edge here is a wide one, +62 centipawns, and both queens are out by the third move: e4 e5 d4 exd4 Qxd4 Qf6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.