Starting position #903
Back-rank setup: RKBQRNNB
SP-903 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
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.
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: f2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 50.
The engine's main line opens with d4, 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 14 Morozov Balance Index: 14 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +40 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 816 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +56 → +31 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #50
- 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: knight to d6 (c4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e4 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to a2 (b1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b4 (e1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to a7 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to g5 (f4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 198
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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. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on c1. On the second rank, f2 is the one that begins without a defender. The knights are on f1 and g1, standing shoulder to shoulder, and White's edge here is a wide one, +40 centipawns: d4 a5 e4 a4 g3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.