Starting position #905
Back-rank setup: RKQBBRNN
SP-905 · RampartScout — King on b or g with a knight already on the edge — the least common of the position families (72 in all).
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 c1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-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 57.
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 11 Morozov Balance Index: 11 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +42 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 849 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): +25 → +33 → +4 → +5
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #57
- 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 881 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h6 (g5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to b3 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to b7 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to d5 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c6 (a4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to a6 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: knight to c7 (d5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: bishop to d4 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (a2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Mate in 3: rook to g7 (d7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2210
This position appears in course day 77
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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 queen stands on c1, right beside the king, and the second rook is on a1. The bishops are on d1 and e1, one on each colour. Two pawns begin without a defender, g2 and h2. The knights are on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine takes the centre with e4, and White's edge here is a wide one, +42 centipawns: e4 e5 Nf3 Ng6 d4 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.