Starting position #906
Back-rank setup: RKQRBBNN
SP-906 · RampartScout — King on the wing (b/g) with a knight on the rim (a/h) — the rarest 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 d1, 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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 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 53.
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 40 Morozov Balance Index: 40 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +29 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 561 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +26 → +35 → +66 → +74
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #53
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and d
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 157 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: bishop to a6 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (e5·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to b3 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d8 (d1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to d2 (d1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: bishop to c4 — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a8 (b8·4) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e5 (e3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (f6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Winning blow: knight to a6 (c5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 2290
This position appears in course day 103
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Commentary
The king begins on b1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. A rook occupies d1, the square a classical setup keeps for the queen, and the second rook stands in the corner on a1. The queen stands on c1, right beside the king. The bishops stand side by side on e1 and f1, one on each colour. The pawn on h2 is the one that begins without a defender, and the knights are on g1 and h1. White's edge is +29 centipawns, and the rook on d1 turns out to be the piece that recaptures in the centre: e4 e5 d4 exd4 Rxd4 Bc5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.