Starting position #911
Back-rank setup: RKQRNNBB
SP-911 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
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.
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: e2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 48.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 322 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): +47 → +38 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #48
- 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 896 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c8 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d8 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to b1 (c1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (e3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (d5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: knight to f5 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (c8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Winning blow: bishop to d6 (c5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: queen to f6 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to a5 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 33
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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 bishops sit together at the edge, on g1 and h1, and the cornered one has a single diagonal to a8. Among the pawns, e2 is the one that begins without a defender — a central pawn bare on move one. The queen stands on c1, right beside the king, and the knights are on e1 and f1. White's edge is a narrow +22 centipawns, and one knight travels to the centre in two hops: a4 a5 Ne3 d6 Nd5 Qd7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.