Starting position #914
Back-rank setup: BRKRQBNN
SP-914 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and d1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 39.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 13 Morozov Balance Index: 13 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +41 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 830 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 → +5 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #39
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and d
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 583 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a6 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b7 (a6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to d5 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to d2 (d1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to c7 (c6·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g4 (g2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: rook to e8 (e1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to b6 (b7) — Chess960 specifics · 1700
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 23
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on b1 and d1. A bishop holds the corner on a1 with one diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. Two pawns begin without a defender, a2 and h2, and the pawn on c2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on e1, the knights on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move, and the engine plays exactly that first. White's edge here is a wide one, +41 centipawns: Ng3 e6 e3 a6 b4 f5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.