Starting position #915
Back-rank setup: BRKRQNNB
SP-915 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions 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 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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 35.
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 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 413 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +39 → +14 → +7 → -4
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #35
- 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 1057 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h8 (h7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to d1 (c2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to b5 (d6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to a5 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to e8 (e3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f6 (d4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to a5 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: bishop to d7 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Chess960 tactic on e8 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 98
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Commentary
Both bishops start in the corners, on a1 and h1, each with a single long diagonal — one to h8, the other to a8. The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on b1 and d1. On the second rank, a2 begins without a defender, and the pawn on c2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on e1, the knights on f1 and g1, standing shoulder to shoulder. The engine takes the centre with e4, and White's edge is +25 centipawns: e4 e5 g3 b5 d3 g6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.