Starting position #918
Back-rank setup: RKBRQBNN
SP-918 · 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 e1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 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 38.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 121 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +24 → -25 → +22 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 54): +22 cp, +7 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #38
- 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 1373 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d8 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Winning blow: rook to d8 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h3 (h8) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (e8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d8 (d1·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to c8 (d8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d5 (d1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 3: queen to f7 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (e5·31) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 9
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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 are on c1 and f1, one on each colour. The pawn on h2 begins without a defender, 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. White's edge is a narrow +15 centipawns, and the engine opens on the flank with f4: f4 d5 Nf3 Nf6 e3 Ng6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.