Starting position #929
Back-rank setup: BRKBRNQN
SP-929 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
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 e1, the queen on g1.
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 BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 27.
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 11 Morozov Balance Index: 11 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +42 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 846 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 (38 half-moves): +33 → +16 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #27
- The king starts on c, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 270 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·18) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g1 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h5 (g4·11) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Mate in 2: queen to a6 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to a1 (b1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: pawn to c7 — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: knight to g8 (f6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to b6 (b5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: bishop to d2 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b7 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 94
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on b1 and e1. A bishop holds the corner on a1 with one diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1, running to a4 on one side and h5 on the other. Among the pawns, a2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on g1, the knights on f1 and h1 — both can reach g3, so a knight move there has to name its file. White's edge here is a wide one, +42 centipawns, and the engine pushes the same pawn twice: f4 f6 b3 e5 f5 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.