Starting position #942
Back-rank setup: RKRNQBBN
SP-942 · 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 c1, 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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 20.
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.
Opening: main line
Stockfish's main line from the start of this setup, 15 moves deep (100 million nodes per move):
1. e4 e5 2. a4 a5 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. f3 d6 5. Nc3 f6 6. Bxg8 Qxg8 7. Rd1 Nc6 8. Ng3 Ng6 9. Nge2 Re8 10. d4 exd4
Evaluation after the line: 0.00 for White.
Best first moves for White (evaluation in pawns):
- e4 — +0.32
- Ng3 — +0.30
- a4 — +0.29
Balance
MBI 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 120 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 (67 half-moves): +23 → 0 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +24 cp, +9 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #20
- The king starts on b, the rooks on a and c
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 401 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·52) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d4 (d1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e1 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c2 (c1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: pawn to g7 (g6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: bishop to c5 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to c7 (c8·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to a7 (a5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: queen to a3 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on c8 (g8) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 194
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Commentary
The king begins on b1 with a rook on either side of him, on a1 and c1, and short castling takes him five squares across the board to g1. The bishops stand side by side on f1 and g1, one on each colour. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The queen is on e1, the knights on d1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. White's edge is a narrow +15 centipawns, and the whole line mirrors: e4 e5 Ng3 Ng6 a4 a5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.