Starting position #947
Back-rank setup: BRKRNNQB
SP-947 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), no knight on the a- or h-file.
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 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.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 3.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 653 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: sharpening
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +25 → +34 → +49 → +32
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #3
- 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 856 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e4 (f3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to f6 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to e3 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to b5 (a7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f3 (a8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b7 (b1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b8 (a7·19) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: bishop to h3 (g4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d7 (c6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 48
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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. Two pawns begin without a defender, a2 and e2 — one of them a central pawn bare on move one. The queen is on g1, the knights on e1 and f1, and their reaches do not overlap, so the line writes Ne3 with no file letter. White's edge is +32 centipawns, and the engine opens on the flank with g3: g3 d5 Ne3 b6 c4 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.