Starting position #956
Back-rank setup: RBKRNNBQ
SP-956 · BastionGuard — A c- or f-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
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 a1 and d1, the queen on h1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 12.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 317 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): +25 → -12 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #12
- The king starts on c, the rooks on a and d
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1074 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: bishop to d4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to f4 (f2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to b2 (c2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to e8 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (f1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b8 (a8) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to d2 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: queen to b6 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b7 (b6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (g3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 18
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Commentary
The king already stands on c1, so long castling moves the rook alone; the rooks are on a1 and d1. The queen begins in the corner on h1. The bishops are on b1 and g1, one on each colour. On the second rank, e2 begins without a defender — a central pawn bare on move one — and the pawn on b2 leans on the king alone. The knights are on e1 and f1, and their reaches do not overlap. White's edge is a narrow +22 centipawns: a4 a5 e4 e5 c3 Ba7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.