Starting position #97
Back-rank setup: BQNBRNKR
SP-97 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight in a corner.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on g1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on f2, g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 859.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 34 Morozov Balance Index: 34 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +31 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 646 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (41 half-moves): +49 → +21 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #859
- The king starts on g, the rooks on e and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1446 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (b4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to e1 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to h2 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to e6 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to e7 (e1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: knight to c7 (e8) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (e1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f7 (g6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Winning blow: pawn to c7 (d6·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: bishop to f6 (a1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 12
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Commentary
Two pawns lean on the king alone: f2 and g2 both have him as their only defender. The king starts on g1, so short castling moves only the rook. A bishop is in the corner on a1 with one diagonal to h8; the second stands on d1. The knights are on c1 and f1, the queen on b1. The published line opens c4 c5, then b4 cxb4 Qxb4 e5 — the queen recaptures on the sixth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.