Chess960 position 198

The back rank is Q N B R K B N R. The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the bishops on c1 and f1, the queen on a1.

White has twenty legal first moves, the same as in ordinary chess.

Castling short, the king goes from e1 to g1 and the rook goes from h1 to f1.

Castling long, the king goes from e1 to c1 and the rook stays on d1.

One thing about castling here surprises people: the queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king.

The pawn on f2 is defended only by the king, which makes it the square both sides look at first.

The pawn on c2 starts with no defender at all.

A rook sits in the corner on h1, so bringing it into the game is usually a reason to castle early.

Every rule of chess applies here unchanged apart from castling, which the rules page explains in full. To play this exact arrangement against the computer, open position 198 on Play CPU. To train tactics on positions like it, use the Chess960 puzzle trainer.