Chess960 position 854

The back rank is R K B N R B N Q. The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and e1, the bishops on c1 and f1, the queen on h1.

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

Castling short, the king goes from b1 to g1 and the rook goes from e1 to f1.

Castling long, the king goes from b1 to c1 and the rook goes from a1 to d1.

One thing about castling here surprises people: the king travels rightwards to castle long.

The pawn on c2 is defended only by the king, which makes it the square both sides look at first.

A rook sits in the corner on a1, 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 854 on Play CPU. To train tactics on positions like it, use the Chess960 puzzle trainer.