First game of Kitaurawa shogi salon tournament

I won the shogi tournament at Kitaurawa shogi salon in Saitama prefecture, Japan the other day.
I will introduce the games and show the first game here.

The opponent is 5 Dan there, and aims rapid attack by Bougin.
I think Anaguma is strong against rapid attack. And it is effective to leave left Silver at 7h and aim for exchanging Bishop as shown in figure. 1 and figure. 2.

 

figure. 1

 

figure. 2

Figure. 3 is the position in the middle.

figure. 3

At this position, B*9f is good move for both attack and defence. After that, the game proceeded with Sx6d, Rx7f, P*7e, R-6f, G-5c, P-4f (figure. 4). I suceeded in capturing the Silver.

figure. 4

After that, I attacked and won the game (the following is the final position).

 final position

The entire kifu is following.

A Measure against Yonenaga-King castle

Yonenaga-King castle (figure. 1) is strong and popular against swinging rook, though less hard than Anaguma.
I will introduce the measure of swinging rook against Yonenaga-King castle by showing my game of amateur Ryuou championship.

figure. 1

Yonenaga-King castle is strong against side attack, but not so strong against edge or head attack.
So I think it is effective to castle king in Silver crown and aim edge attacking as figure. 2.

figure. 2

 

Furthermore, I like to form like as figure. 3.

Sente aims to attack by P-4e, S-3c, P-5e, Px5e, Bx5e.

Then, gote attacked first by P-8f, Px8f, P-7e, Px7e, Bx7e in the position of figure. 2 (figure. 3).

 

figure. 3

 



In the position of figure. 3, it is technique of counterattack to move  P-4e, S-3c, R-7h, P*7f, B-6h, Bx8f, R-8h, P*8e, B-4f (figure. 4).

 

figure. 4

 

The game proceeded as R-8d, Bx9a+, P-7g+, Rx8f, Px8f (figure. 5).

What do you move in figure. 5?

 

figure. 5

 



In figure. 5, P-2e is good attack (figure. 6).

This aims to attack edge, and it is important to attack before the Rook in 8d moves elsewhere because the position of 8d is easily targeted.

 

figure. 6

 

The game proceeded as Px2e, Nx2e, S33-2d, P-1d, Px1d, P-1c (figure. 7).



Gote can't escape K-2b because sente can put B*6f, King-rook folk.

 

figure. 7

 

After figure. 7, Nx13, Nx13+, Sx13, N*2e, S13-24, L*13, Sx13, Nx13+, B*5g, N*3e (figure. 8).

N*3e is a technique of middle block.

In figure. 8, it is good decision to take Knight by Px3e, not take rook by Bx8d because Px3e attacks the opponent's King directly and Rook in 8d is not valuable in this position.

 

figure. 8

 

The game proceeded as Px3e, P*2f, Px3d, K-2b, S*3c, K-2a, P*2b, G3bx2b, Sx2b, Gx2b, N*3c, K-1b, Sx2f, P*2g, Gx2g, P*2e, Sx2e, P*2d, +B-4f (figure. 9).

+B-4f is good timing movement.

 

figure. 9





 

The game proceeded as S*1c, Lx1d, N*1e, Lx1c+, Gx1c, G-1g, K-2b, B-8d, L*2g, K-3g (figure. 10) and I won.

 

figure. 10

 

As mentioned above, Yonenaga-King castle is strong against side attack, but week against edge or head attack.

So it's effective to castle in Silver crown and attack edge and head against Yonenaga-King castle.

 

Tsume problem from an actual game

Can you mate at this position?

In fact, this problem origins from an actual game.

 

 

Kakutofu (Bishop-Pawn) strategy

Kakutofu (Bishop-Pawn) strategy shown in figure. 1 has been recently popular among some professional shogi players.
Here, I will explain from gote's point of view. The opening move is P-3d, P-7f, P-8d, P-8f (figure. 1).

figure. 1 

The aim of Kakutofu is attack at 8th line with Mukaibisha, by ideally, after figure. 1, S-6b, Bx2b+, Sx2b, N-7g, K-4b, R-8h (figure. 2), K-3b, S-6h, G6a-5b, K-4h, S-3c, K-3h, P-1d, P-1f, P-6d, K-2h, S-6c, S-3h, S-5d, G6i-5h, K-2b, P-8e, Px8e, Rx8e (figure. 3).

figure. 2

figure. 3

At figure. 3, Kakutofu succeeded and could be at good position.
However, Kakutofu has some theme.

At first, you might wonder how you should cope with if the opponent move P-8e at figure.1 like as figure. 4?

figure. 4

In fact, you need not afraid this attack.
You can counter by Px8e, Rx8e, Bx2b+, Sx2b, R-8h (figure. 5).

figure. 5

 

In the case the opponent move P*8g, you can cope with R-6h, K-4b, G-7h, S-6b, N-7g, R-8b,  P*8e(figure. 6). You can get Pawn gain after that.

 

figure. 6

 

In the case the opponent move Rx8h+, the game becomes true ability game. For example, after that, Sx8h, B*4e, R*8e (figure. 7).

 

figure. 7

 

Another way of coping with P-8e at figure.1 is, Px8e, Rx8e, Bx2b+, Sx2b, N-7g, R-8g+, R-8h, P*8f, Rx8g, Px8g+, N-6e (figure. 8).

Figure. 8 appeared at ptofessional's game and Kakutofu side won. This is absolutely slugfest, so pre-study is necessary.

 

figure. 8

 

Actually, the second theme of Kakutofu is that the opponent can put B*4e at figure. 2 and then Kakutofu is not good at position (figure. 9). Therefore, Kakutofu has a problem that Rook can't move to 8th line.

 



figure. 9

 

To this problem, a new move P-5f after figure. 1 appeared (figure. 10).

 

figure. 10

 

After figure. 10, K-4b, Bx2b+, Sx2b, R-8f (figure. 11).

 

figure. 11

 

At figure. 11, the opponent can't make a promoted Bishop by B-4e due to P-5f. Furthermore, when the opponent put B*5h at figure. 11, you can prevent the opponent from making a promoted Bishop by B*6h (figure. 12).

 

figure. 12

 

In this way, Kakutofu became able to move Rook to 8th line and has been popular recently.

After figure. 11, You can form like K-3b, S-6h, G6a-5b, K-4h, P-1d, P-1f, P-6d, K-3h, S-6c, K-2h, S-5d, S-3h, P-2d, G6i-5h, S-2c, N-7g, K-2b, P-8e (figure. 13).

 

figure. 13

 

I think Kakutofu strategy has a surprising effect and be interesting.

If you have an interest, I recommend you to try this!

 

Not defend Bishop's head

In Swinging Rook, it is ordinary that you will defend Bishop's head by B-7g in figure. 1.
However, there is an interesting strategy that you don't move B-7g but K-3g (figure. 2).

figure. 1

figure. 2

When the opponent moves P-8f, you can cope with by Px8f, Rx8f, Bx7g (figure. 3).

figure. 3

If  the opponent moves R-8b, you will form like as P*8f, K-4b, S-6g, K-3b, R-8h, G6a-5b, P-8e (figure. 4).

After that you can attack on 8th-line.

figure. 4

In the other hand, if the opponent moves Rx7f in figure. 3, you can attack like as S-6g, R-7d, R-8h, P*8d, P:8b (figure. 5).

figure. 5

I think this technique is interesting and has a surprising effect.

How to attack in Double Swinging Rook (3)

"Sugai-special", which is a famous way of attacking in Double Swinging Rook, is introduced here. This is invented by Tatsuya Sugai 7-Dan.
Figure. 1 is a position of Double Swinging Rook that gote is castling King in Yagura castle.
Seemingly, this is ordinary opening position that sente is not going to attack but build pieces formation.
However, Sugai-special start to attack on this position immediately.

figure. 1

P-6e, Px66e, P-4e (figure. 2) at figure. 1 is attacking way of Sugai-special.

figure. 2

After figure. 2, Px4e, Bx3c, Nx3c, B*8h (figure. 3).
This aims Bx3c+, but it's not easy to defend as it seems.

figure. 3

If gote moves R-2c, sente will move S-5e (figure. 4).

figure. 4

After figure. 4, Sx5e, Bx5e (figure. 5). At figure. 5, the next movement of sente's S*3b is severe and it's not easy for gote to defend.

figure. 5

Therefore, gote will put Bishop to defent, for example B*5a, at figure. 3. But gote's Bishop doesn't work well. After that, sente will attack by like as S-5e, Sx5e, Bx5e, S*6d, Bx7c+, Nx7c, S*8b, P*7b, P*4d (figure. 6).

At figure. 6, sente is good position because sente can attack effectively and sente's Mino castle is solid whereas gote's castle is weak.

figure. 6

In fact, figure. 6 appeared at professional player's game and sente won the game.

I think you can apply this way of attacking for your game, too.

How to attack in Double Swinging Rook (2)

In Double Swinging Rook, 5th-file Vanguard Pawn strategy (figure. 1) is effective and become fashionable for a period.
I can recommend this formation because it's is easy for you to attack and difficult for the opponent to find where to attack.

figure. 1

This tactics is often used by gote player (of course, you can use when you are sente). So I will explain by the symbol in an opposite position.
The typical opening is, P-3d P-7f, P-4d, P-5f, S-3b, S-6h, S-4c, S-5g, B-3c, R-7h, R-2b (figure. 2).
You don't need to hurry on moving P-7e at this strategy.

figure. 2

After that, you form High Mino castle like as figure. 3.

figure. 3

Furthermore, you take the vanguard position at 5th-file (figure. 4).
At this time, the opponent is a little difficult to find where to attack already.

 figure. 4

Then if the opponent proceed castling, you aim on 5th-file by moving Rook to 5th-file like as figure. 5 and 6.

figure.5

 figure. 6

At figure. 6, you attack 5c by Pawn, Silver, Bishop and yet Knight, so it's difficult for the opponent to defend 5c. You can break 5th-file like as figure. 7. You are good position because your Mino castle is solid and you can attack one-sidedly.

figure. 7

Besides, if the opponent form Mino castle, you can attack similarly like as figure. 8.

figure. 8

And if the opponent prevent your silver from moving to 6e by moving P-6d (figure. 9), you can aim on 6th-file by moving P-6f, G-6c, R-6h (figure. 10).

figure. 9

figure.10

After that, you can attack 6th-file like as figure. 11.

figure. 11

I think you will notice the excellence of this formation when you will use this. So, l recommend that you will give it a try.