I'm describing tips on how to play Third File Rook, one of the most famous opening of Shogi (Japanese Chess).
If you have any questions about tactics, or advices for English descriptions,
feel free to add comments. :-)
Makoto Tobe (4dan at that time, 5dan now), black, selected Ishida-ryu + Mino castle, while Yuusuke Ina (5dan at that time, 6dan now) aimed Ginkanmuri (Silver Crown). Black initiated a attack early.
Amateur Meijin-sen Tournament Final was held on Sep. 14, 2009. Yamazaki (White) selected Ishida-ryu opening. He showed beautiful "Sabaki" (disposing of pieces) of major pieces (rook and bishop), and eventually he won the game.
Yauchi (Queen) won the 3rd game of Queen title match and she defended the title.
Iwane selected thirdfilerook opening, and then she advanced the formation into Ishida-ryu. She was just one step away from winning... , which means she missed mate on the endgame!
You can see detail commentary of the game on the sites below.
Toyoshima (5dan) used Ishida-Ryu at the tournament finals in Ryuo-sen yesterday, and he won. Take a look at the game record below. You can also see the record on the Ryuo-sen site (Unfortunately This site is in Japanese). http://live.shogi.or.jp/ryuou/
At first, I introduce "Classic Ishida-Ryu". This name is not official, but given by myself.
Classic Ishida-Ryu is one of the Ishida-ryu formation which Bishop is on 9g (Figure 1). This Ishida-ryu is used since early times. The formation is well-balanced defence and offence, and therefore beautiful.
However, Classic Ishida-Ryu is not often used in recent years. The reasons are as follows:
1. Rook Pawn Static Rook tend to move Rook Pawn to 8e instantly (Figure 2), which makeｓ third file rook move B-7g compulsory.
2. Climbing Gold There is a overwhelming odds for classic Ishida-Ryu, that is "Boukin" (Climbing Gold. I will introduce this tactics in future entry). If Ishida-Ryu moves Bishop to 9g too early, Static Rook aims Climbing Gold. So Ishida ryu had better keep Bishop on 8h until Static Rook shows his tactics - Climbing Gold or slow game. If Static Rook move right Gold to 5b or 5a that means slow game (such as Bear-in-the-Hole), then you can move Bishop to 9g.
3. Tough Fight against Static Rook's Slow game Unfortunately, the winning percentage of Classic Ishida-Ryu against Static Rook's slow game is not good (under .500 probably) at the moment in professional shogi world.
I hope a good Classic Ishida-ryu Joseki which leads the position against Static Rook is found by professional players.
Case 3. Against 42Bishop & 53Silver tactics This is last case of Koyan Style against Static Rook Bear-in-the-Hole.
(Please note that there are another Koyan Style against Static Rook's quick attack and Static Rook with Mino Castle. I will introduce these tactics some day in the future.)
Fig.1 shows a situation that white moves his Bishop from 3c to 4b in order to prevent from fork by Knight. (Another move to prevent from fork is P-4d, that means Case 2.)
In this case, static rook player tend to move his 2 Golds to 3a and 3b, while black should make own position better.
The keys of this Koyan style are:
Aims four general mino castle with 4th file vanguard Pawn.
Attacks from 3rd file and edge (Please refer to Figure 2). Central attack might not work well due to defence by 64Silver.
Koyan Style is a series of countermeasures against Static Rook Bear-in-the-Hole tactics. The common aim of all Koyan Style forms is, not to allow Static Rook to castle Four generals Bear-in-the-Hole, unlike Manabe Style.
The style name is derived from a nickname for Isao Nakata (7 dan), who is a professional shogi player using the style uniquely in current professional Shogi world.
Case 1. Against 33bishop + 64silver tactics The keys are:
Right knight is on 37.
Pawn in 4th file is not on 45, but 46.
Aims counterattack by using right knight
White obviously aims quick attack by using right silver. Black's central attack doesn't work on Figure 1 due to the deffence by right silver on 64. (On the other hand, the central attack of Manabe Style can work because white's right silver is on 33. Please take a look at "Manabe Style" for comparison).
Instead, as soon as white starts attack, black counterattacks immediately.
Manabe Style is one of the formation against 44 silver formation Bear-in-the-Hole.
The style name is derived from Manabe Kazuo (9 dan), who was a professional shogi player using the style regularly (Unfortunately he died in 2007).
The keys of Manabe Style are as follows:
Four Generals Mino, one of which silver is placed on 46. The mino castle is strong and extensive thanks to 4th file vanguard pawn.
Parry static rook's 8th file attack easily, and then attack from 5th file
Manabe style make the opponent right silver move to 33 (which leads very storng Bear-in-the-Hole) on purpose. Instead, Manabe style is more extensive and strong on 4th and 5th file. In middle-game, basically Manabe Style attacks from 5th file using promoted pawns.
Static Rook Bear-in-the-Hole (Ibisha Anaguma in Japanese) is the most terrible opening for all Ranging Rook players including Third File Rook players due to the solid castle.
Basically, Static Rook Bear-in-the-Hole has 2 formations, one is 44silver (Figure 1) and the other is 44pawn (Figure 2).
Figure 1 is one of the final form of 44silver formation Bear-in-the-Hole, which means that 2 golds are placed the nearest position from king (g31 and g32).
In case of 44pawn formation (Figure 2), basically there is g43 because of protecting 44 place.
44silver formation is solider than 44pawn formation because 2 golds are nearer from king, while 44pawn formation is quicker and easier to castle king.
So I will introduce some kind of Third File Rook VS Static Rook Bear-in-the-Hole tactics to you from next entry.
Third File Rook is one of the Ranging Rook opening.
The rook is placed on 3rd file (32) if you are white (Figure 1), that is why the opening is named "Third" File Rook. Though the rook is placed on 7th file (78) if you are black (Figure 2), the opening is also named Third File Rook, traditionally.
Against Third File Rook, Static Rook side has many tactics, such as Static Rook Bear-in-the-hole, Left(side) Mino, right s57 quick attack, and so on. I will introduce these tactics from now.
