Shogi Strategy & Lessons: The Japanese Chess

 Characteristics and Strategy(Opening,Joseki,定跡) of the Fourth File Rook Summary If you can displace the bishop, you can crush the Fourth File Rook. Therefore, the battle becomes one of how to shift the bishop’s position. Introduction The Fourth File Rook is a “counter-focused” strategy that waits for the opponent to make mistakes rather than attacking proactively. If you attack recklessly, you will suffer a counterattack that takes advantage of the solidity of the Mino castle. The weakness of the Fourth File Rook is the bishop!! The most important point in breaking this strategy is to drive the bishop away. This is because the bishop in the Fourth File Rook firmly defends the pawn in front of the rook (the square 2d). While the bishop remains: you cannot break through the rook’s file. After the bishop is displaced: you can promote from 2d and reach a winning position for Static Rook. Many joseki against the Fourth File Rook (such as Climbing Silver or rapid attack variation...

 How to Use Piyo Shogi on This Site (Playing from a Partial Board) What You Will Learn How to play from a partial board using Piyo Shogi. How to use this tool effectively to memorize shogi openings. Important Notes Before Playing Limit each session from a partial board to 10–20 moves. For more detailed explanations, please see [URL]. Step-by-Step Instructions for Using Piyo Shogi 1. Open the Game Click the blue link in the blog. Then click the part labeled “Web Version” =WEB版で開くto open Piyo Shogi. > 2. Resume from a Partial Board Click “Resume Game”＝対局再開. Next, select the first option to set your opponent as AI（対戦相手の設定）. Set the AI level（強さ） to the recommended value. Click “Start Game”＝対局再開 to begin. ----------------- 3. Play to the Success Position Play until you reach the success position (the correct move sequence). Once you reach it, click the “Undo”=待った button to return to the partial board. ...

Conclusion of This Chapter An essential tactical pattern: in most cases, you can win with 2四歩. In opening theory, memorizing how to respond to your opponent’s ideas is crucial. Introduction Shogi(Japanese chess) is a game of responses. In the previous chapter( Return to Part 1 ), Gote was completely crushed by Bo-gin (the Climbing Silver attack). To avoid repeating this loss, Gote needs a new way to respond. For that reason, let’s once again review Sente’s intentions in the Bo-gin attack. Review of the Previous Conclusion and Examination of Countermeasures Silver’s advance toward the 5th file ▲2四歩 ▲2四銀 Allowing these three ideas led to a complete collapse. In other words, Black needs to cut off this sequence somewhere. In this chapter, we will examine two methods to prevent 2四歩. Examining 1四歩 ① 1四歩　(The idea is to force the Silver to retreat.) By changing the Silver’s position, Black aims to prevent 2四歩. However, White can still play ▲2...

 Summary Chess requires deeper calculation in the endgame. In shogi, it is often sufficient to calculate only near-terminal positions, but players must consider a much wider range of branches. Introduction There was a time when the famous chess grandmaster Garry Kimovich Kasparov(Га́рри Ки́мович Каспа́ров) played shogi. During a shogi-related event in Japan, he commented on the differences between chess and shogi, noting that the ability to reuse captured pieces is a unique feature of shogi. In this article, I will explain why piece reuse is such a distinctive characteristic, based on a comparison of the fundamental features of chess and shogi. Differences in the Endgame Between Shogi and Chess Chess requires deeper calculation in the endgame. In contrast, shogi involves a much higher number of branching possibilities, and compared to chess, players can only realistically calculate positions that are close to checkmate. This difference stems from how captured pieces are t...