High Mino.

How it goes together

Push the pawn to 4f, then walk the left gold up from 5h to 4g. That is the whole castle: the gold leaves the king’s side and stands in front of it instead, where it guards 4f, 3f and 5f. The pawn matters as much as the gold does, because it is what makes room: 4g is that pawn’s starting square, so it has to move before the gold can stand there, and on 4f it becomes the gold’s own pawn, guarded from behind.

Every High Mino starts as a Mino. The first seven moves below build that castle; the last two are what make this one.

Move by move

Black only, from the start position. Moves one to seven are the Mino, and then the pawn and the gold go up.

The gold on 4g is the whole difference, and it is worth seeing what it costs: 5h is empty now, and the king has one general fewer beside him.

What it is good against

Attacks from above. A knight landing on 3f meets a gold that covers the square, and the 4f pawn in front is guarded by the same gold, so a pawn or silver that comes at the front of the castle finds it defended rather than bare. It is also two moves rather than a decision, on a castle you were building anyway.

Where it breaks

The bottom. The gold that used to sit on 5h beside the king is a rank in front of him now, so a rook that reaches the bottom rank, or a piece dropped underneath, finds less in its way than a Mino had. The pawn on the king’s head at 2g is still only the silver’s to guard, which is why players keep going and build a Silver Crown.

When to build it

When the game is slow enough to spend two moves and the opponent is aiming at the front of your castle rather than the edge. It is the usual middle stage of a ranging rook game: Mino first, High Mino when there is time, Silver Crown if there is more.