The openings of shogi, in one list.

The rook to the fourth file from the left, the king to the right, a Mino, and patience. The most played amateur opening in Japan because it is a system: the same moves against anything, each with a reason, and a counter waiting on the sixth file when the opponent finally attacks. The bot in the app plays it from its book.

One file further left than the Fourth File Rook, so the rook stands directly behind the pawn that will be pushed to 7e. Quieter than the Ishida, which is its aggressive relative, and a good answer to a static rook player who likes to attack on the eighth file: the rook is already there to meet them. Its weakness is the diagonal from 2b, which the 6f pawn has to keep closed.

A Third File Rook that comes forward: rook to 7f behind an advanced pawn, knight to 7g, bishop round to 9g, so that the whole left side points at the opponent. Fast and sharp; the most popular ranging rook among club players today. Pushing the pawn to 7e on move three, before anything else, is the Early Ishida.

The rook to the centre file, and the centre pawn pushed to 5e early so that the rook already looks into the enemy camp. The modern form, the Cheerful Central Rook, pushes 5e on move four and dares the opponent to do something about it; the older form waits with the pawn on 5f. Simple to learn, hard to meet, and the reason many static rook players took up the Anaguma.

The rook swings all the way to the eighth file, facing the enemy rook across the board, with the bishop moved up to 7g to make room. The idea is to push the 8g pawn and exchange on the file the opponent’s own rook wants, taking the initiative on their side of the board. Common in games where both players range their rooks, and as a surprise against a static rook that has pushed 8e too early.

Both rooks at home, both kings on the left in Yagura castles, and a slow race to attack the other fortress. The main line of professional shogi for most of a century, with a move-order theory deeper than any other opening. For amateurs the plan is the right silver to 3g and 4f with the knight behind it, or the Climbing Silver.

The right silver marches straight up behind the rook’s pawn: 3h, 2g, 2f. Rook, pawn and silver then press on 2d, where the bishop is the only defender. The first attacking plan every beginner learns, and it works in any static rook opening; against a ranging rook the same silver climbs on the other diagonal, from 7i toward 4f.

A static rook player’s hammer: the rook to the fourth file from the right, the silver to 4g, the knight to 3g, the pawn to 4f, and everything pushes on 4e at once. It beats a Fourth File Rook player who is slow, and a Yagura player who has not guarded 4e, and it loses to anyone who has read about it. Wonderful for learning how an attack with four pieces on one square feels.

A Fourth File Rook that refuses to castle. Invented in the 1990s by Fujii Takeshi to stop static rook players burying their king in an Anaguma: the king stays on 5i, the knight comes to 3g, the edge pawns advance, and the attack begins the moment the opponent starts digging. If they castle normally instead, the king walks into a Mino as usual. It changed professional shogi and it is the reason the Anaguma is no longer a free lunch.

The knight jumps to 7g on move two and to 6e on move three, threatening the silver on 6a and the pawn on 5c at once, and the rook follows to the seventh file. Against a player who has never seen it, the game is over in fifteen moves; against one who has, the knight is lost for nothing. The most famous of the shogi trick openings, and a good lesson in why the knight should not jump too high.