Openings · 中飛車
Central Rook.
Point the rook and the centre pawn straight down the middle, and fight on the one file neither king can avoid.
The idea
The most direct of the ranging rooks: the rook comes to the middle file, the pawn in front of it goes to 5e, and everything points at the file neither player can ignore. Nothing is hidden and nothing is subtle, which is what makes it the easiest ranging rook to learn and one of the hardest to meet. The castle is the 片美濃, a Mino with a gold still at home — the rook is standing on 5h, where the full Mino wants that gold, so it never arrives. That is not a slip in the build order, it is what the opening costs, and in exchange the rook sits on the most valuable file on the board.
How it goes together
Only Black’s moves are shown. This is a build order rather than a game: the opponent is left standing still, because a reply on every move would hide the shape instead of explaining it. Every move was still played through the engine, so the position is one the rules allow.
Step through the moves, or press play.
Tap a move to jump to it. Arrow keys work once the board has focus.
Every move of the line, with reasons
| # | Black | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ▲５六歩 5g5f | The centre pawn first. |
| 2 | ▲７六歩 7g7f | Then the bishop’s diagonal. |
| 3 | ▲７七角 8h7g | The bishop covers 8f before the rook leaves home. |
| 4 | ▲５五歩 5f5e | To 5e, and this is the space the opening is named for. |
| 5 | ▲５八飛 2h5h | The rook comes to the middle, behind its own pawn. |
| 6 | ▲４八玉 5i4h | The king starts walking. |
| 7 | ▲３八玉 4h3h | Two. |
| 8 | ▲２八玉 3h2h | Three, and home. |
| 9 | ▲３八銀 3i3h | The silver beside it. This is the 片美濃: a Mino without the 5h gold, because the rook is standing there. |
| 10 | ▲１六歩 1g1f | The escape square every Mino wants. |
The plan once you are set up
- The break is 5d. Exchange the centre pawn when you can recapture with the rook, and the file opens with your rook already on it.
- The bishop on 7g and the rook on the fifth file cover most of the board between them. Keep that diagonal open and keep your own pieces off the rook’s file.
- Improve the castle with 1f once the centre is settled. The gold cannot come to 5h while the rook is there, so the 4i gold and the escape square are what you have.
- If the centre gets blocked, swing the rook again, to the second file or back to the fourth. A rook that has run out of work on one file is not stuck.
What to watch for
- A silver coming to 5f to sit on your pawn. Meet it with the bishop or the 6g pawn before it settles.
- The 5h square. With the rook standing there the castle is a gold short, so a piece dropped near the king costs more than it would against a full Mino.
- An Anaguma. It is the standard answer to this opening for a reason, and against it you have to break in the centre early rather than build.
What it is played against
Both families, and it is the ranging rook most often chosen as a first plan rather than a reply. Against a static rook the fight is the centre pawn; against another ranging rook it becomes a race on the two middle files.
Play it against the bot.
The app’s bot plays real openings from a book, and the review afterwards tells you the move you left it. Try the line, then try the plan.