Openings · 中座飛車
Chūza’s Rook.
Play the silver to 2b before moving the rook, answer Black’s pawn dropped on 8g by pulling the rook back only to 8e, and castle in the Nakahara.
The idea
This line is White’s. Chūza Makoto first pulled the rook back to 8e in a professional game in 1997.
In the Side Pawn Bishop-33 you play the silver to 2b before the rook moves, and when Black drops a pawn on 8g at it, the rook goes back only one square, to 8e; one source says Chūza’s first opponent took it for a slip. ja.wikipedia says that for a time White won close to 70% of games with it, and Chūza received the Masuda Award for it.
You pair it with the Nakahara: king 4a, golds 5a and 3b, silvers 6b and 2b. From 8e the rook reaches along its rank, so a pawn you drop on 2e, at Black’s rook, is guarded from the far side of the board. The first twenty moves are the line of the Side Pawn Capture page, which ends on this rook move.
Two sources give the moves and agree on all 31; after the last one they part. ja.wikipedia says the line is now mostly a specialist’s weapon.
How it goes together
Both sides’ moves are shown, because this opening is an agreement rather than a system: one player cannot reach it alone, so a one-sided list of moves would be a fiction.
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 | White | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ▲７六歩 7g7f | △３四歩 3c3d | Black opens the bishop’s diagonal. You open yours. |
| 3 | ▲２六歩 2g2f | △８四歩 8c8d | Black pushes the rook pawn. You push yours. |
| 5 | ▲２五歩 2f2e | △８五歩 8d8e | Black’s pawn to 2e. Yours to 8e. |
| 7 | ▲７八金 6i7h | △３二金 4a3b | Black’s gold to 7h guards the bishop’s head. Your gold to 3b guards yours. |
| 9 | ▲２四歩 2e2d | △同歩 2c2d | Black pushes the pawn on to 2d, to exchange it. You take. |
| 11 | ▲同飛 2h2d | △８六歩 8e8f | Black’s rook takes back. You exchange on your side too. |
| 13 | ▲同歩 8g8f | △同飛 8b8f | Black takes. Your rook takes back. |
| 15 | ▲３四飛 2d3d | △３三角 2b3c | Black’s rook takes the side pawn on 3d. It now threatens to trade bishops on 2b, winning a gold or making a dragon. The bishop to 3c blocks the trade. |
| 17 | ▲３六飛 3d3f | △２二銀 3a2b | Black’s rook pulls back to 3f, guarding the pawn on 7f. The silver to 2b first, keeping the rook’s move back. This is the difference from the older form. |
| 19 | ▲８七歩 P*8g | △８五飛 8f8e | Black drops a pawn on 8g, at your rook. The rook goes back only as far as 8e: Chūza’s Rook. |
| 21 | ▲２六飛 3f2f | △４一玉 5a4a | Black’s rook to 2f, against your rook coming to 2d. Your king to 4a: the Nakahara begins. |
| 23 | ▲５八玉 5i5h | △６二銀 7a6b | Black’s king to 5h. The source gives Black two choices here, 5h and 6h. Your right silver to 6b. |
| 25 | ▲３八金 4i3h | △５一金 6a5a | Black’s right gold to 3h. The right gold to 5a, beside the king: the Nakahara is complete, king 4a, golds 5a and 3b, silvers 6b and 2b. |
| 27 | ▲４八銀 3i4h | △７四歩 7c7d | Black’s right silver to 4h. The pawn to 7d, to bring the right knight out to 7c. |
| 29 | ▲３六歩 3g3f | △２五歩 P*2e | Black pushes the pawn to 3f, preparing its own knight. A pawn dropped on 2e, at Black’s rook. The rook on 8e guards it along the rank. |
| 31 | ▲２八飛 2f2h | Black’s rook goes back to 2h. This is the last move the two sources share. |
The plan once you are set up
- After Black’s rook pulls back to 3f, play the silver to 2b first and keep the rook’s move back.
- When Black drops a pawn on 8g, pull the rook back only to 8e.
- Castle in the Nakahara: the king to 4a, the right silver to 6b, the right gold to 5a.
- Push the pawn to 7d to bring the right knight out to 7c.
- Drop a pawn on 2e, guarded by the rook on 8e, to push Black’s rook back.
What to watch for
- Black’s king at move 23. The source gives two choices, 5h and 6h; against 6h it shows you finishing with the knight to 7c and then the rook to 5e, moving along its rank to the centre.
- The castle. The Nakahara is low and quick, but its own page notes that it is thin and suits an early fight rather than a slow game.
What it is played against
Black builds a Central House with the king on 5h, the right gold on 3h and the right silver on 4h, and gets the right knight going with the pawn to 3f.
Black can also put the king on 6h, or, as ja.wikipedia notes, leave out the pawn drop on 8g, so that the rook has no reason to go back to 8e.
Play it against the bot.
The bot’s search levels, 9 to 12, open from a book that holds two of these openings, the Fourth File Rook and the Yagura; the Mino levels play the openings people play. Either way the review afterwards shows you where the game left the line. Try the line, then try the plan.