Openings · 居角左美濃急戦
Static Bishop Left Mino Rapid Attack.
Against a Yagura, leave the bishop on 8h, castle in a Left Mino with the king on 7i, and break on the 4th and 3rd files with the knight and the rook.
The idea
The Static Bishop Left Mino Rapid Attack answers a Yagura without building one.
The bishop stays on its starting square, and the king goes only as far as 7i, behind the silver on 7h and the golds on 6i and 5h: a Left Mino one square short, because the bishop has not moved. ja.wikipedia says that from about 2015 research with computer programs found fast attacks on Black’s Yagura, this one among them, and that among amateurs it became a popular rapid attack.
The opening is better known as White’s, played against Black’s Yagura. This page shows Black’s version, because it is the one with a complete, checked source; the White lines found disagree with each other. Black puts the right silver on 4g early, jumps the knight to 3g, gives up the 4th- and 3rd-file pawns and brings the knight to 4e.
After a 2nd-file pawn trade the rook takes the silver on 4d: the Left Mino stands up well to a rook dropped from the side, so Black can afford it. A pawn dropped on 3c then shuts in White’s bishop. The whole order has one source, shogi-joutatsu, whose diagrams match the board at five points; it is not the Left Mino Rapid Attack, which is played against a ranging rook.
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 | Open the bishop’s diagonal. White opens its own. |
| 3 | ▲２六歩 2g2f | △４四歩 4c4d | The rook pawn. White pushes 4d, closing its diagonal. |
| 5 | ▲４八銀 3i4h | △４二銀 3a4b | The right silver to 4h. White’s silver to 4b. |
| 7 | ▲２五歩 2f2e | △３三銀 4b3c | The rook pawn on to 2e. White’s silver to 3c: a sign of a Yagura. |
| 9 | ▲４六歩 4g4f | △３二金 4a3b | The 4th-file pawn to 4f... White’s gold to 3b. |
| 11 | ▲４七銀 4h4g | △８四歩 8c8d | ...and the right silver up to 4g, early. White pushes the rook pawn. |
| 13 | ▲７八銀 7i7h | △５二金 6a5b | The left silver to 7h. White’s gold to 5b. |
| 15 | ▲６八玉 5i6h | △８五歩 8d8e | The king to 6h... White pushes on to 8e. |
| 17 | ▲７九玉 6h7i | △８六歩 8e8f | ...and it stops on 7i: a Left Mino with the bishop still on 8h. White exchanges on the 8th file: the pawn to 8f. |
| 19 | ▲同歩 8g8f | △同飛 8b8f | Black takes. White’s rook takes. |
| 21 | ▲８七歩 P*8g | △８二飛 8f8b | A pawn dropped on 8g, at the rook. White’s rook goes back to 8b. |
| 23 | ▲５八金右 4i5h | △４三金右 5b4c | The right gold to 5h: the castle is complete. White’s gold to 4c. |
| 25 | ▲３六歩 3g3f | △５四歩 5c5d | The 3rd-file pawn. White pushes 5d. |
| 27 | ▲３七桂 2i3g | △６二銀 7a6b | The knight to 3g. White’s silver to 6b. |
| 29 | ▲４五歩 4f4e | △同歩 4d4e | The 4th-file pawn is given up first. White takes. |
| 31 | ▲３五歩 3f3e | △同歩 3d3e | Then the 3rd. White takes. |
| 33 | ▲４五桂 3g4e | △４四銀 3c4d | The knight jumps to 4e. White’s silver steps up to 4d. |
| 35 | ▲２四歩 2e2d | △同歩 2c2d | Black trades the rook pawn... White takes. |
| 37 | ▲同飛 2h2d | △２三歩 P*2c | ...and the rook takes back. White drops a pawn on 2c, at the rook. |
| 39 | ▲４四飛 2d4d | △同金 4c4d | The rook takes the silver on 4d. The Left Mino is strong against a rook dropped from the side, so Black can give the rook. White’s gold takes. |
| 41 | ▲３三歩 P*3c | A pawn dropped on 3c. White’s bishop is shut in, and the source calls Black better. |
The plan once you are set up
- Push the rook pawn to 2e; when White closes its bishop’s diagonal with the silver on 3c, push the pawn to 4f and lift the silver to 4g.
- Castle in the Left Mino: silver to 7h, king to 6h and 7i, gold to 5h. Keep the bishop on 8h.
- Push the pawn to 3f and jump the knight to 3g.
- Give up the 4th-file pawn and then the 3rd, and jump the knight to 4e.
- Trade on the 2nd file, take the silver on 4d with the rook, and drop a pawn on 3c.
What to watch for
- Timing. The attack is meant for a White who has blocked the bishop with a silver on 3c; against other setups it is a different game.
- The side pawn. If White’s rook takes on 7f after the 8th-file trade, the bishop to 6f blocks its way home and the silver to 7g attacks it, so the rook has trouble getting back.
- The rook sacrifice. It works because of the Left Mino; with the king in a weaker castle, the same exchange would leave Black open to rook drops.
- The 5th-file pawn stays at home. ja.wikipedia points out that with the pawn still on 5g, a bishop on White’s side has no line through to the king on 7i.
What it is played against
White heads for a Yagura with the pawn to 4d, the silver on 3c and the golds on 3b and 4c, and trades on the 8th file while Black castles.
The same attack is also played by White against Black’s Yagura, with the king on 3a and the bishop on 2b, and that is how it became famous after 2015.
Black’s answers to White’s version include an early rook pawn to 2e, so that White must spend a move on the silver to 3c, and the Yonenaga Rapid Attack Yagura.
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.