Openings · 右玉
Right King.
Keep the rook at home and put the king on the same side, behind a wall of generals spread across the board instead of piled into a corner.
The idea
Most castles put the king on the side away from the rook. The Right King does not: the rook drops to 2i on the bottom rank and the king stops on 4h, on the same side. Against a static rook this keeps the king far from where the opponent attacks. A player who expects you to castle on the left often builds an attack there, and the Right King spoils that plan. The castle is thin.
What it has is balance: the golds and silvers are spread over the board, the king has room to run, and the rook on the bottom rank leaves few squares to drop a piece on. The plan is to wait and counter. When the opponent commits, you hit back with rook, bishop and knight, for example with pawn pushes to 4e and 2d.
It is at its most common after a bishop trade, where the rook on the bottom rank covers the squares a bishop could be dropped on. Specialists describe it as mainly White’s opening, because it has many lines that end in a repetition draw, and a repetition counts as a success for White. It was 13th in the 2019 popularity ranking of 『将棋戦法事典100+』.
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 | ▲７六歩 7g7f | Open the bishop’s diagonal. |
| 2 | ▲６六歩 6g6f | And close it again at once, so the build needs nothing from White. |
| 3 | ▲６八銀 7i6h | The left silver to 6h. |
| 4 | ▲４八銀 3i4h | The right silver to 4h. |
| 5 | ▲７八金 6i7h | The left gold to 7h; it stays on the left. |
| 6 | ▲４六歩 4g4f | Room for the silver. |
| 7 | ▲４七銀 4h4g | The silver to 4g. |
| 8 | ▲３六歩 3g3f | Room for the knight. |
| 9 | ▲３七桂 2i3g | The knight to 3g. Up to here a Yagura or a castle on the left is still possible. |
| 10 | ▲５八金 4i5h | The right gold to 5h. |
| 11 | ▲６七銀 6h6g | The left silver up to 6g. |
| 12 | ▲２九飛 2h2i | The rook drops to 2i, on the bottom rank. |
| 13 | ▲４八玉 5i4h | And the king steps to 4h, on the rook’s side: the Right King. |
The plan once you are set up
- Close the bishop’s diagonal early with 6f, then bring both silvers up: the left one to 6h, the right one to 4h and on to 4g.
- Leave the king at home until the knight is on 3g. Up to that point you can still choose a Yagura or a castle on the left.
- Finish the shape: gold to 5h, silver to 6g, rook down to 2i, king to 4h. Some players go one step deeper, with the king on 3h and a gold on 4h.
- Wait for the opponent to commit, then counterattack on the side they left. The rook can also swing across to the file they are attacking.
What to watch for
- White’s pawn to 6d and rook to 6b, a Right Fourth File Rook rush. The Japan Shogi Association’s column says to stop building the Right King and answer with the pawn to 5f and the right silver to 5g.
- The edge and the head of the knight on 3g. The sources name the first and second files, and bishop drops aimed at the knight, as the usual way in.
- The moves before the rook reaches 2i. Until its sideways line is open, rook and king stand side by side in a bad shape.
- A broken castle. Once the opponent gets in, it falls quickly. The king’s room is its defence, so move it away early when the fight comes close.
What it is played against
A static rook.
The named answers are the Subway Rook (地下鉄飛車), where the opponent lifts the edge lance and puts the rook in the corner behind it, on your king’s side; the Feint Ranging Rook; an Anaguma; and Akutsu Chikara’s switch from a Kikusui Yagura to a Silver Crown.
In the Bishop Exchange, the Rushing Silver is named as especially dangerous for it. Against a ranging rook, players use a different shape, Itodani’s Right King (糸谷流右玉), with the left silver on 6g and the right gold on 3h.
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.