Openings · 中飛車左穴熊
Central Rook Left Anaguma.
A Central Rook that takes the fifth-file space, floats the rook to 5d and builds a Static Rook Anaguma on its own left.
The idea
This line is White’s. When both players swing their rooks, a Central Rook’s castle tends to be the weaker one, ja.wikipedia explains, because the rook blocks the left gold. The Left Anaguma answers that by castling the other way.
You push the centre pawn to 5e, which closes your own bishop’s line so Black cannot open the game with a bishop trade, and float the rook up to 5d, where it watches the fourth rank.
Behind that screen the king walks to your left, 4b, 3b and 2b, and into the corner on 1a, with the lance on 1b and the silver closing the hole on 2b: a Static Rook Anaguma built by a ranging rook. ja.wikipedia traces it to amateurs: Koike Jūmei seems to have played it first, a Ritsumeikan University student systematised it, members of the University of Tokyo shogi club spread it, and Imaizumi Kenji used it in amateur events and on his way to becoming a professional.
The line follows shogi-rule.com, the one source with every move, against Black’s Ishida. It stops with both golds still on 4a and 5a, so the Anaguma is not finished.
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 | ▲７五歩 7f7e | △５四歩 5c5d | Black pushes on to 7e: an Ishida. The centre pawn to 5d, the White version’s fourth move. |
| 5 | ▲６六歩 6g6f | △５二飛 8b5b | Black closes the diagonal with the pawn on 6f. The rook to 5b: a Central Rook. |
| 7 | ▲７八銀 7i7h | △３三角 2b3c | The bishop to 3c. |
| 9 | ▲６七銀 7h6g | △５五歩 5d5e | The pawn on to 5e. It closes your bishop’s line, so Black cannot open the game with a bishop trade. |
| 11 | ▲７八飛 2h7h | △５四飛 5b5d | Black swings the rook to 7h. The rook floats up to 5d, where it watches the fourth rank. |
| 13 | ▲７六飛 7h7f | △４二玉 5a4b | Black’s rook rises to 7f: the Ishida. The king heads left, toward the first file. |
| 15 | ▲５八金左 6i5h | △３二玉 4b3b | On to 3b. |
| 17 | ▲４八玉 5i4h | △２二玉 3b2b | And 2b. |
| 19 | ▲３八銀 3i3h | △１二香 1a1b | The lance steps up to 1b: the hole. |
| 21 | ▲９六歩 9g9f | △８四飛 5d8d | The floating rook moves across to 8d, against the pawn push to 8f. |
| 23 | ▲８六歩 8g8f | △１一玉 2b1a | Black pushes the eighth-file pawn. The king goes into the corner on 1a. |
| 25 | ▲７七桂 8i7g | △５四飛 8d5d | The rook goes back to the centre. |
| 27 | ▲８五歩 8f8e | △２二銀 3a2b | Black pushes on to 8e. The silver closes the hole on 2b: king 1a, lance 1b, silver 2b. |
| 29 | ▲４六歩 4g4f | △６二銀 7a6b | The right silver to 6b. |
| 31 | ▲４七金 5h4g | △５三銀 6b5c | On to 5c, behind the rook. |
| 33 | ▲９七角 8h9g | △５一金右 6a5a | Black’s bishop to 9g, the Ishida’s square. The right gold to 5a. Both golds have still to join the Anaguma. |
| 35 | ▲３九玉 4h3i | Black’s king drops back to 3i. shogi-rule.com stops here. |
The plan once you are set up
- The centre pawn to 5d and the rook to 5b, then the pawn on to 5e.
- Float the rook to 5d before Black can exchange rook pawns.
- Walk the king left, 4b, 3b and 2b; lift the lance to 1b and drop the king into 1a.
- Close the hole with the silver on 2b, then bring the golds across.
- Slide the rook along the fourth rank when Black’s eighth-file pawn comes forward, to 8d, and back to 5d.
What to watch for
- Black pushing the centre pawn back to challenge 5e and force a bishop exchange, which ja.wikipedia names as a counter.
- A Diamond Mino or a Third File Rook Anaguma on Black’s side, castles ja.wikipedia names as hard enough to match it.
- While the golds are still on 4a and 5a, the Anaguma is half built, and the floating rook is what keeps it safe.
What it is played against
A ranging rook, in this line an Ishida. ja.wikipedia’s answers for the other side: push the centre pawn back to force the bishop exchange, swing the rook again, or build a castle as hard as the Anaguma, such as a Diamond Mino or a Third File Rook Anaguma.
It also says that when both sides simply build, the Left Anaguma side usually comes out better.
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.