Openings · 中原流急戦矢倉
Nakahara Rapid Attack Yagura.
Trade the 5th-file pawn with the bishop, put the bishop back on 2b, push both silvers to 5d and 4d, lift the gold to 6c, and press Black from the centre.
The idea
This line is White’s. The Nakahara Rapid Attack Yagura was Nakahara Makoto’s favourite answer to a Yagura. You trade the 5th-file pawn with the bishop and then take the bishop home to 2b, which is what sets it apart from the Akutsu version.
Both silvers come forward, to 5d and 4d, and even the gold that should defend the king goes up to 6c. ja.wikipedia describes it as a thick rapid attack that aims to smother Black with gold and silver as much as to break through.
The price is your own king, with one gold beside it; Nakahara himself said the king is thin, but that the attack uses rook, bishop, gold, silver and knight together.
No source gives the opening as a move order from move 1, so this line is one game: the first 54 moves of game 4 of the 2016 Kisei title match, Nagase Takuya against Habu Yoshiharu, in which Habu, the title holder and one loss from losing it, chose this opening and won.
Two sources name the game as a Nakahara Rapid Attack, and one says it began as an Akutsu and became a Nakahara.
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 | △８四歩 8c8d | Black opens the bishop’s diagonal. You push the rook pawn. |
| 3 | ▲６八銀 7i6h | △３四歩 3c3d | Black’s left silver to 6h. You open your diagonal, and it stays open. |
| 5 | ▲７七銀 6h7g | △６二銀 7a6b | Black’s silver goes on to 7g on move five. Your right silver to 6b. |
| 7 | ▲５六歩 5g5f | △５四歩 5c5d | Black pushes the centre pawn. You push yours. |
| 9 | ▲４八銀 3i4h | △４二銀 3a4b | The left silver to 4b. |
| 11 | ▲５八金右 4i5h | △３二金 4a3b | The gold to 3b. |
| 13 | ▲６六歩 6g6f | △４一玉 5a4a | Black closes its diagonal with the pawn to 6f. The king to 4a. |
| 15 | ▲６七金 5h6g | △５三銀右 6b5c | The right silver to 5c, behind the centre pawn. |
| 17 | ▲２六歩 2g2f | △５五歩 5d5e | Black pushes the rook pawn. The 5th-file pawn is offered: the pawn to 5e. |
| 19 | ▲同歩 5f5e | △同角 2b5e | Black takes. Your bishop takes back on 5e. |
| 21 | ▲２五歩 2f2e | △５四銀 5c5d | Black pushes the rook pawn to 2e. The silver into the square the pawn cleared, 5d. |
| 23 | ▲２四歩 2e2d | △同歩 2c2d | Black trades the rook pawn... You take. |
| 25 | ▲同飛 2h2d | △２三歩 P*2c | ...and Black’s rook takes back. A pawn dropped on 2c, at the rook. |
| 27 | ▲２八飛 2d2h | △７四歩 7c7d | Black’s rook goes back to 2h. The 7th-file pawn. |
| 29 | ▲５七銀 4h5g | △２二角 5e2b | Black’s right silver to 5g. The bishop goes home to 2b: the mark of the Nakahara form. The Akutsu takes it to 7c instead. |
| 31 | ▲７八金 6i7h | △５三銀 4b5c | Black’s gold to 7h. The left silver to 5c. |
| 33 | ▲６九玉 5i6i | △６四歩 6c6d | Black’s king to 6i. The pawn to 6d. |
| 35 | ▲４六銀 5g4f | △４四銀 5c4d | Black’s silver to 4f. Your second silver comes forward, to 4d. |
| 37 | ▲７九玉 6i7i | △５二金 6a5b | Black’s king to 7i. The other gold to 5b. |
| 39 | ▲６八銀 7g6h | △６三金 5b6c | Black’s silver goes back from 7g to 6h. The gold climbs to 6c: silvers on 5d and 4d and the gold on 6c, the Nakahara shape. ja.wikipedia’s Yagura article draws White’s half of this position. |
| 41 | ▲５六歩 P*5f | △８五歩 8d8e | Black drops a pawn on 5f. The rook pawn to 8e. |
| 43 | ▲７七角 8h7g | △７三桂 8a7c | Black’s bishop to 7g. The knight to 7c. |
| 45 | ▲３六歩 3g3f | △１四歩 1c1d | Black pushes 3f. The edge pawn. |
| 47 | ▲１六歩 1g1f | △９四歩 9c9d | Black answers on the edge. The other edge pawn. |
| 49 | ▲９六歩 9g9f | △６五歩 6d6e | Black answers again. The 6th-file break: the pawn to 6e. |
| 51 | ▲５七銀上 6h5g | △５五歩 P*5e | Black brings the silver up from 6h to 5g. A pawn dropped on 5e. |
| 53 | ▲３七桂 2i3g | △３五歩 3d3e | Black jumps the knight to 3g. And the pawn to 3e. One source calls the position hard to judge; White won the game in 86 moves. |
The plan once you are set up
- Keep the bishop’s diagonal open and offer the pawn to 5e; take back with the bishop and bring the right silver to 5d.
- After Black trades the 2nd-file pawn, drop a pawn back on 2c and pull the bishop home to 2b.
- Push the pawn to 6d, bring the other silver to 4d, and lift the gold to 6c.
- Add the rook pawn to 8e and the knight to 7c, then break with the pawn to 6e.
- Keep pushing in the centre, with the pawns to 5e and 3e, and let the silvers’ weight do the work.
What to watch for
- Your king. Only the gold on 3b is beside it; once Black’s counterattack starts, there is little to hold it.
- Black’s fifth move. One source reports the professionals’ view that against the pawn to 6f on move five, you first need the rook pawn to 8e to make Black play the silver to 7g, and the opening becomes hard to play.
- Black’s knight. After the knight to 3g it can jump to 4e at your silvers, as it did in this game a few moves later; one source calls the middlegame hard to judge.
What it is played against
Black builds the Yagura generals, trades the 2nd-file pawn while your bishop is away, and puts the right silver on 4f, facing your silvers.
In this game Black also pulled the left silver back to 6h, dropped a pawn on 5f, and answered the 6th-file break by bringing the silver to 5g and jumping the knight to 3g.
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.