Openings · 居飛車穴熊
Static Rook Anaguma.
Keep the rook home, bury the king in the far corner behind a lance, a silver and two golds, and attack with everything else.
The idea
Against a ranging rook, the static rook player has a slow but powerful answer: build the most solid castle in the game in the left corner and then attack without fear. The king goes to 9i behind the lance, the silver seals the door on 8h, and two golds stand on 7i and 6h.
It takes a long time, and while you build it the opponent is building too, so the whole plan turns on the ranging rook player’s habit of waiting: they usually let you finish. Once finished, a king that is this hard to reach lets you trade pieces freely, and a series of trades against a Mino tends to end with the Mino broken and the Anaguma still standing.
How it goes together
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 | |
| 3 | ▲２六歩 2g2f | △４四歩 4c4d | The rook stays home; its pawn advances. |
| 5 | ▲４八銀 3i4h | △４二飛 8b4b | White swings the rook: a Fourth File Rook. |
| 7 | ▲６八玉 5i6h | △６二玉 5a6b | The long walk begins. |
| 9 | ▲７八玉 6h7h | △７二玉 6b7b | |
| 11 | ▲５六歩 5g5f | △８二玉 7b8b | |
| 13 | ▲５七銀 4h5g | △７二銀 7a7b | |
| 15 | ▲７七角 8h7g | △３二銀 3a3b | The bishop out of the way, on the diagonal that watches the centre. |
| 17 | ▲８八玉 7h8h | △４三銀 3b4c | |
| 19 | ▲９八香 9i9h | △５四歩 5c5d | The lance steps up. The hole is dug. |
| 21 | ▲９九玉 8h9i | △５二金左 4a5b | And the king goes in. |
| 23 | ▲８八銀 7i8h | △１四歩 1c1d | The silver seals the door. |
| 25 | ▲７九金 6i7i | △６四歩 6c6d | First gold. |
| 27 | ▲６六歩 6g6f | △３三角 2b3c | |
| 29 | ▲５八金 4i5h | △１五歩 1d1e | |
| 31 | ▲６八金寄 5h6h | Second gold. The Anaguma is complete: king 9i, lance 9h, silver 8h, golds 7i and 6h. |
The plan once you are set up
- Order matters: bishop out to 7g, king to 8h, lance up, king in, silver 8h, then the golds. The castle is weak until the silver closes the door.
- Then attack the ranging rook’s side with the rook, the bishop and the 5g silver, and trade when the trade is good. An exchange usually favours the safer king, which is why the Anaguma wants them. Not one that opens a file into your own corner, though, and not one that hands the attacker the piece their mate was missing.
- Keep a pawn or two in hand for defence: the Anaguma’s one worry is a pawn dropped on 9g or a knight landing on 8g, where it hits the king.
- Do not hurry. The whole opening is a bet that the opponent waits; if they do, you win the slow game.
What to watch for
- An opponent who attacks before the door is shut. Against an early 4e push or a rapid attack on the left, stop castling and defend first.
- The edge. Once the king is on 9i, a pawn on the 9th file and a lance behind it are the classic way in.
- Your own attack fading out. With the king safe it is tempting to shuffle; keep making threats, or the ranging rook player gets the same slow game you wanted.
What it is played against
A ranging rook, above all the Fourth File Rook. Against another static rook the king should go to a Yagura instead.
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.