Spearing the Sparrow.

Static rook, the Yagura · castles into Yagura · 雀刺し suzumezashi

The idea

Spearing the Sparrow masses Black’s long-range pieces on the edge: the lance on 1g, the rook behind it on 1h, the bishop on 6h looking down the diagonal at 1c, the pawn on 1e and the knight from 3g. ja.wikipedia says the name comes from the bishop’s angle at 1c, like a spear held at a sparrow.

It works best when White’s king has castled into its Yagura on 2b, right by the edge, so Black castles too and only then attacks. The break is a knight sacrifice: the knight to 2e, and when White’s silver comes up to 2d, the knight in on 1c, then pawns and the lance on the 1st file.

In this line Black comes out with a silver and two lances in hand and carries the attack on to the 3rd file. The whole order has one source; ja.wikipedia gives moves 45 to 66 as the technique, from another setup.

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.

The plan once you are set up

• Play the 24-move Yagura, then jump the knight to 3g and push the edge pawn to 1e.
• Stop the rook pawn on 2f, so that 2e stays free for the knight.
• Move the lance to 1g and the rook behind it to 1h; bring the bishop to 6h; castle the king on 8h.
• Jump the knight to 2e. When White’s silver comes to 2d, give the knight up on 1c, then push the pawn to 1d.
• Trade on the 1st file, drop a pawn on 1c, take on 1c with the bishop, then push the pawn to 3e toward the gold on 3b.

What to watch for

• White’s edge pawn. If White answers the pawn to 1f with a pawn to 1d, the knight sacrifice does not work in the same way; shogi-joutatsu attacks with the silver from 2f and the pawn to 1e instead.
• White’s bishop drop on 3f. The source calls it White’s strongest counter after the pawn to 3e; push the pawn to 2e and pull the rook back to 1i.
• Your own camp. All the attackers are on one file, so the rest of the position is thin, and once the attack starts there is no going back.
• The threat alone. ja.wikipedia says professionals often used the setup only to push White into awkward defences, such as a gold on 2b or a silver on 2d, then attacked elsewhere.

What it is played against

White castles into a Yagura and either leaves the edge, as here, or meets it with the pawn to 1d. White’s defences include an early silver on 2d, a gold on 2b, and the Kikusui Yagura with the king on 2a.

In the 1970s and 1980s White also answered with a Climbing Silver or a 7th-file pawn trade, to attack first.