Openings · 塚田スペシャル
Tsukada Special.
From the floating-rook Double Wing, drop the 2nd-file pawn again, swing the rook along its rank to take the pawn on 6d, and attack the edge.
The idea
In 1986 Tsukada Yasuaki turned a quiet Double Wing into a race. As soon as White pushes the pawn to 6d to prepare a Reclining Silver, Black drops the pawn back on 2d; after the exchange the rook stands on 2d, on its fourth rank, where it can take the pawn on 6d, and once the edge pawns are pushed Black can break in on the 1st file too.
Katsumata Kiyokazu’s 1995 book on vanished openings gives the namesake game, Tsukada against Nakahara Makoto in the 1986 Ōshō league, and names those two aims, the pawn on 6d and the edge attack. The variations are full of king-and-rook forks and early rook trades.
Tsukada won 22 official games in a row with it, a record then, before Tanigawa Kōji found answers in 1987 and 1991, and he later received a special Masuda Award for it. The line is that game, to the point where White gives the rook for Black’s bishop and Black the rook for White’s silver.
Its first eleven moves are the standard start, and the order of the next two is ours: the book shows the position after the pawn to 6d without them, and either order reaches it. en.wikipedia gives another order, with White’s silver on 7b. ja.wikipedia says its ideas passed on to the Twisting Rook.
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 | ▲２六歩 2g2f | △８四歩 8c8d | The rook pawn first. White pushes its rook pawn too: a Double Wing. |
| 3 | ▲２五歩 2f2e | △８五歩 8d8e | The pawn to 2e. White’s to 8e. |
| 5 | ▲７八金 6i7h | △３二金 4a3b | The gold to 7h guards the bishop’s head. White’s gold to 3b guards its own. |
| 7 | ▲２四歩 2e2d | △同歩 2c2d | The pawn on to 2d, to exchange it. White takes. |
| 9 | ▲同飛 2h2d | △２三歩 P*2c | The rook takes back. White drops a pawn on 2c, at the rook. |
| 11 | ▲２六飛 2d2f | △６二銀 7a6b | The rook floats on 2f. White’s right silver to 6b. |
| 13 | ▲３八銀 3i3h | △６四歩 6c6d | The right silver to 3h. The order of this move and the last is ours: the source shows only the position after White’s next one. White pushes the pawn to 6d, preparing a Reclining Silver. |
| 15 | ▲２四歩 P*2d | △同歩 2c2d | The opening’s move: the pawn dropped back on 2d at once. White takes. |
| 17 | ▲同飛 2f2d | △１四歩 1c1d | The rook takes back. On its fourth rank it now eyes the pawn on 6d. White pushes an edge pawn. With the silver already on 3h, this and a later pawn drop on 2h were thought to stop the idea. |
| 19 | ▲７六歩 7g7f | △８六歩 8e8f | Open the bishop’s diagonal. White exchanges rook pawns. |
| 21 | ▲同歩 8g8f | △同飛 8b8f | Take back with the pawn. White’s rook takes back. |
| 23 | ▲１六歩 1g1f | △８二飛 8f8b | The edge pawn: the attack on the edge is coming. White pulls the rook back to 8b. |
| 25 | ▲１五歩 1f1e | △同歩 1d1e | The pawn to 1e. White takes. |
| 27 | ▲１四歩 P*1d | △２三歩 P*2c | A pawn dropped on 1d. White drops a pawn on 2c, at the rook. |
| 29 | ▲６四飛 2d6d | △８八飛成 8b8h+ | The rook takes the pawn on 6d, and now attacks the silver on 6b. White’s rook takes the bishop on 8h and promotes. Taking back with the silver now would allow a bishop dropped on 8f, a fork. |
| 31 | ▲６二飛成 6d6b+ | △同金 6a6b | So the rook takes the silver on 6b and promotes instead. White’s gold takes. |
| 33 | ▲８八銀 7i8h | Now the silver takes the dragon. The source says it is hard to tell who is better; Tsukada won the game. |
The plan once you are set up
- After the exchange on the 2nd file, float the rook on 2f and bring the right silver to 3h.
- When White pushes the pawn to 6d, drop a pawn on 2d and take back with the rook.
- Open the bishop’s diagonal and push the edge pawn: to 1f, to 1e, then drop a pawn on 1d.
- Take the pawn on 6d with the rook.
- If White gives its rook for your bishop, give yours for White’s silver on 6b.
What to watch for
- The fork on 8f. Taking White’s dragon with the silver at once would allow a bishop dropped on 8f, at the king and the rook; Shogi Wars says forks like it run through the opening’s variations.
- The silver on 7b instead of 6b. With the silver there and the pawn to 3d at the right moment, Tanigawa answered the attack in 1987.
- White’s rook dropped back into its own camp, the answer Tanigawa found in 1991; Shogi Wars says the opening faded once that defence was known.
What it is played against
White exchanges on the 8th file and pulls the rook back to 8b, meets the edge attack by taking and dropping a pawn on 2c, then gives its rook for Black’s bishop.
The later answers keep the silver on 7b and wait with the pawn to 3d, or drop the rook back into White’s own camp.
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.