Fortress or Yagura (矢倉囲い or 櫓囲い yaguragakoi ) is a castle used in shogi . It is considered by many to be the strongest defensive position in shogi in Double Static Rook games.
38-456: Yagura may refer to: Yagura castle Yagura opening Yagura (tombs) Yagura (tower) People with the surname [ edit ] Fuuko Yagura ( 矢倉 楓子 , born 1997) , Japanese singer and idol Norihiro Yagura See also [ edit ] Yugara (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
76-451: A repetition draw since both sides are felt to be in a zugzwang -like situation. Thus, it may be used purposely in order to strategically switch sides (since Repetition Draw outcomes lead to a new game being immediately replayed but with the player's sides reversed). Nonetheless, it is still possible to play a Double Complete Fortress game without a repetition draw. The 1976 May 13 Meijin game between Kunio Yonenaga and Makoto Nakahara
114-656: A Fortress Anaguma. Fortress is also the name of an opening strategy that uses a Fortress castle (see: Fortress opening ). When used in the Fortress opening, the bishop, rook, and a pawn all support a later attack by the rook's silver or knight. Variants of the Fortress are also used in other Double Static Rook games (for instance, Bishop Exchange ) as well as in Static Rook vs Ranging Rook games and in Double Ranging Rook games. A Fortress castle structure
152-471: A Fortress castle in Double Fortress openings. The first are normal castle development sequences of nine moves. The last section shows the development of a Quick Fortress which is one move faster than usual methods. However, the specific order of the castle move sequence will vary depending on White's piece development. Moreover, the castle usually isn't built all at once – rather, castle development
190-538: A Fortress variant after the bishop trade off. Furthermore, Fortress castles constructed on the right side of the board may be used in Double Ranging Rook games. The Fortress castle has the left silver on the 77 square and the right gold on the 78 square. In particular, the silver on 77 is the quintessential characteristic that defines the Fortress. Most Fortress castle variants have this structure. The seventh file pawn must be pushed in order to make way for
228-451: A Gold Fortress when the opponent attacks the Fortress's silver on 77 with a knight jump from 73 to 85. Since the silver–knight exchange is not favorable to Black, the silver escapes the attack by moving to 86. Unfortunately, this removes one piece that is closing the diagonal that the opponent's bishop is attacking. The second attacking move is the ...P-65 pawn. Black cannot capture this sixth file pawn with Px65 since their sixth file pawn on 66
266-642: A discovered check on Black's king allowing White to capture either gold after Black resolves the check. Moving the king off the diagonal with K-79 still leaves an unfavorable state where ...Px66 will attack Black's gold again threatening P-67+ with a similar set of attacked pieces except now with a discovered attack on Black's left lance by White's bishop. This type of Anti-Fortress attack occurs in Counter-Fortress Rapid Attack strategies, Left Mino Right Fourth File Rook , and some Snowroof positions. The Complete Fortress (総矢倉 sōyagura )
304-469: A pawn may be dropped where the edge pawn had been. If the defending silver has moved or is not yet in position, a pawn may be dropped there. Although the Gold Fortress castle is very common, there are several variants of Fortress. Many of the variants are designed to address weakness in the Gold Fortress's structure under certain situations. Although the left silver is typically on the 77 square in
342-434: A rook assault on the opposing king. Another common preparation is to advance the adjacent silver's pawn square, allowing passage for both the rook's silver and knight. These offensive moves are not properly part of the castle, but the two-square pawn advance must be carried out early if there is to be room for it, and so it is often done while still castling. In the following three sections are possible typical developments of
380-653: Is a shogi strategy. Climbing Silver involves advancing a silver upward along with an advanced or dropped pawn supported by the rook aiming to break through the opponent's camp on their bishop's side. Many different Static Rook shogi openings include a Climbing Silver component. For instance, Climbing Silver can be played as part of Double Wing Attack , Fortress , or Bishop Exchange openings. (However, there are other variants of these openings that don't include Climbing Silver.) Climbing Silver can also be used against Ranging Rook opponents as well. Diagonal Climbing Silver or Oblique Climbing Silver (斜め棒銀 naname bōgin )
418-615: Is a Climbing Silver attack involving the left silver which moves diagonally from its starting position on 7i to attack on the third or second files. This type of Climbing Silver is typical in Static Rook vs Ranging Rook games. ii. S-27 iii. S-26 ii. S-27 iii. S-26 In the adjacent diagrams, the Black's silver advances to rank 5. ii. S-27 ... iii. S-26 ... iv. S-15 ... v. P-25 ... ii. S-27 ... iii. S-26 ... iv. S-15 ... v. P-24 Px24 Once
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#1732787204473456-544: Is a variant used in Bishop Exchange games especially in Reclining Silver variations where there is more defensive development before the players start their attacks. The king can be moved fully into the castle on the 88 square but often it remains outside the castle on 79 or 68 (or more rarely 69). The right gold is typically not moved up to 67 but remains on 58 so that it can defend more widely against
494-472: Is an example of such a game. A Silver Fortress (銀矢倉 gin yagura ) uses a silver on 67 instead of a gold. This allows for defending of the gold on 78, which is only defended by the king in a Gold Fortress. Silver Fortress allows for greater flexibility with two silvers on rank 7. In a Gold Fortress, if the silver on 77 moves to 76, it is not able to return 77, and if the gold on 67 moves to 76, it can't move back to 77. Using two silvers on 77 and 67 allows for
532-507: Is called complete since it uses four generals instead of the usual three in which the right silver is positioned on the 57 square in Black's castle or the 53 square if White's castle. Since the player's silvers are on the same rank on 57 and 77 (Black's castle), the two silvers are prone to be forked by the opponent's knight via a ...P-65 Px65 Nx65 sequence. The joseki for the Double Complete Fortress can often lead to
570-473: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Yagura castle The most common form of Fortress is the Gold Fortress. Besides the Gold Fortress, there are many variant forms. And, there are development relations between Fortress and other castles. For instance, the Crab castle can be developed into a Gold Fortress, and the Gold Fortress can be developed into
608-485: Is interwoven with the development of the attacking pieces. Additionally, moving the king all the way into the castle to the 88 square is not always optimal depending on the state and nature of White's attack. The development of the Gold Fortress castle in the Classic Fortress (旧矢倉) opening is shown below for Black. This is a 13-move sequence that is fairly typical. The development of
646-476: Is often pushed to 66 although this is not always the case (for instance it is not always pushed in the Helmet Fortress in Bishop Exchange openings and in other cases it remains on 67 so that the left silver can move to 66). Although these can be thought as the basic structure of the Fortress in the abstract, the most common form of the Fortress is the Gold Fortress. A common Fortress structure
684-462: Is pinned by White's bishop. However, there are no other satisfactory responses. If Black does not capture the pawn, then ...Px66 attacks Black's right gold on 67. Moving the gold leftward with G-77 places the gold into White's knight attack. Moving the gold rightward with G-57 will be followed by ...Px66 which is threatening the P-67+ that will attack both of Black's golds and bishop and simultaneously give
722-532: Is the Gold Fortress (金矢倉 kin yagura ), and usually when the term Fortress/矢倉 is used (especially in the Yagura opening), it implies that the variant referred to is the Gold Fortress. It has a strongly protected king and a well-fortified line of pawns. It is difficult to break down with a frontal assault, though it is weaker from the side. It is typically used against Static Rook openings that involve advancing
760-474: The Wall castle .) A Fortress can be built from an initial Bishop Exchange configuration in which the opponent declines the usual bishop exchange. A common attack against the Fortress defense is to advance the rook's knight directly forward, defended by the rook and with a pawn in hand, to attack the fortifications on either side of the castled king. If the defender has answered a lance's pawn advance on that side,
798-531: The 66 so that it may capture the opponent's pawn on that file (with ...P-65 Px65). However, in some subvariations, the P-66 pawn may not be considered advantageous. A Helmet Fortress can be developed into a Dented Fortress by moving the right gold to 68. In a Reclining Silver variation with P-66, the reclined right silver on 56 can possibly be moved to 67 to develop into a Silver Fortress. Climbing Silver Climbing Silver (棒銀 bōgin , literally "pole-silver")
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#1732787204473836-541: The Gold Fortress castle in the New Fortress (新矢倉) opening for Black is shown below. The New Fortress castle construction differs from the Classic Fortress construction starting from the player's third move. Quick Fortress castle or Quick Fortress castling or Rapid Fortress castling (矢倉早囲い yagura hayagakoi ) is a faster way of forming a Fortress castle than
874-446: The Gold Fortress. However, when being attacked with an opponent's Left Mino Right Fourth File Rook strategy, the silver on 77 will be attacked by the opponent's knight which jumps to 85 or 65. Since a silver–knight exchange is often not favorable, the silver remains on 68 where it is safe from attack and also defends the 57 square (in case of a knight to 65). This form also allows the left knight to capture/recapture on 77 as well as close
912-416: The board via P-24 Px24 Bx24 Bx24 Rx24 if the opponent's bishop is on 33, or by moving to 46 to attack the opponent's rook on 82 or to attack the opponent's jumped knight on 73 possibly with supporting a P*74 pawn drop or P-74 pawn push). This shape of Black's shown in the adjacent digram is actually found as transitional development in the Classic Fortress variation of the Fortress opening. The sixth pawn file
950-400: The castle (K-79, K-88), and pushing the central pawn (P-56). An Incomplete Fortress or Half Fortress (片矢倉 kata yagura ) has the king and the gold on 78 and 68, respectively, instead of the positions 88 and 78 as in the usual Fortress castles. This positioning is meant to protect from the opponent's bishop being dropped onto 69 or 59 (highlighted in diagram) after a bishop exchange as now
988-459: The gold on 68 is defended by the silver on 77 and the gold on 67 and the gold on 68 can attack 69. In a Gold Fortress, the gold on 68 is not defended by any piece besides the king, and it cannot attack a bishop that was dropped on 69. An Incomplete Fortress is also known as Amano's Fortress (天野矢倉), named after Edo period shogi master Sōfu Amano . The Helmet Fortress (兜矢倉 kabuto yagura ) or simply Helmet or Headpiece (カブト kabuto ) castle
1026-467: The long diagonal that the opponent's bishop may be attacking on. The Tofu Fortress (豆腐矢倉 tōfu yagura ) is not a proper castle but rather a deformation of the Gold Fortress caused by the opponent's attack. Thus, this form occurs under inadequate preparation. The use of tofu is a metaphor of how easily this castle will fall apart like the soft silken tofu used in Japan. The Tofu Fortress develops from
1064-458: The only castle development in the faster attacking strategies such as Climbing Silver or Rushing Silver . When used in the Fortress opening, a simple Fortress can be constructed with the S-77 G-78 formation and with the fifth file pawn typically pushed so that the bishop can be utilized early for counterattacking purposes (such as trading off the third file pawn, or exchanging the bishops off
1102-404: The opponent's bishop drops. There is even a variant in which the right gold is positioned on 48 so that it defends an even wider area. The edge pawn is often pushed to P-96 especially in the Reclining Silver variations. As a result of the right gold remaining on rank 8, the sixth file pawn is often not pushed to 66. In the Reclining Silver variations of Bishop Exchange, some subvariations do move
1140-402: The rook's pawn. However, one's opponent may just as easily adopt this defense, giving neither side an obvious advantage. There is a good deal of flexibility in the order of moves when building the Fortress defense. A point to keep in mind is that the generals should move diagonally, not directly forward. While forming the castle, the rook's pawn is often advanced two squares in preparation for
1178-462: The same range of defense on 86, 76, 66, and 56 as well as the greater potential of both silvers returning to 77 and 67 after moving up to rank 6. However, by using a second silver for the castle, one gives up the use of the silver for offensive purposes and the side of silver (57) is not defended. A game of Akira Watanabe vs Akira Inaba in April 2019 shows an example of a Silver Fortress. The opening
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1216-403: The second file. Here the silver can climb to the empty 25 square. And, if there's a pawn in hand, then that pawn can be dropped to 24. In the board diagram to the right, the Black's silver has successfully climbed to rank 5 on the first file (15). ii. Lx15 P*13 A subsequent attack by Black, for example, could aim to sacrifice this silver in order to remove White's lance and then drop
1254-528: The silver has reached the e file (S-15 in the adjacent diagram), Black can attempt to attack White's bishop pawn at 23 by advancing their pawn (P-24). White can capture Black's pawn, but the silver can recapture White's pawn. Because White did not properly defend their bishop's head here, White's camp is somewhat weaker and more susceptible to subsequent attacks from Black. ii. S-27 iii. S-26 ii. S-27 iii. S-26 iv. S-25 Similarly, it's also possible to play Climbing Silver when Black has no pawn on
1292-514: The silver. When the king is moved into the castle, then it will be positioned on the 88 square although there are exceptions where the king remains outside the castle (on 68 or 69 or 79) or on a different square in some variants (such as on 78). This basic form can occur in games when the player attacks early without extensive defensive preparations. For instance, the basic shape is usually formed in Bishop Exchange openings and this may be
1330-465: The standard way in that it saves one tempo . It is not a distinct castle but rather a method of castle construction. Quick Fortress castling will lead to the intermediate position seen in the adjacent diagram. This intermediate position does not occur when a Fortress is built using the slower traditional move sequence. (The term 早囲い hayagakoi also refers to the Quick castle, which is otherwise known as
1368-452: The title Yagura . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yagura&oldid=923119975 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Japanese-language surnames Hidden categories: Articles containing Japanese-language text Short description
1406-470: Was Bishop Exchange, Double Reclining Silver , P25 G48 R29 variation. Both players first built a Helmet castle as is typical of Bishop Exchange games. After this, Inaba (White) used the currently popular tactic of waiting for Black to start the attack by playing waiting moves. This gave Watanabe (Black) the time to develop his Helmet castle into a Silver Fortress by pushing his sixth file pawn (P-66), moving his reclined silver from 56 to 66, moving his king into
1444-543: Was first formed by Sansa Hon'inbō in 1618 who was playing a Static Rook position (eventually Sleeve Rook ) against Sōkei Ōhashi I who was playing a Fourth File Rook position (eventually Third File Rook ). In the modern era, Fortress castles are typically used in Static Rook positions against Static Rook opponents (that is, in Double Static Rook games). However, Static Rook positions playing against some Bishop-Exchange Ranging Rook position may also use
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