Left Bear-in-the-hole Central Rook (中飛車左穴熊 ''nakabisha hidari anaguma'') is
Central Rook opening (戦法) and a derivative of the
Double Ranging Rook opening used in
Shogi
, also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, '' chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōg ...
. It is well known by its use from
Kenji Imazumi, who used it extensively in amateur tournaments, and later used it successfully in his
Professional Admission Test to become a professional player.
It is characterized by building a
Bear-in-the-hole castle
The Bear-in-the-hole or Anaguma castle (穴熊 ''anaguma'', badger, lit. "hole-bear") is a castle used in shogi. (An anaguma is a Japanese badger.) It is commonly used in professional shogi.
History
The Bear-in-the-hole was initially a castle ...
on the Central Rook player's left side, which is unusual since Ranging Rook castles (including the Bear-in-the-hole) are most commonly built on the player's right side and Bear-in-the-holes built on the left side have usually been used for
Static Rook
Static Rook (居飛車 ''ibisha'') openings in shogi typically have the player's rook at its start position, which is the second file (on the 28 square) for Black and the eighth file (on the 82 square) for White.
Explanation
Static Rook is a ...
positions.
Although Left Bear-in-the-hole Central Rook was invented by amateur players, it has been used by professional players as well. Taking advantage of the fact that with the rook in the center the king can castle at either side, it can be said that this opening applies uniquely to Central Rook, and is impossible for other Ranging Rook openings. Apparently, the first person to play Left Bear-in-the-hole Central Rook was the famous amateur player Jumei Koike (1947-1992), and then it caught the attention of amateur player Hidetaka Sakurai, who was a student at
Ritsumeikan University
is a private university in Kyoto, Japan, that traces its origin to 1869. With the Kinugasa Campus (KIC) in Kyoto, and Kyoto Prefecture, the university also has a satellite called Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC) and Osaka-Ibaraki Campus (OIC).
Tod ...
at the time, and who completed the system.
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...
("Todai") student Tomonao Kobayashi became acquainted with it, and very soon other members of the University of Tokyo shogi club began analyzing it and playing it, to the point that the opening started being called Todai-style Bear-in-the-hole. It is rarely called that nowadays after it was adopted among professional players, who added various developments.
As countermeasures have been developed, variants where an Anaguma castle isn't used and a Left King Central Rook is used have appeared, for example using a combination of an Elmo castle and Central Rook.
See also
*
Central Rook
*
Fourth File Rook
*
Double Ranging Rook
Bibliography
* 藤森, 哲也. 2016. 藤森流中飛車左穴熊破り.
* 杉本, 昌隆. 2014. 対振り革命: 中飛車左穴熊. マイナビ出版.
External links
Central Rook Left Anaguma (1) · Evernote document by Shun Tokuni
{{Shogi openings
Shogi openings
Ranging Rook openings
Central Rook openings
Double Ranging Rook openings