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Shogi Two Piece Handicap
Part 2
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25 October 2000
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By Larry Kaufman,
Amateur 5 Dan
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Variation II
In this variation white plays to avoid the exchange of generals at all costs. The exchange of pieces tends to favor black for several reasons.
- Black's rook and bishop tend to cover the squares on which pieces in hand might be dropped.
- Pieces in hand favor the attacker, which is normally the player receiving the handicap.
- Finally, it usually takes more skill to use the pieces on the board than the ones in hand; a good piece drop is usually obvious.
For these reasons, this line is rather tough to beat in practice; it's very hard to find the right plan with no pieces in hand.
Play through the analysis by
clicking on "Java viewer".
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21...P7e (Java viewer) 22 R4f (22 Px7e Gx7e helps white by letting the gold support ...P8f or ...P6f, and 22 P4d as above is not so convincing as there is no mate on 6b or drop on 7e here) S4b (to avoid a silver exchange) 23 P4d
23...S23a (23...Px4d (Java viewer) 24 Bx4d K7b 25 P*4c! Gx4c 26 B5c+! P*4e 27 Rx4e P*4d 28 +Bx6d Px4e 29 G*6c K8a 30 +Bx7c R*9b 31 N*8d with an imminent mate) 24 Px4c+
24...Sx4c (24...Gx4c (Java viewer) 25 P*4d G5c 26 N4e G5b 27 P4c+! Gx4c 28 P*4d G3d 29 Sx3d Px3d 30 P4c+ Sx4c 31 G*5c forking) 25 S4d (aiming for an exchange) S5b (White is consistent and avoids the exchange.) 26 N4e
26...S4b (Centralization, just as in chess. 26...P*4b 27 N5c+ leads to promoting the bishop, while 26...P*4c is met by 27 N5c+ Sx5c 28 Sx4c+ leading to promoting the rook.) 27 P*4c Gx4c (If either silver takes, 28 N5c+ wins material.) 28 Sx4c+ S4x4c (28...S5x4c 29 G*5c leads to a bishop promotion.) 29 Nx3c+ P*4d 30 +Nx4c Sx4c 31 Bx4d!
(Trading bishop for general to promote the rook is perhaps the most common motif of this handicap.) P*4e (31...Sx4d 32 Rx4d K5b 33 S*4b is deadly) 32 Rx4d S*3d 33 G*6b! K7d 34 B5c+!! Sx4e 35 S*6c
with a decisive attack. In general I think this variation is one of white’s best, as some of the positions where black promotes at the cost of a knight may not be trivial to win.
Variation III
In this line white concentrates solely on making it hard for black to break in, rather than on doing anything constructive himself. In even game shogi such passive play is generally fatal, but in handicap games, especially larger handicaps, aggressive play by white is apt to result in a quick win for black, who will usually break in easily if white does not concentrate all his forces on defense. So lines like this are probably white's best practical chance.
21...S4b (!) (Java viewer) 22 R4f S23a (This looks very passive, but it is not so simple to refute; it is similar to the preceding variation, in which ...P7e was played first.) 23 P4d Px4d 24 Bx4d K7b
(White simply prevents any promotion or exchange.) 25 N4e P*4c 26 B5c+ Sx5c 27 Nx5c+ (The knight’s promotion compensates for the lost exchange.)
27...B*7a! (27...S4b 28 S*4a G3a 29 S5b+) 28 S*6b Bx6b 29 +Nx6b Kx6b 30 B*8b.
Black will regain the sacrificed material and promote his bishop, and can continue his attack by P9e, aiming to promote a pawn on the 9th file. An improvement for white on this line by Kato Hifumi 9 Dan is to replace 18...P9d by ...P1d, so that the above plan for black will take more time. This may well be white’s best line against the crab castle system. At least he won't lose quickly.
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