Shogi
Rook handicap
The stronger player gives up the rook on 8b — and moves first.
What is different here
Hisha-ochi is the rung most club players remember, because it is the first handicap that makes the two sides play genuinely different games. Gote starts without the rook on 8b and keeps the bishop.
A rook is the strongest man on the board and the only one that can open a file by force. Without it, uwate cannot break a position open; he has to provoke shitate into opening it for him.
Reckoned at about three grades. Uwate moves first, which is more useful here than at the smaller odds because his whole game depends on getting his shape set before shitate arrives.
- Removed: gote’s rook on 8b.
- Gote — uwate — moves first.
- Uwate plays with a bishop, generals and a very solid castle.
- Shitate wins by opening a file with the rook and breaking through.
- If uwate ever captures the rook, he can drop it: guard it carefully.