| Quest of the lost systems |
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| Chapter One: Yagura |
| Section 1: suzume-zashi, or attack a la sparrow shish kebab |
All these investigations boil down to that it would be best for Black
to open fire when his king is still on 7i.
Diagram 7 shows another variation, in which, starting from Diagram 3, (b)B-6h,
(w)S-8d, (b)K-7i, (w)N-7c were made, followed by exactly the same moves
from (b)P-6e through (w)B-3f, as Yonenaga and Nakahara did.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
+---------------------------+ White in hand: N, 4Ps
|wL * * * * * * * * |a
| * wR * * * wB wG wK * |b
|wP * wN wP * wG * wP wN |c
| * wS wP * wP wP * * * |d
| * wP * bP * * wP * * |e
| * * bP * bP * wB * * |f
|bP bP bS bG * bP * * * |g Black in hand: S
| * * bG * * bS bL bL * |h
|bL bN bK * * * * * bR |i
+---------------------------+
Diagram 7. Up to (b)L*3h.
The difference is Black's L*3h, paying heed to what happened after (b)L*2f,
(w)N*1d. To drop L on 3h is simple enough, but claiming White's B.
Likely moves from Diagram 7: (from White)
P*1h; R-2i, B-1d; Lx3e, P*3d; P*2d, Px2d;
S*1e, B-2e! Lx2e, Nx2e; Sx2d, Bx2d; Rx2e, P*2c;
White's P*1h is a move to make in response to (b)L*3h. If (b)R-3i instead
of 2i, then (w)B-1e. So Black's best move should be R-2i. A few moves later,
at (b)S*1e, White's B-2e looks suicidal but brilliant. When (w)P*2c, the
last move above, was made, you will see that Black's attack is completely
thwarted.
To sum it up, when Black's king steps into 8h position, White attacks by
bo-gin, while the king is yet to be castled, White then comes killing all
the threats, beginning with B*3f. I must add that in actual games, however,
variations are almost innumerable, some of which are really tangling, but
gradually and slowly suzume-zashi got less popular among professional players.
There is another type of counterattack by White, called shagami-yagura (or
squatting-yagura), which is deemed quite powerful.
