From: Colin Paul Adams COLINA DEMON CO UK> Date: 6 feb 2000 Subject: Chu Shogi castles (part III) So far I have assumed that the Kylin has been sent up the board into the fighting. You may prefer to leave it back, hoping for a lot of pieces to be swapped off, and a simplified endgame, in which case it has reasonable chances of deciding the game, when you attempt to promote it. In which case the Ribbon Castle can be Augmented by placing the Kylin on 5a: /6,K,KY,4/ 4,G,BT,DE,BT,G,3/ 12/12/ 5,ln,6/ 12/12/12/12/ 6,r,5/ 12/12/ The augmented Ribbon Castle is significantly stronger, but there is still one weakness. This can be eliminated by adopting the Augmented Single Gold Castle: /5,BT,K,KY,4/ 5,G,DE,BT,G,3/ 12/12/ 5,ln,6/ 12/12/12/12/ 6,r,5/ 12/12/ The decision to do this must be made early, probably in the opening (the moves to form it are: G - 4b; Ky - 5a; DE - 6b; G - 7b; BT - 7a). This is about as strong a castle as you can get (excepting always the free arrangement handicaps, where you can build a "Bear in the Bunker", by analogy with Modern Shogi's "Bear in the Hole". The only thing I dislike about this is the choice of strategy - I usually like to fight with my Kylin, but sometimes I might choose to play like this. When I advance the Kylin, I prefer to adopt the Double Gold Castle: /5,BT,K,BT,4/ 5,G,DE,G,4/ 12/12/ 5,ln,6/ 12/12/12/12/ 6,r,5/ 12/12/ However, this takes some time to build, so depending on how the game is going, I might prefer the (weaker) Single Gold Castle: /5,BT,K,G,4/ 5,G,DE,BT,4/ 12/12/ 5,ln,6/ 12/12/12/12/ 6,r,5/ 12/12/ Other variations are possible on these themes. For instance, if you needed to defend the square 3b (this happens quite often), then you might move G - 4b, trusting that no check will occur on 2a (actually, in this position, this move is vital to stop mate on 5c). From there, moving to the Double Gold is possible, if you later get the chance. The problem with the castle illustrated in this message (part III), is that there is no prospect of the King running away. Thus they are all similar to the Bear in the Hole, in Modern Shogi. In my opinion, the chances of being able to run away effectively from an attack are low. -- Colin Paul Adams Preston Lancashire