From: Eric Cheymol <shogi <at> FREE <dot> FR>
Date: 24 may 2002
Subject: Re: Habu's magical tour in Paris (the simul)

Hi Larry,

>      Here is the background on this opening system.  The system
> beginning
> with 7 P4e (instead of the standard 7 R4h, usually met by ...N3c) is a
> very
> old one, known as "quick attack" (but rather misnamed, as it usually
> leads
> to a slow game!), which is sometimes recommended by pros.  However the
> specific plan used here, involving R-4h-4i-8i, is known as the "subway
> rook"
> as the rook's movement suggests that it took an underground train.  I
> don't
> know who invented it, but it was played in Tokyo on July 18, 1972, by
> Student Meijin Kurokawa (amateur) against Nakahara Makoto Meijin,
> Kurakawa
> winning fairly easily.  The game was nearly identical to Eric's game vs.
> Habu up to move 23; the only differences in the position were that the
> 9th
> file pawns were not pushed, the moves P1e and P8f were not played, and
> white
> had chosen ...P2d instead of ...P1d.  Black played P6f (actually he
> played
> it some moves earlier), so as to meet P5e by S6g, which looks better
> than
> having to retreat to 4g as Eric did.  Black then won with an attack on
> the
> 8th file, similar to Eric's win.
>      This game was shown by Koji (Pro) to George Hodges, who had
> planned to
> run it in his magazine which unfortunately stopped publication.  The
> pro had
> told George that it was a "sure win" system for black.  He sent me the
> game
> two years ago, and I was impressed by the idea.  I never got to use it,
> as
> in recent years I always play pros at bishop, but I showed the idea to
> Marc
> Theeuwen who was visiting D.C.  Although Marc had a terrible record of
> countless losses to pros at rook prior to this, he immediately won games
> from pros Ishikawa and Kondo with this system.  Ishikawa defended as in
> the
> Nakahara game but kept his right gold at 6a to slide to 7a when needed
> for
> defense, while Kondo chose the setup K5b and G7b (which I think is
> tougher
> for black than the K7b setup), but still the system worked fine for
> Marc.
> Marc later sent the games (or at least the outline of the system) to
> Eric
> for use against Takano, Pro 4 Dan and now against Habu.  So far as I
> know
> the only failure of the system was a loss by George Fernandez against
> Yonenaga 9 Dan, but I believe that George did not study the system
> enough
> and did not play it correctly.

Thank you very much for all the detailed story. Anyway, I don't have
seen Marc's game, but I would be very curious to replay them. This rook
handicap opening interests me, I would like to fully study this line
before playing at bishop, if I have the time for this task. I would like
to see how other pros play the white side.

Perhaps games prior to July 18, 1972 with the same idea exist. Kurokawa
could say more about it ?

>      Does all this mean that rook handicap is "busted" or solved?  Not
> quite.  It seems to me that once the bishops are exchanged, the game is
> indeed pretty difficult for white.  One possible solution: meet 7 P4e by
> G5b, avoiding the bishop trade.  Pros rarely do this, because after 8
> R4h
> they have been "tricked" into playing a defense (G5b) that was not their
> intended defense to 7 R4h (namely 7...N7c).  Nevertheless, the G5b
> defense
> is quite playable and theory exists on it.  Still, black can be
> satisfied
> that he has avoided the "best" defense (7...N7c), which experience
> shows is
> quite difficult to defeat.

You mean 7... N3c. What about writing everything in a long article such
as the very good series on the MindSports site ?

>      All of this and more was going to appear on my handicap series on
> the
> MindSports site, but since that site has not shown any signs of coming
> back
> to life I thought I'd go ahead and tell the story here.

If your article is finished, what about putting everything in a Pieter's
shogi.net page ? I can help for building the html pages and if Pieter
can not handle it now, my page is open to your series of handicap
openings. Your article could include already played games.

Best shogi wishes,

Eric

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