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Lexicon and notation

Several language elements will use Japanese terms. The lexicon below lists the different terms used in this article:

Japanese	English
sente	the player who starts the game
gote	the player who plays second
ibisha	the static rook, the strategy of leaving the rook on its starting square
furibisha	the ranging rook, the strategy of changing the rook’s column
shikenbisha	the rook on the fourth column from the left
ai furibisha	double ranging rooks or mutual ranging rooks

Moves will be notated with a Latin letter followed by two Arabic numerals.
A dash (-) indicates a standard move. An asterisk (*) indicates a drop. An x indicates a capture.

If no number is indicated, it means the piece goes to the same square as in the previous move.

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Why ibisha?

Before talking about furibisha, a brief reminder about ibisha is in order.

The appeal of ibisha comes down to a few key points:

• There is no loss of tempo to change the rook’s column.
• The attack file targets the bishop’s head, which is undefended at the start of the game.

The main goal of ibisha can be summarised by this problem, which asks how to use the rook:

Why furibisha?

If the rook is already on a column that attacks an undefended piece from the starting position, why bother with a ranging rook?

A few elements help answer this question:

• The furibisha player will castle on the right side and will therefore not have an undefended castle pawn, as is the case when playing static rook and opening the bishop’s diagonal.
• The furibisha player can complete their castle more quickly, as they will not need to move their bishop to finish it.

Ibisha vs furibisha

Note: This article will not cover the ai furibisha case.

In most cases, the ibisha player will advance the pawn on the rook’s column twice to apply pressure on that column. The furibisha player will generally defend this column by advancing a pawn diagonally, as in this position:

Note that the bishop is the only piece helping to defend the rook’s column, with 3 generals committed to the castle and the last one typically used for attack.

Tactical element: removing the defender

Now, consider the following partial position and look for how to attack on the static rook’s side:

After P-45 Px Bx33+ Nx P-24 Px, we reach a position similar to the one mentioned earlier in “Why ibisha?”, allowing the attack to continue with the rook.

This attacking idea follows a proverb: Against furibisha, exchange the bishops.

Tactical element: the anticipatory sacrifice

Let us start from the following position:

Here, sente wants to attack with the silver. How?

If sente plays S-46 immediately, gote can respond with P-45, attacking the silver and preventing it from continuing its advance.

To prepare the attack, sente must first sacrifice a pawn with P-35.

If Px, S-46 threatens the pawn. If P-45, the silver can capture on 35 to continue the attack!

Strategic element: exchanging rooks

An important theme in ibisha vs furibisha games is castle solidity.

Consider the following position:

Here, sente benefits from a more solid castle. When one player has a stronger defence, exchanging pieces is generally in their favour, barring a tactical resource for the opponent.

In this position specifically, the mino castle is better suited to lateral attacks than the boat castle. Exchanging rooks is therefore a good idea.

The rook exchange can be initiated with S-67 here.

Exchanging rooks against a ranging rook is a classic strategic motif when playing furibisha, particularly against fast attacks, as the ibisha side will inherently have a lighter castle.

Game example

Let us now look at a game example to illustrate the points covered above.

In our example, sente plays shikenbisha and gote plays ibisha.

Intermediate positions are covered quickly to focus on the key moments of the game.

Sente must defend against the pawn push, otherwise gote will be able to promote the rook.

Sente must defend with B-77, as explained at the start of this article.

We now move to the beginning of the attack. How can sente start the attack?

Against furibisha, exchange the bishops.

Gote therefore attacks with P-65. If Px, then Bx77+ Nx P-24 Px Rx and gote will be able to promote the rook.

Sente therefore did not capture the pawn immediately. How should the attack continue?

P-24 is the anticipatory sacrifice that Px P*65 makes possible, allowing the bishops to be exchanged. If P*65 is played immediately, Sx Nx Rx Bx77+ P-24 B*64 attacks both the rook and the pawn on 24, stopping gote’s attack.

We reach the final position of this lesson here:

Playing Rx allows B*73 Rx74 Bx46 — gote has an intermediate check and appears able to attack with both major pieces. Sente has completed the full mino as defence. How can sente take advantage of this solid defence?

Here, it is possible to exchange rooks with R-85. This move also advances the knight with tempo.

Conclusion

Exchanging bishops against furibisha is a good way to remove the bishop defending square 24.

For the furibisha side, the defence will often be more solid, so exchanging rooks is a good way to gain a strategic advantage.

For further study

The following Lishogi studies use the main theme of this article:

• [FR]Sangenbisha Partie 1 : P-45 Hayajikake