Lesson 14 of 20 · Castles · 8 min

The Boat Castle and Breaking Castles

A castle protects you only until someone breaks it; this lesson builds the quick Boat castle and shows how to take a Mino apart.

  • Build the quick Boat castle with the king on 7h.
  • Break a Mino by trading a cheap tokin for its silver.
  • Strike a castle's head with a pawn and finish a mate in five.

The Boat castle (funagakoi) is the quick Static Rook castle against Ranging Rook: king on 7h, golds on 6i and 5h. It takes only a few moves, so you can start attacking early.

The Boat castle is thin from above and on the diagonal. If the game slows down, strengthen it—or dig further into an Anaguma.

🔒 2 more cards and 2 more practice positions continue in the app.

Try the first practice

Opponentno pieces in hand
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Youno pieces in hand

Practice 1 of 1

Build the Boat castle: where does the king go?

Remember: The Boat castle is quick but thin. To break any castle, strike the king's head with pawns, attack the edge, and trade cheap pieces for the defenders next to the king.

Related

Openings that use it: Right Fourth-file Rook · Mino and Boat Castles

Terms:

DragonTokinSacrificeCastleBoat castleRight Fourth-file RookRapid attackEdge attackAttack on the king's headClosing in

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Finish “The Boat Castle and Breaking Castles” in the app

4 cards and 3 practice positions, with hints after every wrong try. Then put it to work against Kuma and get the game explained in plain English.

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