Nakahara Castle Guide: Why It’s Strong for Defense
| Your Strategy | Static Rook |
| Opponent’s Strategy | Static Rook |
| Pros | Can adapt to aggressive strategies and makes it difficult for the opponent’s bishop to target the king. |
| Cons | Not suitable for prolonged battles. |
| Move count | 4 |
The Nakahara Castle is established with the left gold, right gold, and right silver in these positions, completing it in a minimum of 4 moves.
It is mainly used in response to the “Side Pawn Picker” (横歩取り) when playing Black in a Rook-on-Rook setup.
Since the Side Pawn Picker often leads to fierce battles involving major piece exchanges, the Nakahara Castle offers both strength and simplicity in defense.
How To Build A Nakahara formation
- Open the bishop’s diagonal.
- Place the left gold generals on top of the left silver generals to prepare for intense attacks from bishops and rooks.
- Move the king to the safe position at 6-9.
- Advance the right silver general to the second rank and bring the right gold general to 5-9 to strengthen the position beside the king.
It is also acceptable to move the right gold generals before advancing the right silver generals. Additionally, you can open the bishop’s diagonal after building the castle.
The key point of the Nakahara Castle is placing the right gold general on the first rank. This positioning maintains balance and makes it easier to resist attacks from the opponent’s rook. In aggressive battles where major piece exchanges are common, having the gold on the first rank helps resist rook attacks with minimal drawbacks.
While the direction of the opponent’s attack may vary depending on the game’s development, the king can escape to either side, allowing for relatively flexible resistance even after breakthroughs.
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