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Castles 囲い
Step through how each castle is built, one move at a time. Only the builder's moves are shown — the opponent stands still — so you can see the shape form. In a real game you play these between your opponent's moves, and the order bends to what they do.
Use the arrows, the ← → keys, or swipe the board.
Mino 美濃囲い
mino gakoi · Named after Mino province
The ranging-rook castle: the king walks right, where the rook started, behind a silver and two golds.
- Strong
- Quick to build and very hard to break from the side, where a static-rook attack usually comes.
- Weak
- The head of the king (b3) and the edge can be attacked directly.
Builds on the — its first moves are the same.
Move order
- Open the bishop's diagonal.
- Space for the rook's new file.
- The rook ranges to f2 (Shikenbisha, the fourth-file rook).
- Now the king walks right, into the rook's old home…
- …
- …to b2.
- Silver up beside the king.
- The left gold to e2. The right gold stays on d1: this is the Mino.
- An edge pawn gives the king an escape square.
Why castles matter and how to choose one: the castles lesson · see which castles players here actually reach in the opening explorer.