Announcing the Bougyoku Tournament
“If the king doesn't move, then his subjects won't follow." -Lelouch Lamperouge, Code Geass
An incredibly wise quote that we can all learn from. Now, prove your strength as a leader in the Bougyoku Master Arena. This tournament will be on the 1st of April (Thursday), 14:00 UTC, with a time control of 5 minutes and duration of 1 hour. For the uninitiated, Bougyoku (棒玉) is an opening strategy which translates to Climbing King, where the king moves forward to attack or gain space. It is commonly used to joke around & troll players.
There is only 1 rule: All games played must have placed the king in the 4th rank before, or at move 30, unless the opponent loses before this move. The king may or may not retreat as soon as he reached the 4th rank.
The highest standing player who fulfills this requirement is eligible for the Bougyoku Master Trophy, which will be displayed on their profile. And for a limited time, this player will also have the BgM (Bougyoku Master) title before their name.
https://lishogi.org/tournament/SJOQAH3J
This is for April Fools. The opening is a joke, but the tournament and trophy prize are real. See you there!
Sente and Gote have placed their kings on their own 4th ranks at moves 17 and 20, respectively (red circle). Gote immediately moves his king back to the 3rd rank at move 22 (green circle), which is totally fine. Also note Sente's king is a bit safer than Gote's.
Additional notes:
- Tournament participants can play normally, but they will not be eligible for the trophy. For this reason we have set the tournament to Casual.
- Moving the king to the 4th rank at exactly move 30 is allowed, but no longer at move 31.
- We will be very strict about the requirement. Even just one game that does not follow the requirement will disqualify you from claiming the trophy. Please do not forget it. Consider pasting a reminder on your monitor.
- Players must make sure that their king is legally able to enter the 4th rank as soon as possible. Unless of course, the opponent loses beforehand. Expect opponents trying to stop the Bougyoku, and act accordingly.
- The games will be verified manually.
UPDATE: Try rule has been fixed. If Sente's king arrives at 51, or Gote's at 59, they win even if the opponent's king has not entered yet. No more try rule draws :) Eventually though, we'd like to implement proper impasse rules.
UPDATE 2: With 78 participants, the Bougyoku Master Arena was a success! Congratulations to uenopanda for being our Bougyoku Master. Congrats to takutaku & dns0z as well, for earning the Bougyoku Practitioner trophies.
The Bougyoku Master Trophy