Hello. I would like to preface this as kind of a stupid question, but I'm really struggling playing when my opponent develops the lion to the g-rank (as sente). I find it hard to develop my generals, and my position overall seems kind of stuck. I've explored Spaceman style high lion removal and Konishi style high lion removal, but I don't like the idea of my free king being brought out early, or my lion on 9d. Maybe I'm being too picky or maybe those variations are actually easy to play, but coming from someone who enjoys slow games, would there be any alternatives? Thank you.
Here's a brief study of the openings: lishogi.org/study/4xZbLGQL/mBZF68y5
g-rank Lion Countermeasures
I think an alternative is to create a pawn barrier, in that way you can internally within your area rearrange your pieces for a counterattack by taking step movers on the front.
Yeah, I've been trying to do this, but usually everything is a little too cramped for me to quickly mobilize my step movers. Maybe I can opt for a twin dragons setup to move the dragon kings out of the way. Thank you.
I am unaware of the two lion removal strategies, which you reference above, but, as Space Shogi, I have developed a Queen-based lion removal paradigm personally. Or Free King, as you prefer.
I think the play strongly varies depending what set-up Sente chooses, generally I like to either sacrifice few central pawns to open lines, or create threats from behind the wall of pawns. Problem with Konishi is that it uses a lot of time and creates a big weakeness in form that really advanced chunin that Sente can exploit. Spaceman can, as you adressed, be just prevented or even blocked, there should be nothing wrong with that. In the third option, you basically sacrifice chunin to get your Lion advanced, which could lead to some interresting dynamic play.
This topic has been archived and can no longer be replied to.