If you can almost perfectly predict how the game will progress, you can save many tempi in the long run with super-accurate prophylactic piece placement. That comes with experience. It's really nice to go through an entire game having wasted zero moves. People care too much about material. My front is pretty weak in that game. At least I have enough buffer to buy a little time to defend it properly, if I have to.
7九麒
6六歩
7七麒
☗同合☖7六獅
Maybe I overlook something but I think this kind of exchange is good, because the lion is very prominent in the center.
9七麒
10十馬
同豹
9七仲
同獅
同獅
同歩
3十一猛
9二銀
Never seen both the lions off with all pawns still alive before.
Yeah it is very weird I didn't expect this development after my 41. move.
I will not move today, because I want to do some more planning tomorrow, before I start developing my step movers.
Unpredictability keeps your opponent on his toes. At least nobody can call my style of chu shogi boring. I'm known to play very speculative moves once in a while. High risk, high reward stuff. As material stands, rook + kirin vs free king. I have positional advantage.
10九豹
Thank you for sharing, I went through the moves on my board. It was interesting how you can get control of the central area in few moves although the lack of material.
For our game I'll go with:
8九獅