KENZAN! SHOGI TRIALS 7–FINAL: THE HANDICAP GAMES

KENZAN! SHOGI TRIALS 7–FINAL: THE HANDICAP GAMES These are the remaining five Gion trials, including the Final Trial after number 10. Starting positions below were checked directly against the board diagrams. The plans adapt to the opponent's actual moves; no unverified fixed move sequence is presented as a guaranteed solution. View from Kiryu's side: files 9 to 1 run left to right, ranks a to i run top to bottom. Kiryu's normal king is 5i, bishop 8h and rook 2h. Opponent king is 5a, rook 8b and bishop 2b. TRIAL 7 First player is decided by the toss. Replays allowed. Only the two kings are on the board, at 5i and 5a. Each side holds nine pawns, one bishop and one rook. There are no generals, knights or lances. Plan: consider the opponent's checking drops before every deployment. A rook dropped deep in enemy territory can be useful, but exposing your own king to a rook-and-bishop attack is an immediate danger. Deploy pawns to shield key files, use your bishop to protect the rook or restrict the opposing king, and keep a piece in reserve to block a sliding check. Capturing a major piece is decisive only if your king survives the reply. Pawn drops cannot give immediate checkmate. A promoted pawn, however, moves as a gold and supplies the close-range control your starting army lacks. Build one behind a protected pawn advance when you cannot win a major piece cleanly. Reward: All-Purpose Pill - Special Grade. TRIAL 8 Opponent moves first. Replays allowed. Kiryu has no reserve. Kiryu has the full standard army. The opponent has the standard army except its pawns at 8c and 3c are in hand. Its rook file and bishop diagonal are open from the start, reversing Trial 5's advantage. Plan: inspect the actual opening move before touching your normal opening pawns. The enemy rook has a direct route down file 8 toward your pawn at 8g, and the bishop's diagonal can become active immediately. If a rook enters your camp, identify safe blocking drops or coordinated attacks against it rather than chasing it with an exposed king. A captured checking piece is useful only if the capture does not uncover another attack. Use the available replays at the first tactical oversight. Do not continue a familiar standard-game opening after the opponent has already invaded. Reward: Brawler's Sarashi. TRIAL 9 Kiryu moves first. Replays allowed. Neither side has pieces in hand. The opponent has a full standard army. Kiryu has K5i, B8h, R2h and all nine pawns on rank g. Kiryu's golds, silvers, knights and lances are absent. Plan: your king has no general shield, but your two major pieces provide enough reach to contest the board. Keep the pawn wall intact around the king where possible and attack on a chosen side. A clean capture of an enemy general gives you the defender missing from the initial setup. Avoid equal-looking exchanges that hand the opponent a rook drop while your king remains undefended. Promote the bishop or rook only when you can keep it safe afterward. Reward: European Cloth. TRIAL 10 Kiryu moves first. Replays allowed. Opponent has no reserve. The board is identical to Trial 9, but Kiryu also holds two knights. Plan: use the knights as tactical reserves rather than dropping both immediately. A knight attacks two squares forward and one sideways, so a drop can threaten a fork while the rook or bishop covers its landing square. Check both destinations before choosing the square. A knight that jumps deep into the enemy camp may need promotion to remain useful; an unpromoted knight cannot move backward to safety. The king is still missing gold and silver defenders. A fork that wins material is not worth allowing a forced mate. Use captured generals to repair that weakness. Reward: Edo Women's Sachet. FINAL TRIAL Kiryu moves first. No replays. Only K5i and the opposing K5a are on the board. Kiryu holds nine pawns. The opponent holds its entire other army: nine pawns, two lances, two knights, two silvers, two golds, a bishop and a rook. Plan: this is the most severe material handicap. Distribute pawns legally across different files to contest approach squares while keeping the king mobile. A wall does not stop knight checks, and a single unprotected pawn does not safely block every rook or bishop attack. Inspect the opponent's hand before committing the king. Watch for an undefended dropped piece that your king can capture safely, or a major piece trapped by a supported pawn advance. You need to turn the opponent's deployments into material of your own rather than expecting nine pawns to overpower a full army directly. Promote a surviving pawn when possible, but never ignore a checking threat to do it. There is no source-verified forced-win line for this position in the guides checked. The starting condition and reward are verified; this plan is strategic guidance. If following a recorded playthrough, stop matching it as soon as the AI chooses a different move. Reward: Portuguese Hand Mirror. AFTER THE LAST CLEAR Check the shogi completion entry and make sure Seio, the ranking-mode Shogi King, is also defeated. Clearing only one of the two shogi modes is insufficient.