Shogi
Lance handicap
The stronger player gives up one lance — the one on 1a — and moves first.
What is different here
Kyo-ochi, the lance handicap, is the smallest rung on the ladder. Gote, who is the stronger player here, starts without the lance on 1a, the one standing at his own left hand. Everything else is the even game.
A lance is worth little on its own, so the odds are less about material than about the corner it leaves unguarded and the tempo it costs. Uwate makes the first move, which is a real part of what is being given up.
This is the handicap for a gap of roughly one grade — a step, not a chasm. If shitate is winning comfortably, move to the bishop.
- Removed: gote’s lance on 1a.
- Gote — the stronger player, uwate — moves first.
- The first file behind gote is a square softer than usual.
- Every other rule of the even game applies unchanged.