Ranging Rook or Swinging Rook (振り飛車 furibisha) openings in shogi position the rook (飛) to the center or left of the player's board to support an attack there.
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Types of Ranging Rook
Traditionally, Ranging Rook has been used as a defensive strategy for White (後手) against Static Rook (居飛車) openings played by Black (先手). White's rook can be moved flexibly to counteract Black's attacks. These types of White openings are named simply Ranging Rook (振り飛車 furibisha). In describing the game positions of both opponents, the term is Static Rook vs Ranging Rook (居飛車対振り飛車 ibisha tai furibisha). In these games, Black has the initiative, and White quickly builds a defense by castling the king (玉) and looks for a counterattack.
When the Ranging Rook position is played by Black, then it is known as Black Ranging Rook (先手振り飛車 sente furibisha).
From its defensive origins, the standard way to play Ranging Rook openings is for the player to close their bishop (角) diagonal with a pawn (歩) advanced to the 6f square when played by Black (先手) or advanced to 4d when played by White (後手). Thus, Ranging Rook is sometimes termed Ordinary Ranging Rook or Normal Ranging Rook (ノーマル振り飛車 nōmaru furibisha) or Standard Ranging Rook (スタンダード振り飛車 sutandādo furibisha) to contrast with the newer Ranging Rook strategies that keep their bishop diagonal open. Since the traditional Ranging Rook prevents early bishop exchanges, it is described as a slow game (持久戦 jikyūsen) in Japanese. Preventing an early bishop exchange allows for the Ranging Rook player to develop their castle and defense without needing to worry about being stymied by bishop drops.
The traditional (normal/standard) type of Ranging Rook contrasts with Ranging Rook positions that allow a bishop exchange (角交換 kaku kōkan) to occur at anytime, which are known as Bishop Exchange Ranging Rook (角交換振り飛車 kaku kōkan furibisha) or Open Bishop Diagonal Ranging Rook (角道オープン振り飛車 kaku michi ōpen furibisha). These openings include Quick Ishida, Cheerful Central Rook, Bishop Exchange Fourth File Rook, Direct Opposing Rook.
Traditional Ranging Rook
1. P-7f P-3d, 2. P-2f ... The traditional openings start by Black opening their bishop (角) diagonal (P-7f) and showing their intent to play Static Rook (P-2f). White responds by opening their bishop's diagonal as well. The order 1. P-7f P-3d, 2. P-2f ... is the most common, but, of course, the moves may be transposed as 1. P-2f P-3d, 2. P-7f ....
2. ... P-4d. The traditional, defensive play starts with the fourth move. The standard move has White preventing an early bishop exchange by closing their bishop diagonal. This allows White to start building their castle and further developing their pieces without having to worry about bishop drops that would otherwise be possible if the bishop diagonal was left open and Black initiates a bishop exchange.
These four opening moves characterize most traditional Ranging Rook positions that move the rook to different files.
After this, the most common moves by Black are to move their right silver up to the fourth file (3. S-4h) or to continue advancing their rook pawn (3. P-2e). If the Black chooses the rook pawn option, then White must respond to by moving their bishop to the third file (3. ... B-3c) to prevent Black from getting a pawn in hand from the second file.
Double Ranging Rook
Double Ranging Rook (相振り飛車 aifuribisha) is the class of openings when both players use Ranging Rook strategies. The josekis for these opening are less developed than many of the other types of games such as Double Static Rook (相居飛車 aiibisha) and Static Rook vs Ranging Rook.
Classification of positions by file
Ranging Rook strategies are classified according which file the rook moves to. And, they are generally named from White's perspective since the strategies were originally developed as defensive positions by White. For instance, the Third File Rook opening is named third file because when White moves their rook into position, their rook will end up on the third file (R-3b). If the same Third File Rook opening was played by Black, then Black's rook will move to the seventh file (R-7h).
Similarly, the Third File Rook opening moves the rook second file (R-3b) for White while the position played by Black is the eighth file (R-7h).
The Opposing Rook opening moves a rook to the same file as the opponent's rook. For White, this Opposing Rook position is the second file (R-2b) while the position played by Black is the eighth file (R-8h). It is in this sense the moved rook is opposing the rook of their opponent.
Central Rook
Central Rook (中飛車) openings position the rook on the fifth (central) file.
Another variant of Central Rook called Cheerful Central Rook (ゴキゲン中飛車) keeps the bishop's diagonal open.
Fourth File Rook
Fourth File Rook (四間飛車) is a Ranging Rook opening in which the rook is moved to fourth file if played by White and the sixth file if played by Black.
Bishop Exchange Fourth File Rook (角交換四間飛車 kaku koukan shikenbisha) is an aggressive variant of Fourth File Rook in which the Ranging Rook player keeps their bishop diagonal open allowing for bishop trades early in the game.
Third File Rook
Third File Rook (三間飛車 sangenbisha) openings position the rook on third file if played by White and the seventh file if played by Black.
The Ishida Style (石田流 ishida ryu) and Quick Ishida (早石田 haya ishida) openings are subcategories of Third File Rook in which the seventh file pawn (if played by Black) or the third file pawn (if played by White) is advanced to the middle e rank early in the opening.
Opposing Rook
Opposing Rook (向かい飛車 mukaibisha) positions the rook on eighth file (Black) where the bishop was originally (or the second file for White).
Feint Ranging Rook
Feint Ranging Rook (陽動振り飛車 yōdōfuribisha) is an Ranging Rook opening in which the player advances their rook pawn sending a false message to their opponent that they are probably playing a Static Rook opening. Subsequently, the player positions their pieces in a Ranging Rook position and tries to take an advantage of any poor piece development their opponent made.
Fuji System
Fuji System (藤井システム fujii shisutemu) is a complex system of piece development, castle formation, and counterattacking to be used with Ranging Rook strategies. It was invented by shogi professional Takeshi Fujii (藤井猛). It is particularly useful against Static Rook's Anaguma strategies, which prior to the development of the Fuiji system had started to seem unsurmountable for a Ranging Rook player.