According to Katsumata Kiyokazu(6 dan) in latest Shogi Sekai which is a monthly magazine, the rate that Bishop exchange occurs up to the 10th move comparing between 1998 and 2008 is as below;
1998 --- 62/2238 games(2.7%)
2008 --- 545/2379games(22.9%)
As you see above, the openings with Bishop trade at the early stage increased significantly. I guess this has been caused by the increase of Gote's adoptation of Itteson Kakugawari(Bishop exchange losing a tempo) and Gokigen Nakabisha(Gokigen Central Rook)
As to Gokigen Nakabisha, HIDETCHI already started making several videos linked below;
YouTube - Shogi Openings: Gokigen Central Rook #1
YouTube - Shogi Openings: Gokigen Central Rook #2 (G(R)-5h variation)
And HIDETCHI is also started making videos of Bishop Exchange. I hope Itteson Kakugawari will be covered in his videos in the near future.
YouTube - Shogi Openings: Bishop Exchange #1
YouTube - Shogi Openings: Bishop Exchange #2
I highly recommend you to be a subscriber of HIDETCHI's Channel on YouTube if you are not yet. The number of the subscribers has already exceeded 1000. In order to do that, go to the link and click the Subscribe button you can find in the page like below.
Itteson Kakugawari will be covered in "Bishop Exchange #4" video, though it's gonna be only a quick overall explanation.
Posted by: HIDETCHI | October 08, 2009 at 10:28 PM