The standard first move is to drop a dangling pawn (垂れ歩) on the eighth file attacking the head of Black's bishop (角頭 kaku tō).
White is threatening to promote this pawn to a tokin (と) on their next move.
Moving the silver up to rank 8 defends the 87 square rendering White's pawn attack futile.
Furthermore, Black's advanced silver can always retreat back to the 78 square if White threatens with another pawn drop (3...P*86, 4.
Sx86), then Black's silver offers no protection for the bishop from White's subsequent pawn drop.
Moving the gold to defend the bishop's head is a standard move in many Double Static Rook openings, such as Bishop Exchange, Double Wing Attack, or Side Pawn Capture.
[b] In the Three Pawns handicap, using the gold is slightly more complicated than using the silver (shown above).
Unlike the case with the silver defense, a gold cannot retreat and must move forward and capture the pawn.
The correct response to the striking pawn is for the gold to retreat.
Similar comments apply to the gold moving sideways to either the left (5.
Another possible but suboptimal move is to create an escape hatch for Black's bishop.
Thus, although Black has saved one their most powerful pieces, opening up the bishop diagonal gives White more of an advantage compared with protecting the bishop's head with a silver or gold.
White can now drop a pawn directly on the bishop's head.
This pawn drop on the bishop's head is a tactic that can be applied to real even game openings such as the Double Wing Attack opening if either Black or White does not appropriately defend their bishops' heads.