Shogi

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Shogi

Shogi ( shōgi), or Japanese chess, is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan.

Rules of the game

Objective

Technically the game is won when a king is captured, though in practice defeat is conceded at checkmate or when checkmate becomes inevitable.

Game equipment

Two players, Black and White (or sente 先手 and gote 後手), play on a board composed of squares (actually rectangles) in a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or colour.

Each player has a set of 20 wedge-shaped pieces of slightly different sizes. Except for the kings, opposing pieces are differentiated only by orientation, not by marking or colour. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful), the pieces are:

1 king
1 rook
1 bishop
2 gold generals
2 silver generals
2 knights
2 lances
9 pawns

Several of these names were chosen to correspond to their rough equivalents in international chess and not as literal translations of the Japanese names.

Each piece has its name written on its surface in the form of two Japanese characters(kanji), usually in black ink. On the reverse side of each piece, other than the king and gold general, are one or two other characters, in amateur sets often in a different colour (usually red); this side is turned face up during play to indicate that the piece has been promoted. The pieces of the two players do not differ in colour, but instead each faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play.

The Japanese characters have deterred many people from learning shogi. This has led to "Westernized" or "international" pieces, which replace the characters with iconic symbols. However, partially because the traditional pieces are already iconic by size, with more powerful pieces being larger, most Western players soon learn to recognize them, and Westernized pieces have never become popular.

Following is a table of the pieces with their Japanese representations and English equivalents. The abbreviations are used for game notation and often to refer to the pieces in speech in Japanese.

|| 王将 || ōshō || royal general || K || 王 || ō || 玉将 || gyokushō || jade general || K || 玉 || gyoku || 飛車 || hisha || flying chariot || R || 飛 || hi || 龍王 || ryūō || dragon king || +R || 龍 or 竜* || ryū || 角行 || kakugyō || angle mover || B || 角 || kaku || 龍馬 || ryūme || dragon horse || +B || 馬 || uma || 金将 || kinshō || gold general || G || 金 || kin || 銀将 || ginshō || silver general || S || 銀 || gin || 成銀 || narigin || promoted silver || +S || (全) || — || 桂馬 || keima || laureled horse || N || 桂 || kei || 成桂 || narikei || promoted laurel || +N || (圭 or 今) || — || 香車 || kyōsha || incense chariot || L || 香 || kyō || 成香 || narikyō || promoted incense || +L || (杏 or 仝) || — || 歩兵 || fuhyō || foot soldier || p || 歩 || fu || と金 || tokin || reaches gold || +p || と (or 个) || to

English name	Image	Kanji	Rōmaji	Meaning	Abbreviations

* The kanji 竜 is a simplified form of 龍.

English speakers sometimes refer to promoted bishops as horses and promoted rooks as dragons, after their Japanese names, and generally use the Japanese term tokin for promoted pawns. Silver generals and gold generals are commonly referred to simply as silvers and golds.

The characters inscribed on the reverse sides of the pieces to indicate promoted rank may be in red ink, and are usually cursive. The characters on the backs of the pieces that promote to gold generals are cursive variants of 金 'gold', becoming more cursive (more abbreviated) as the value of the original piece decreases. These cursive forms have these equivalents in print: 全 for promoted silver, 今 for promoted knight, 仝 for promoted lance, and 个 for promoted pawn (tokin). Another typographic convention has abbreviated versions of the unpromoted ranks, with a reduced number of strokes: 圭 for a promoted knight (桂), 杏 for a promoted lance (香), and the 全 as above for a promoted silver, but と for tokin.

Player ranking

Players are ranked from 15 kyū to 1 kyū and then from 1 dan and upwards; this is the same terminology as in karate, go, calligraphy and many other arts in Japan. Professional players operate with their own scale, from professional 4 dan and upwards to 9 dan for elite players. Amateur and professional ranks are offset, corresponding as here.

Setup

Each player places his pieces in the positions shown below, facing the opponent.

In the rank nearest the player:
- The king is placed in the center file.
- The two gold generals are placed in the adjacent files to the king.
- The two silver generals are placed adjacent to each gold general.
- The two knights are placed adjacent to each silver general.
- The two lances are placed in the corners, adjacent to each knight.

That is, the first rank is .

In the second rank, each player places:
- The bishop in the same file as the left knight.
- The rook in the same file as the right knight.
In the third rank, the nine pawns are placed one to each file.

Traditionally, even the order of placing the pieces on the board is determined. There are two recognized orders, ohashi and ito. The Japanese-language page Shogi Pineapple indicates the two orders; ohashi is depicted on the left and ito on the right.

Gameplay

The players alternate taking turns, with Black playing first. (The terms "Black" and "White" are used to differentiate the two sides, but there is no actual difference in the color of the pieces.) For each turn a player may either move a piece which is already on the board and potentially promote it, capture an opposing piece, or both; or to "drop" a piece that has already been captured onto an empty square of the board. These options are detailed below.

Professional games are timed as in International Chess, but professionals are never expected to keep time in their games. Instead a timekeeper is assigned, typically an apprentice professional. Time limits are much longer than in International Chess (9 hours a side plus extra time in the prestigious Meijin title match), and in addition byōyomi (literally "second counting") is employed. This means that when the ordinary time has run out, the player will from that point on have a certain amount of time to complete every move (a byōyomi period), typically upwards of one minute. The final ten seconds are counted down, and if the time expires the player to move loses the game immediately. Amateurs often play with electronic clocks that beep out the final ten seconds of a byōyomi period, with a prolonged beep for the last five.

Movement and capture

If an opposing piece occupies a legal destination for a friendly piece (that is, a piece belonging to the player whose turn it is to move), it may be captured by removing the it from the board and replacing it with the friendly piece. It is not possible to move to or through a square occupied by another friendly piece, or to move through a square occupied by an opposing piece. It is common to keep captured pieces on a wooden stand (or komadai) which is traditionally placed so that its bottom left corner aligns with the bottom right corner of the board from the perspective of each player. It is not permissible to hide pieces from full view. This is because captured pieces, which are said to be in hand, have a crucial impact on the course of the game.

The knight jumps, that is, it passes over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, without an effect on either. It is the only piece to do this.

The lance, bishop, and rook are ranging pieces: They can potentially move any number of squares along a straight line limited by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by removing it from the board and replacing it with the moving piece. If a friendly piece intervenes, one is limited to a distance that stops short of that square; if the friendly piece is adjacent, one may not move in that direction at all.

All pieces but the knight move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, or to the side, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×).

King

A king can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.


○	○	○
○	玉	○
○	○	○

Rook

A rook can move any number of free squares along any one of the four orthogonal directions.

		│
		│
─	─	飛	─	─
		│
		│

Bishop

A bishop can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonal directions.

＼				／
	＼		／
		角
	／		＼
／				＼

Because they cannot move orthogonally, the opposing unpromoted bishops can only reach half the squares of the board.

Gold general

A gold general can move one square orthogonally, or one square diagonally forward, giving it six possible destinations. It cannot move diagonally backward.


○	○	○
○	金	○
	○

Silver general

A silver general can move one square diagonally or one square directly forward, giving it five possibilities.


○	○	○
	銀
○		○

Because an unpromoted silver can retreat more easily than a promoted one (see below), it is very common to leave a silver unpromoted at the far side of the board.

Knight

A knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. It cannot move to the sides or backwards.

☆		☆

	桂

The knight is the only piece that ignores intervening pieces on the way to its destination. It is not blocked from moving if the square in front of it is occupied, but neither can it capture a piece on that square.

It is often useful to leave a knight unpromoted (see below) at the far side of the board. However, since a knight cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote when it lands on one of the two far ranks and would otherwise be unable to move further.

Lance

A lance can move any number of free squares directly forward. It cannot move backward or to the sides.

		│
		│
		香

It is often useful to leave a lance unpromoted (see below) at the far side of the board. However, since a lance cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote if it arrives at the far rank.

Pawn

A pawn can move one square directly forward. It cannot retreat.


		○
		歩

Since a pawn cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote (see below) if it arrives at the far rank. However, in practice, a pawn is promoted whenever possible.

Unlike the pawns of international chess, shogi pawns capture the same way they otherwise move, directly forward.

There are two restrictive rules for where a pawn may be dropped. (See below.)

Promotion

A player's promotion zone is the far third of the board, the three ranks occupied by the opposing pieces at setup. If a piece move across the board and part of that path lies within the promotion zone, that is, if it moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone, but not if it is dropped (see below), then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is indicated by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the character for the promoted rank.

A player's promotion zone (green)






歩	歩	歩	歩	歩	歩	歩	歩	歩
	角						飛
香	桂	銀	金	王	金	銀	桂	香

When captured, pieces lose their promoted status. Otherwise promotion is permanent.

Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves. Each piece promotes as follows:

A silver general, knight, lance, or pawn replaces its normal power of movement with the power of a gold general.
A rook or bishop keeps its original power of movement and gains the power to move one square in any direction, like a king. This means that a promoted bishop is able to reach any square on the board, given enough moves.
A king or a gold general cannot promote, nor can pieces which are already promoted.

Promoted rook

A promoted rook ("dragon") may move as a rook or as a king, but not as both on the same turn.

		│
	○	│	○
─	─	龍	─	─
	○	│	○
		│

Promoted bishop

A promoted bishop ("horse") may move as a bishop or as a king, but not as both on the same turn.

＼				／
	＼	○	／
	○	馬	○
	／	○	＼
／				＼

Mandatory promotion

If a pawn, knight, or lance reaches the far rank, it must promote, as it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns. For the same reason, a knight reaching the penultimate rank must promote as well. A silver never needs to promote, and it is often advantageous to keep a silver unpromoted.

Drops

*Variation in pieces in play*
Piece	Init.	Max	Min
King	1	1	1
Rook(s)	1	2	0
Bishop(s)	1	2	0
Gold generals	2	4	0
Silver generals	2	4	0
Knights	2	4	0
Lances	2	4	0
Pawns	9	9	0
Tokins	0	18	0

Captured pieces are truly captured in shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. On any turn, instead of moving a piece on the board, a player may take a piece that had been previously captured and place it, unpromoted side up, on any empty square, facing the opposing side. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop.

A drop cannot capture a piece, nor does dropping within the promotion zone result in immediate promotion. However, either capture or promotion may occur normally on subsequent moves by the piece.

A pawn, knight, or lance may not be dropped on the far rank, since it would have no legal move on subsequent turns. Similarly, a knight may not be dropped on the penultimate rank.

There are two other restrictions when dropping pawns:

A pawn cannot be dropped onto the same file (column) as another unpromoted pawn controlled by the same player. (A tokin does not count as a pawn.) A player who has an unpromoted pawn on every file is therefore unable to drop a pawn anywhere. For this reason it is common to sacrifice a pawn in order to gain flexibility for drops.
A pawn cannot be dropped to give an immediate checkmate. However, other pieces may be dropped to give immediate checkmate, a pawn that is already on the board may be advanced to give checkmate, and a pawn may be dropped so that either it or another piece can give checkmate on a subsequent turn.

It is common for players to swap bishops, which face each other across the board. This leaves each player with a bishop "in hand" to be dropped later, and gives an advantage to the player with the stronger defensive position.

Check and mate

When a player makes a move such that the opposing king could be captured on the following turn, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king out of check, the checking move is also checkmate (tsume 詰め or ōtedzume 王手詰め) and effectively wins the game.

To give the warning "check!" in Japanese, one says "ōte!" (王手). However, this is an influence of international chess and is not required, even as a courtesy.

A player is not allowed to give perpetual check. ^*

Winning the game

A player who captures the opponent's king wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will concede defeat when loss is inevitable.

In professional and serious amateur games, a player who makes an illegal move loses immediately.

There are two other possible, if uncommon, ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi).

If the same game position occurs four (formerly three) times with the same player to play, the game is declared no contest. For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same as well as the positions on the board. However, if this occurs with one player giving perpetual check, then that player loses.

The game reaches an impasse if both kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. If this happens, the winner is decided as follows: Each rook or bishop scores 5 points for the owning player, and all other pieces except kings score 1 point each. (Promotions are ignored for the purposes of scoring.) A player scoring less than 24 points loses. Jishōgi is considered an outcome in its own right rather than no contest, but there is no practical difference.

In professional tournaments the rules typically require drawn games to be replayed with colours (sides) reversed, possibly with reduced time limits. This is rare compared to chess and xiangqi, occurring at a rate of 1-2% even in amateur games. The 1982 Meijin title match between Nakahara Makoto and Katō Hifumi was unusual in this regard, with jishōgi in the first game (only the fifth draw in the then 40-year history of the tournament), a game which lasted for an unusual 223 moves (not counting in pairs of moves), with an astounding 114 minutes spent pondering a single move, and sennichite in the sixth and eighth games. Thus this best-of-seven match lasted ten games and took over three months to finish; Black did not lose a single game and the eventual victor was Katō at 4-3.

Handicaps

Games between players of disparate strengths are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces are removed from the setup, and in exchange White plays first. Note that the missing pieces are not available for drops and play no further part in the game. The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in international chess because material advantage is not as powerful in shogi.

Common handicaps, in increasing order of severity, include,

Left lance
Bishop
Rook
Rook and left lance
Rook and bishop
Four pieces: Rook, bishop, and both lances
Six pieces: Rook, bishop, both lances and both knights

Other handicaps are also occasionally used. The relationship between handicaps and differences in rank is not universally agreed upon, with several systems in use.

Game notation

The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. It is not used in Japanese-language texts, as it is no more concise than kanji.

A typical move might be notated P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P for Pawn. (There is also L lance, N knight, S silver, G gold, B bishop, R rook, K king, as above.) Promoted pieces are indicated by a + in front of the letter: +P is a tokin (promoted pawn).

Following the abbreviation for the piece is a symbol for the type of move: – for an simple move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the square on which the piece lands. This is indicated by a numeral for the file and a lowercase letter for the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen by Black) and 9i being the bottom left corner. This is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, square 2c is "2三" in Japanese.

If a move entitles the player to promote, then a + is added to the end if the promotion was taken, or an = if it was declined. For example, Nx7c= indicates a knight capturing on 7c without promoting.

In cases where the piece is ambiguous, the starting square is added to the letter for the piece. For example, at setup Black has two golds which can move to square 5h (in front of the king). These are distinguished as G6i-5h (from the left) and G4i-5h (from the right).

Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. For example, the start of a game might look like this:

    1. P-7f   P-3d
    2. P-2f   G-3b
    3. P-2e   Bx8h+
    4. Sx8h   S-2b

In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis.

Strategy and tactics

Drops are the most serious departure from International Chess. They entail a different strategy, with a strong defensive position being much more important. A quick offense will leave a player's home territory open to drop attacks as soon as pieces are exchanged. Because pawns attack head on, and cannot defend each other, they tend to be lost early in the game, providing ammunition for such attacks. Dropping a pawn behind enemy lines, promoting, and dropping a second pawn immediately behind so that they protect each other makes a strong attack; it threatens the opponent's entire defense, but provides little of value if the attack fails and the pieces are captured.

Players raised on International Chess often make poor use of drops, but dropping is half the game. If a player has more than a couple captured pieces in hand, it is likely that dropping attacks are being overlooked. However, it is wise to keep a pawn in hand, and often to exchange pieces if necessary to get one.

A decision that will be made early in the game is whether to exchange bishops. If exchanged, it may be possible to drop a bishop behind poorly defended enemy territory for a fork attack, threatening two vital pieces at once. (Silvers are also commonly used this way.) Even if a dropped bishop immediately retreats, it may promote in doing so, and a promoted bishop can dominate the board — it is a particularly strong defensive piece.

Attacking pieces can easily become trapped behind enemy lines, as the opponent can often drop a pawn on a protected square to cut off the line of retreat. For this reason, rooks, which can retreat in only one direction, are commonly kept at a safe distance in the early parts of the game, and used to support attacks by weaker pieces. However, once the game has opened up, a promoted rook is an especially deadly piece behind enemy lines.

Many common opening attacks involve advancing a silver along a file protected by the rook. Because silvers have more possibilities for retreat, while golds better defend their sides, silvers are generally considered superior as attacking pieces, and golds superior as defensive pieces. It is common practice to defend the king with three generals, two golds and a silver.

There are various furibisha or "ranging rook" openings where the rook moves to the center or left of the board to support an attack there, typically with the idea of allowing the opponent to attack while arranging a better defence and aiming for a counterattack. However, as the most powerful piece on the board, the rook invites attack, and in most cases, especially for weaker players, it is a good idea to keep the king well away from the rook. Leaving a king on its original square (igyoku or a "sitting king") is a particularly dangerous position.

Advancing a lance pawn can open up the side of the board for attack. Therefore, when a player first advances a lance pawn, it is usual for the opponent to answer by advancing the opposing pawn, in order to avoid complications later in the game.

Because defense is so important, and because shogi pieces are relatively slow movers, the opening game tends to be much longer in shogi than in International Chess, commonly with a dozen or more moves to shore up defenses before the initial attack is made. There are several strong defensive fortifications known as castles.

The Yagura castle

The Yagura castle is considered by many to be the strongest defensive position in shogi. It has a strongly protected king; a well fortified line of pawns; and the bishop, rook, and a pawn all support a later attack by the rook's silver or knight. It is notoriously difficult to break down with a frontal assault, though it is weaker from the side. It is typically used against ibisha or "static rook" openings, which involve advancing the rook's pawn. However, one's opponent may just as easily adopt this defense, giving neither side an advantage.

Instead of the rook's pawn being advanced two squares as shown in the diagram, the adjacent silver's pawn is often advanced one square, allowing both the rook's silver and knight to move forward. These offensive moves are not properly part of the castle, but the two-square pawn advance must be carried out early if there is to be room for it, and so it is often done while still castling.

There is a good deal of flexibility in the order of moves when building the Yagura defense, and the possibilities will not be listed here. The only point to keep in mind is that the generals should move diagonally, not directly forward. However, there is a strong intermediate position called the kani ("crab"). It has the three pawns on the left side advanced to their final Yagura positions, and on the second rank all four generals are lined up next to the bishop, which is still in its starting position: bishop-gold-silver-gold-silver. The king is moved one square to the left, behind the middle silver.

A common attack against the Yagura defense is to advance the rook's knight directly forward, with a pawn in hand, to attack the fortifications on either side of the castled king. If the defender has answered a lance's pawn advance on that side, a pawn may be dropped where the edge pawn had been. If the defending silver has moved or is not yet in position, a pawn may be dropped there.

Shogi literature in English

SHOGI Magazine (70 issues, January 1976 - November 1987) by The Shogi Association (edited by George Hodges)
Shogi for Beginners (1984) by John Fairbairn
Guide to Shogi openings: Shogi problems in Japanese and English (1983) by Aono Teruichi, translated by John Fairbairn
Better Moves for Better Shogi (1983) by Aono Teruichi, translated by John Fairbairn
The Art of Shogi (1997) by Tony Hosking
Habu's Words (2000) by Habu Yoshiharu, translated by Takahashi Yamato and Tony Hosking

Professional Players

In Japan, about 200 professional shogi players who are members of Japan Shogi Association have games with each other for seven titles: Meijin (名人), Kisei (棋聖), Ōshō (王将), Ōza (王座), Ōi (王位), RyūŌ (竜王) and Kiō (棋王). The winner of previous year will have to defend the title from the challenger chosen from knockout or round matches. The latest, most famous champion, Yoshiharu Habu, is said to earn more than ^*]1,000,000 each year. He is also one of the best chess players in Japan and is ranked with FM level.
Current title holders:

2005 Meijin: Moriuchi Toshiyuki (won over Habu 4-3)

2005 RyuO: Watanabe Akira (won over Kimura 4-0)

2005 Kisei: Satō Yasumitsu (won over Habu 3-2)

2005 Oi: Habu Yoshiharu (won over Sato 4-3)

2005 Oza: Habu Yoshiharu (won over Sato 3-0)

2006 Osho: Habu Yoshiharu (won over Sato 4-3)

2006 Kio: Moriuchi Toshiyuki (won over Habu 3-1)

External links

General shogi sites

Equipment

hirohurl.net - Genuine Japanese Shogi Sets.
Shogishop.de - pieces, boards and literature

Online games

Shogi Club 24 - Play Shogi Online (free) - to register send email to the webmaster
Shogi at BrainKing.com - Play Shogi online (free)
Shogi at Kurnik - Shogi for playing online in real-time
Shogi for Game Courier - Play Shogi with others online