Shogi
Encyclopedia
also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game
in the same family as Western
chess
, chaturanga
, and Chinese Xiangqi
, and is the most popular of a family of chess variant
s native to Japan
. Shōgi means general's (shō 将) boardgame (gi 棋).
The earliest predecessor of the game, chaturanga, originated in India
in the 6th century, and was brought to Japan
sometime in the 10th to 12th centuries, where it spawned a number of variants. Shogi in its present form was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the "drop rule" was recorded from 1210 in a historical document Nichūreki, which is an edited copy of Shōchūreki and Kaichūreki from the late Heian period
(ca. 1120).
According to ChessVariants.com, "Perhaps the enduring popularity of Shogi can be attributed to its 'drop rule'; it was the first chess variant wherein captured pieces could be returned to the board to be used as one's own. David Pritchard
credits the drop rule to the practice of 16th century mercenaries who switched loyalties when captured—no doubt as an alternative to execution."
Two players, Sente 先手 (Black) and Gote 後手 (White), play on a board composed of rectangles in a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns). The rectangles are undifferentiated by marking or color. The board is almost always made of rectangles; square boards are very uncommon.
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 color. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful), the pieces are:
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 kanji
(Chinese characters used in Japanese), 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.
It has been claimed that the Japanese characters have deterred 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.
* 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.
Each player sets up his pieces facing his opponent.
That is, the first rank is
or
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. See also the page from Lucky Dogs Games Placement sets pieces with multiples (generals, knights, lances, pawns) from left to right in all cases, and follows the order:
The players alternate taking turns, with one player taking Black and 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 else "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.
Every piece blocks the movement of all other non-jumping pieces through the square it occupies. However, if a piece occupies a legal destination for an opposing piece, it may be captured by removing it from the board and replacing it with the opposing piece. It is not possible for the capturing piece to continue beyond that square on that turn.
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 move any number of squares along a straight line limited only by intervening pieces and 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, the moving piece must stop short of that square; if the friendly piece is adjacent, the moving piece may not move in that direction at all.
All pieces but the knight move either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. These directions cannot be combined into a single move; one direction must be chosen.
Normally when a player moves a piece, he/she snaps it to the board with the ends of the fingers of the same hand. This makes a sudden sound effect, bringing the opponent to the attention of the piece. This is also true for capturing and dropping pieces. On a traditional shogi ban, the pitch of the snap is deeper, delivering a more subtle effect.
Because they cannot move orthogonally, the opposing unpromoted bishops can only reach half the squares of the board, unless they are captured and then dropped by the opposing player.
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.
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.
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.
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, for the most part.
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.)
If a pawn or lance reaches the far rank or a knight reaches either of the two farthest ranks, it must promote, as it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns. A silver general never needs to promote, and it is often advantageous to keep a silver general unpromoted; it is easier, for example, to extract an unpromoted silver from behind enemy lines, whereas a promoted silver, with only one line of retreat, can be easily blocked.
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 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:
It is common for players to swap bishops, which oppose 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.
(tsumi 詰み) and effectively wins the game. The losing player should resign out of courtesy at this point, although in practice this rarely happens, as a player will concede defeat as soon as loss is inevitable.
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
.
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 times with the same player to play, the game is considered a draw. (This used to be that it happened if a sequence caused repetition thrice.) 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 fewer than 24 points loses. (If neither player has fewer than 24, the game is no contest—a draw.) Jishōgi is considered an outcome in its own right rather than no contest, but there is no practical difference.
As this impasse generally needs to be agreed on for the rule to be invoked, a player may refuse to do so, on the grounds that he/she could gain further material or position before an outcome has to be decided. If that happens, one player may force jishōgi upon getting his king and all his pieces protected in the promotion zone.
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 Kato 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.
to 1 kyū and then from 1 dan
and upwards; this is the same terminology as 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 (with amateur 4 dan being equivalent to professional 6 kyu).Title offset illustration
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:
Other handicaps are also occasionally used. The relationship between handicaps and differences in rank is not universally agreed upon, with several systems in use.
If a jishōgi occurs in a handicap game, the removed pieces are counted as if White had them in play, or available for drops.
, 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 a 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 numbered per player's move, unlike chess which counts each pair of moves as one move. For example, the start of a game might look like this:
In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis
.
However, like chess, the game can be divided into the opening, middle game and endgame, each requiring a different strategy. The opening consists of arranging one's defenses and positioning for attack, the mid game consists of attempting to break through the opposing defenses while maintaining one's own, and the end game starts when one side's defenses have been compromised.
arose in India in approximately the seventh century AD. From there it migrated both westward and northward, mutating along the way." "The western branch became Shatranj in Arabia and Orthodox Chess in Europe. The northern branch became Xiangqi in China and Changgi in Korea." "Sometime in the 10th to 12th centuries, 'chess' crossed the channel to Japan where it spawned a number of interesting variants." "One of these was called 'Small Shogi'." "Eventually, Small Shogi (though it went through many forms) won out over the larger variants and is now referred to simply as 'Shogi'." "It is certain that Shogi in its present form was played in Japan as early as the 16th century."
It is not clear when chess was brought to Japan. The earliest generally accepted mention of shogi is (1058–1064) by Fujiwara Akihira. The oldest archaeological evidence is a group of 16 shogi pieces excavated from the grounds of Kōfuku-ji
in Nara Prefecture
. As it was physically associated with a wooden tablet written on in the sixth year of Tenki (1058), the pieces are thought to date from that period. These simple pieces were cut from a writing plaque in the same five-sided shape as modern pieces, with the names of the pieces written on them.
The dictionary of common folk culture, (ca. 1210–1221), a collection based on the two works and , describes two forms of shogi, large (dai) shogi and small (shō) shogi. These are now called Heian shogi
(or Heian small shogi) and Heian dai shogi
. Heian small shogi is the version on which modern shogi is based, but the Nichūreki states that one wins if one's opponent is reduced to a single king, indicating that drops had not yet been introduced. According to Kōji Shimizu, chief researcher at the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, the names of the Heian shogi pieces keep those of chaturanga
(general, elephant, horse, chariot and soldier), and add to them the five treasures of Buddhism (jade, gold, silver, katsura tree, and incense).
Around the 13th century the game of dai shogi
developed, created by increasing the number of pieces in Heian shogi, as was sho shogi
, which added the rook, bishop, and drunken elephant from dai shogi to Heian shogi. Around the 15th century, the rules of dai shogi were simplified, creating the game of chu shogi
in a form close to the modern game. It is thought that the rules of standard shogi were fixed in the 16th century, when the drunken elephant was removed from the set of pieces. However, there is no clear record of when drops were introduced.
In the Edo period
, shogi variants were greatly expanded: tenjiku shogi
, dai dai shogi
, maka dai dai shogi
, tai shogi
, and taikyoku shogi
were all invented. However, it is thought that these were only played to a very limited extent. Both standard shogi and go were promoted by the Tokugawa shogunate
. In 1612, the shogunate passed a law giving endowments to top shogi players . During the reign of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune
, castle shogi tournaments were held once a year on the 17th day of Kannazuki
, corresponding to November 17, which is Shogi Day on the modern calendar.
The title of meijin became hereditary in the Ōhashi and Itō families until the fall of the shogunate, when it came to be passed by recommendation. Today the title is used for the winner of the Meijin-sen
competition, the first modern title match. From around 1899, newspaper
s began to publish records of shogi matches, and high-ranking players formed alliances with the aim of having their games published. In 1909, the was formed, and in 1924, the was formed. This was an early incarnation of the modern , founded in 1997.
In 1935, meijin Sekine Kinjirō stepped down, and the rank of meijin came to be awarded to the winner of a . became the first Meijin under this system in 1937. This was the start of the shogi title matches (see titleholder system
). After the war other tournaments were promoted to title matches, culminating with the in 1988 for the modern line-up of seven. About 200 professional shogi players compete. Each year, the title holder defends the title against a challenger chosen from knockout or round matches.
The closest cousin of Shogi in the Chaturanga family is Makruk
of Thailand. Not only the similarity in distribution and movements of the pieces but also the names of Shogi pieces suggest intimacy between Shogi and Makruk by its Buddhist symbolism (Gold, Silver, Cassia and Incense), which isn't recognised in Chinese chess at all. In fact, Chinese chess and its East Asian variants are far remoter relatives than Makruk. Though some early variants of Chaturanga
more similar to Shogi and Makruk are known to have been played in Tang Dynasty
China, they are thought to have been extinguished in Song Dynasty
China and in East Asia except in Japan probably owing to the popularity of Chinese chess.
Since the 1990s, shogi has grown in popularity outside Japan, particularly in the People's Republic of China
, and especially Shanghai
. The January 2006 edition of states that there are 120,000 shogi players in Shanghai. The game has been relatively slow to spread to countries where Chinese characters are not in common use.
.
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
in the same family as Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, chaturanga
Chaturanga
Chaturanga is an ancient Indian game that is presumed to be the common ancestor of the games of chess, shogi, and makruk, and related to xiangqi and janggi.Chaturanga developed in Gupta India around the 6th century...
, and Chinese Xiangqi
Xiangqi
Xiangqi is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China...
, and is the most popular of a family of chess variant
Chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...
s native to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Shōgi means general's (shō 将) boardgame (gi 棋).
The earliest predecessor of the game, chaturanga, originated in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in the 6th century, and was brought to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
sometime in the 10th to 12th centuries, where it spawned a number of variants. Shogi in its present form was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the "drop rule" was recorded from 1210 in a historical document Nichūreki, which is an edited copy of Shōchūreki and Kaichūreki from the late Heian period
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
(ca. 1120).
According to ChessVariants.com, "Perhaps the enduring popularity of Shogi can be attributed to its 'drop rule'; it was the first chess variant wherein captured pieces could be returned to the board to be used as one's own. David Pritchard
David Pritchard (chess writer)
David Brine Pritchard was a British chess writer and indoor games consultant. He "gained pre-eminence as an indoor games and mind sports consultant, a role that he in effect created...
credits the drop rule to the practice of 16th century mercenaries who switched loyalties when captured—no doubt as an alternative to execution."
Game equipment
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 color. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful), the pieces are:
- 1 kingKing (chess)In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
- 1 rookRook (chess)A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...
- 1 bishopBishop (chess)A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
- 2 gold generalGeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
s - 2 silver generals
- 2 knightsKnight (chess)The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
- 2 lanceLanceA Lance is a pole weapon or spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior. The lance is longer, stout and heavier than an infantry spear, and unsuited for throwing, or for rapid thrusting. Lances did not have tips designed to intentionally break off or bend, unlike many throwing weapons of the...
s - 9 pawnsPawn (chess)The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
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 kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
(Chinese characters used in Japanese), 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.
It has been claimed that the Japanese characters have deterred people from learning shogi. This has led to "Westernized
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
" 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.
| English name | Image | Kanji Kanji Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet... |
Rōmaji | Meaning | Abbreviations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King (reigning) |
 |
王將 | ōshō | king general | K | 王 | ō |
| King (challenging) |
 |
玉將 | gyokushō | jeweled general | K | 玉 | gyoku |
| Rook |  |
飛車 | hisha | flying chariot | R | 飛 | hi |
| Promoted rook ("Dragon") |
 |
龍王 | ryūō | dragon Chinese dragon Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs... king |
+R | 龍 or 竜* | ryū |
| Bishop |  |
角行 | kakugyō | angle mover | B | 角 | kaku |
| Promoted bishop ("Horse") |
 |
龍馬 | ryūma or ryūme | dragon horse | +B | 馬 | uma |
| Gold general ("Gold") |
 |
金将 | kinshō | gold general | G | 金 | kin |
| Silver general ("Silver") |
 |
銀将 | ginshō | silver general | S | 銀 | gin |
| Promoted silver |  |
成銀 | narigin | promoted silver | +S | (全) | — |
| Knight |  |
桂馬 | keima | cassia horse | N | 桂 | kei |
| Promoted knight |  |
成桂 | narikei | promoted cassia | +N | (圭 or 今) | — |
| Lance |  |
香車 | kyōsha | incense Joss stick Joss sticks are a type of incense used in many East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, traditionally burned before a Chinese religious image, idol or shrine. They can also be burned in front of a door, or open window as an offering to heaven, or devas... chariot |
L | 香 | kyō |
| Promoted lance |  |
成香 | narikyō | promoted incense | +L | (杏 or 仝) | — |
| Pawn |  |
歩兵 | fuhyō | foot soldier | p | 歩 | fu |
| Promoted pawn ("tokin") |
 |
と金 | tokin | reaches gold | +p | と (or 个) | to |
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.
Setup and gameplay
- In the rank nearest the player he places:
- 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
| L | N | S | G | K | G | S | N | L |
or
| 香 | 桂 | 銀 | 金 | 玉 | 金 | 銀 | 桂 | 香 |
- 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. See also the page from Lucky Dogs Games Placement sets pieces with multiples (generals, knights, lances, pawns) from left to right in all cases, and follows the order:
- King
- Gold generals
- Silver generals
- Knights
- In Ito, the player now places pawns
- Lances
- Bishop
- Rook
- In Ohashi, the player now places pawns
The players alternate taking turns, with one player taking Black and 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 else "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
Meijin (shogi)
is one of the seven titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryu-oh.The word "meijin" means "an excellent person" in a certain field...
), 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
Most shogi pieces can only move to an adjacent square. A few may move across the board, and one jumps over intervening pieces.Every piece blocks the movement of all other non-jumping pieces through the square it occupies. However, if a piece occupies a legal destination for an opposing piece, it may be captured by removing it from the board and replacing it with the opposing piece. It is not possible for the capturing piece to continue beyond that square on that turn.
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 move any number of squares along a straight line limited only by intervening pieces and 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, the moving piece must stop short of that square; if the friendly piece is adjacent, the moving piece may not move in that direction at all.
All pieces but the knight move either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. These directions cannot be combined into a single move; one direction must be chosen.
Normally when a player moves a piece, he/she snaps it to the board with the ends of the fingers of the same hand. This makes a sudden sound effect, bringing the opponent to the attention of the piece. This is also true for capturing and dropping pieces. On a traditional shogi ban, the pitch of the snap is deeper, delivering a more subtle effect.
King
A King can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.  |
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Rook
A rook can move any number of free squares along any one of the four orthogonal directions.  |
EWLINE
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Bishop
A bishop can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonal directions. |
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Because they cannot move orthogonally, the opposing unpromoted bishops can only reach half the squares of the board, unless they are captured and then dropped by the opposing player.
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. |
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Silver general
A silver general can move one square diagonally or one square directly forward, giving it five possibilities. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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, for the most part.
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 moves 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.If a pawn or lance reaches the far rank or a knight reaches either of the two farthest ranks, it must promote, as it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns. A silver general never needs to promote, and it is often advantageous to keep a silver general unpromoted; it is easier, for example, to extract an unpromoted silver from behind enemy lines, whereas a promoted silver, with only one line of retreat, can be easily blocked.
| 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 |
| 角 | 飛 | |||||||
| 香 | 桂 | 銀 | 金 | 玉 | 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 king, Ryuou) may move as a rook or as a king, but not as both on the same turn. |
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Promoted bishop
A promoted bishop ("dragon horse Ryuuma") may move as a bishop or as a king, but not as both on the same turn. |
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Drops
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 (promoted pawns do not count). 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 checkmateCheckmateCheckmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
. 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 oppose 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.
Checkmate and winning the game
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 (which is necessary whenever possible), the checking move is also checkmateCheckmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
(tsumi 詰み) and effectively wins the game. The losing player should resign out of courtesy at this point, although in practice this rarely happens, as a player will concede defeat as soon as loss is inevitable.
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
Perpetual check
In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can force a draw by an unending series of checks. Such a situation typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate; while failing to continue the series of checks gives the opponent at least a chance...
.
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 times with the same player to play, the game is considered a draw. (This used to be that it happened if a sequence caused repetition thrice.) 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 fewer than 24 points loses. (If neither player has fewer than 24, the game is no contest—a draw.) Jishōgi is considered an outcome in its own right rather than no contest, but there is no practical difference.
As this impasse generally needs to be agreed on for the rule to be invoked, a player may refuse to do so, on the grounds that he/she could gain further material or position before an outcome has to be decided. If that happens, one player may force jishōgi upon getting his king and all his pieces protected in the promotion zone.
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
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
and xiangqi
Xiangqi
Xiangqi is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China...
, occurring at a rate of 1-2% even in amateur games. The 1982 Meijin title match
Meijin (shogi)
is one of the seven titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryu-oh.The word "meijin" means "an excellent person" in a certain field...
between Nakahara Makoto and Kato 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.
Player ranking and handicaps
Amateur players are ranked from 15 kyūKyu
is a Japanese term used in martial arts, chadō, ikebana, go, shogi such as Japanese traditional culture, and academic tests and in other similar activities to designate various grades or levels or class of proficiency or experience...
to 1 kyū and then from 1 dan
Dan (rank)
The ranking system is a Japanese mark of level, which is used in modern fine arts and martial arts. Originally invented in a Go school in the Edo period, this system was applied to martial arts by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo and later introduced to other East Asia countries.In the modern...
and upwards; this is the same terminology as 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 (with amateur 4 dan being equivalent to professional 6 kyu).Title offset illustration
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
- Two pieces: 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.
If a jishōgi occurs in a handicap game, the removed pieces are counted as if White had them in play, or available for drops.
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 chessAlgebraic chess notation
Algebraic notation is a method for recording and describing the moves in a game of chess. It is now standard among all chess organizations and most books, magazines, and newspapers...
, 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 a 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
Japanese numerals
The system of Japanese numerals is the system of number names used in the Japanese language. The Japanese numerals in writing are entirely based on the Chinese numerals and the grouping of large numbers follow the Chinese tradition of grouping by 10,000...
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 numbered per player's move, unlike chess which counts each pair of moves as one move. For example, the start of a game might look like this:
1. P-7f 2. P-3d
3. P-2f 4. G-3b
5. P-2e 6. Bx8h+
7. Sx8h 8. S-2b
In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word, sentence or whole section from the original text being quoted. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence...
.
Strategy and tactics
Shogi is similar to chess but has a much larger game tree complexity because of the use of drops.However, like chess, the game can be divided into the opening, middle game and endgame, each requiring a different strategy. The opening consists of arranging one's defenses and positioning for attack, the mid game consists of attempting to break through the opposing defenses while maintaining one's own, and the end game starts when one side's defenses have been compromised.
History
"The world's first chess variant ChaturangaChaturanga
Chaturanga is an ancient Indian game that is presumed to be the common ancestor of the games of chess, shogi, and makruk, and related to xiangqi and janggi.Chaturanga developed in Gupta India around the 6th century...
arose in India in approximately the seventh century AD. From there it migrated both westward and northward, mutating along the way." "The western branch became Shatranj in Arabia and Orthodox Chess in Europe. The northern branch became Xiangqi in China and Changgi in Korea." "Sometime in the 10th to 12th centuries, 'chess' crossed the channel to Japan where it spawned a number of interesting variants." "One of these was called 'Small Shogi'." "Eventually, Small Shogi (though it went through many forms) won out over the larger variants and is now referred to simply as 'Shogi'." "It is certain that Shogi in its present form was played in Japan as early as the 16th century."
It is not clear when chess was brought to Japan. The earliest generally accepted mention of shogi is (1058–1064) by Fujiwara Akihira. The oldest archaeological evidence is a group of 16 shogi pieces excavated from the grounds of Kōfuku-ji
Kofuku-ji
is a Buddhist temple in the city of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The temple is the national headquarters of the Hossō school and is one of the eight Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.-History:...
in Nara Prefecture
Nara Prefecture
is a prefecture in the Kansai region on Honshū Island, Japan. The capital is the city of Nara.-History:The present-day Nara Prefecture was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture....
. As it was physically associated with a wooden tablet written on in the sixth year of Tenki (1058), the pieces are thought to date from that period. These simple pieces were cut from a writing plaque in the same five-sided shape as modern pieces, with the names of the pieces written on them.
The dictionary of common folk culture, (ca. 1210–1221), a collection based on the two works and , describes two forms of shogi, large (dai) shogi and small (shō) shogi. These are now called Heian shogi
Heian shogi
Heian shōgi is a predecessor of modern shogi . Some form of chess almost certainly reached Japan by the 9th century, if not earlier, but the earliest surviving Japanese description of the rules dates from the early 12th century...
(or Heian small shogi) and Heian dai shogi
Heian dai shogi
Heian dai shogi large chess') is an early large board variant of shogi as it was played in the Heian period. The same 12th century document which describes the Heian form of shogi also describes this variant...
. Heian small shogi is the version on which modern shogi is based, but the Nichūreki states that one wins if one's opponent is reduced to a single king, indicating that drops had not yet been introduced. According to Kōji Shimizu, chief researcher at the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, the names of the Heian shogi pieces keep those of chaturanga
Chaturanga
Chaturanga is an ancient Indian game that is presumed to be the common ancestor of the games of chess, shogi, and makruk, and related to xiangqi and janggi.Chaturanga developed in Gupta India around the 6th century...
(general, elephant, horse, chariot and soldier), and add to them the five treasures of Buddhism (jade, gold, silver, katsura tree, and incense).
Around the 13th century the game of dai shogi
Dai shogi
Dai shōgi is a board game native to Japan. It is similar to standard shogi in its rules and game play. Dai shogi is only one of several large board shogi variants. Its name means large shogi, from a time when there were three sizes of shogi games...
developed, created by increasing the number of pieces in Heian shogi, as was sho shogi
Sho shogi
Shō Shōgi is a 16th century form of shogi , and the immediate predecessor of the modern game. It was played on a 9x9 board with the same setup as in modern shogi, except that an extra piece stood in front of the king: A 'drunk elephant' that promoted into what was effectively a second king...
, which added the rook, bishop, and drunken elephant from dai shogi to Heian shogi. Around the 15th century, the rules of dai shogi were simplified, creating the game of chu shogi
Chu shogi
Chū shōgi is a board game native to Japan. It is similar to modern shogi in its rules and game play. Its name means "mid-sized shogi", from a time when there were three sizes of shogi variants in regular use. Chu shogi seems to have been developed in the early 14th century as a derivative of dai...
in a form close to the modern game. It is thought that the rules of standard shogi were fixed in the 16th century, when the drunken elephant was removed from the set of pieces. However, there is no clear record of when drops were introduced.
In the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, shogi variants were greatly expanded: tenjiku shogi
Tenjiku shogi
Tenjiku shogi is a large-board variant of shogi . The game dates back to the 15th or 16th century and was based on the earlier chu shogi, which itself was based on dai shogi.- Objective :The objective of the game is to capture the opponent's king and, if present, the crown prince, which counts as...
, dai dai shogi
Dai dai shogi
Daidai shōgi is a large board variant of shogi . The game dates back to the 15th century and is based on the earlier Dai shogi. Apart from its size, the major difference is in the range of the pieces and the “promotion by capture” rule. It is the smallest board variant to use this rule.-...
, maka dai dai shogi
Maka dai dai shogi
Maka daidai shōgi is a large board variant of shogi . The game dates back to the 15th century and is based on dai dai shogi and the earlier dai shogi. The three Edo-era sources are not congruent in their descriptions of the pieces not found in smaller games...
, tai shogi
Tai shogi
Tai shogi is a large-board variant of shogi . The game dates to the 15th century and is based on earlier largeboard shogi games...
, and taikyoku shogi
Taikyoku shogi
Taikyoku shōgi is a large board variant of shogi . The game was created around the mid 16th century and is based on earlier large board shogi games. Before the rediscovery of taikyoku shogi in 1997, tai shogi was believed to be the largest playable chess variant ever...
were all invented. However, it is thought that these were only played to a very limited extent. Both standard shogi and go were promoted by the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
. In 1612, the shogunate passed a law giving endowments to top shogi players . During the reign of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune
Tokugawa Yoshimune
was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...
, castle shogi tournaments were held once a year on the 17th day of Kannazuki
Kannazuki
is a traditional name for the tenth month in the traditional Japanese calendar.The name can be translated literally as "the month when there are no gods". In Shinto tradition it was said that the eight million gods of Japan left their shrines and congregated annually at Izumo Taisha...
, corresponding to November 17, which is Shogi Day on the modern calendar.
The title of meijin became hereditary in the Ōhashi and Itō families until the fall of the shogunate, when it came to be passed by recommendation. Today the title is used for the winner of the Meijin-sen
Meijin (shogi)
is one of the seven titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryu-oh.The word "meijin" means "an excellent person" in a certain field...
competition, the first modern title match. From around 1899, newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s began to publish records of shogi matches, and high-ranking players formed alliances with the aim of having their games published. In 1909, the was formed, and in 1924, the was formed. This was an early incarnation of the modern , founded in 1997.
In 1935, meijin Sekine Kinjirō stepped down, and the rank of meijin came to be awarded to the winner of a . became the first Meijin under this system in 1937. This was the start of the shogi title matches (see titleholder system
Titleholder system
The titleholder system is the most common type of structure used in professional tournaments in the game of go. In practice these events almost always are based in East Asian countries with a professional system: China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan...
). After the war other tournaments were promoted to title matches, culminating with the in 1988 for the modern line-up of seven. About 200 professional shogi players compete. Each year, the title holder defends the title against a challenger chosen from knockout or round matches.
The closest cousin of Shogi in the Chaturanga family is Makruk
Makruk
Makruk , or Thai chess, is a board game descended from the 6th-century Indian game of chaturanga or a close relative thereof, and therefore related to chess. It is regarded as the most similar living game to this common ancestor of all chess variants....
of Thailand. Not only the similarity in distribution and movements of the pieces but also the names of Shogi pieces suggest intimacy between Shogi and Makruk by its Buddhist symbolism (Gold, Silver, Cassia and Incense), which isn't recognised in Chinese chess at all. In fact, Chinese chess and its East Asian variants are far remoter relatives than Makruk. Though some early variants of Chaturanga
Chaturanga
Chaturanga is an ancient Indian game that is presumed to be the common ancestor of the games of chess, shogi, and makruk, and related to xiangqi and janggi.Chaturanga developed in Gupta India around the 6th century...
more similar to Shogi and Makruk are known to have been played in Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
China, they are thought to have been extinguished in Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
China and in East Asia except in Japan probably owing to the popularity of Chinese chess.
Tournament Play
In 1996, Yoshiharu Habu won all seven titles; in 2008 he held four. In 2006, the Shogi Association admitted women to the ranks of .Since the 1990s, shogi has grown in popularity outside Japan, particularly in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, and especially Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. The January 2006 edition of states that there are 120,000 shogi players in Shanghai. The game has been relatively slow to spread to countries where Chinese characters are not in common use.
Computer shogi
Shogi has the highest game complexity of all popular chess variants. Therefore, Shogi is the hardest of the popular chess variants in terms of programming the computer to beat the highest rated player. Computers have steadily improved in playing shogi since the 1970s. In 2007, champion Yoshiharu Habu estimated the strength of the 2006 world computer shogi champion Bonanza at the level of 2-dan shoreikai. Tools used by shogi programmers are the GUI Shogidokoro, shogi server Floodgate and the annual computer tournaments. The Japan Shogi Association prohibits professionals from playing computers in public without prior permission. After some 35 years of development, a computer finally beat a professional player on October 12, 2010, when the top ranked female champion Ichiyo Shimizu was beaten by the Akara2010 system in a game lasting just over 6 hours. Highest rated player on Shogi Club 24 is computer program Ponanza, rated 3211. On July 24 2011, computer Shogi programs Bonanza and Akara crushed the amateur team of Kosaku and Shinoda in 2 games. The allotted time for the amateurs was 1 hour and then 3 minutes per move. The allotted time for the computer was 25 minutes and then 10 seconds per move.Shogi video games
Hundreds of video games were released exclusively in Japan for several consolesVideo game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
.
See also
- Chess variantChess variantA chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...
- Chu shogiChu shogiChū shōgi is a board game native to Japan. It is similar to modern shogi in its rules and game play. Its name means "mid-sized shogi", from a time when there were three sizes of shogi variants in regular use. Chu shogi seems to have been developed in the early 14th century as a derivative of dai...
- Computer shogiComputer shogiComputer shogi is a field of artificial intelligence concerned with the creation of computer programs which can play shogi. The research and development of shogi software has been carried out mainly by freelance programmers, university research groups and private companies.-Game complexity:Shogi...
- CrazyhouseCrazyhouseCrazyhouse is a chess variant similar to bughouse chess, but with only two players. It effectively incorporates a rule in shogi , in which a player can introduce a captured piece back to the board as his own....
- Dai shogiDai shogiDai shōgi is a board game native to Japan. It is similar to standard shogi in its rules and game play. Dai shogi is only one of several large board shogi variants. Its name means large shogi, from a time when there were three sizes of shogi games...
- List of world championships in mind sports
- Shogi variantShogi variantMany variants of shogi have been developed over the centuries, ranging from some of the largest chess-type games ever played to some of the smallest...
- TsumeshogiTsumeshogior tsume is the Japanese term for a shogi problem in which the goal is to checkmate the opponent's King. Tsume problems present a situation that might occur in a shogi game, and the solver must find out how to achieve checkmate. It is similar to a chess problem.-Rules:Tsume problems have set...
- Brinkmate, a shogi concept that usually precedes checkmate and inevitable loss.
External links
- Rules and Manners of Shogi by Tomohide Kawasaki
- Shogi play site, with almost all Shogi variants available for online play
- English Language Shogi online play
- Presentation, rules, history of shogi
- Micro-Shogi
- Shogi.Net
- Reijer Grimbergen's Shogi Page
- Ricoh Shogi Page
- An Introduction to Shogi for Chess Players
- Photos from international shogi tournament Tendo, Japan 2008
- Turn Based Shogi on GoldToken
- Shogipedia
- Japanese Chess Flash file with an AI to play against.