@c The following two commands start the copyright page.
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
-Copyright @copyright{} 2013 Yann Dirson and the Free Software Foundation
+Copyright @copyright{} 2013-2014 Yann Dirson and the Free Software Foundation
Copyright @copyright{} 1999 Michael C. Vanier and the Free Software Foundation
@end titlepage
against a human (or computer) opponent. This file describes how to use
GNU shogi and also gives background information about the game of shogi.
-This file describes GNU Shogi version 1.3.2. It was written by Mike
-Vanier @email{mvanier@@cs.caltech.edu}, maintainer of GNU shogi at
-that time.
+This file describes GNU Shogi version 1.4.1, but most of it was
+written for version 1.3.2 by Mike Vanier
+@email{mvanier@@cs.caltech.edu}, maintainer of GNU shogi at that time.
GNU Shogi is currently maintained by Yann Dirson
@email{ydirson@@free.fr}.
GNU Shogi is actually one program, 'gnushogi', the text-based program
-which also contains the game-playing engine.
+which also contains the game-playing engine. By default it will play
+Standard Shogi, but can be built to play Mini Shogi (with GNU Shogi
+1.4.x, you will need to do that explicitely using `./configure
+--enable-minishogi'', but 1.5 will make this more straightforward).
The GNU Shogi distribution also contains the 'xshogi' program, an
X-Window graphical interface to gnushogi. XShogi was forked off GNU
early on) if one player makes a wrong move. Tenjiku also has a small
but fanatical following, one of whom (Colin Adams) has written a book on
the game which is available for download at
-@uref{http://www.colina.demon.co.uk/tenjiku.html}.
+@uref{http://wayback.archive.org/web/20120717085827/http://www.colina.demon.co.uk/tenjiku.html}.
@item
Dai-dai (great-great) shogi, played on a 17x17 board with 192 pieces.
@end enumerate
+Many modern variants have also been devised, usually on small boards,
+and often by western people. Those include:
+
+@enumerate
+
+@item
+Mini Shogi, played on a 5x5 board with 12 pieces. Its rules are
+nearly identical to Standard Shogi, and GNU Shogi has some support for
+it.
+
+@item
+Judkins Shogi, similar to Mini Shogi on a 6x6 board.
+
+@item
+Cannon Shogi, played on a 9x9 board, adds pieces inspired by the
+Cannon found in Xiang Qi (chinese chess)
+
+@item
+Sannin Shogi, a 3-player variant on an hexagonal board, with specific
+rules governing alliance between two players
+
+@item
+Kyoto Shogi, Micro Shogi, and several others are much more different.
+
+@end enumerate
+
@c
@c Differences between shogi and chess.
@c
This page has an almost unimaginable variety of rules for different
chess variants, including many shogi variants (historical and non-historical).
+@item Wikipedia's shogi variant pages: @uref{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shogi_variants}
+Those pages contain a large number of variant rules, both ancient and
+modern.
+
@end table
@c -----------------