-
-
-These are the rules of Shogi, as distributed by the Shogi-l listserver.
-
-
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-
-
S H O G I R U L E S
====================
+These are the rules of Shogi (Japanese chess), as distributed by the
+Shogi-l listserver. I have edited it slightly for clarity.
+
+-- Mike
-Shogi is a Japanese board game played by two players.
-The object of the game is to capture the opponent's King.
-Shogi is played on a nine-by-nine board. The vertical rows are called files,
-the horizontal ones ranks or just rows. Each player has twenty pieces:
-one King, two Gold Generals, two Silver Generals, two kNights,
-two Lances, one Rook, one Bishop and nine Pawns.
-The player moving up the board and making the first move is referred to as
-black and his opponent white, although in Shogi sets all pieces have the
-same colour. They are differentiated only in direction: pieces pointing
-away from a player are his. The pieces lie flat on the board and have
-their Japanese name written on them.
+
+Shogi is a Japanese board game played by two players. The object of the
+game is to capture the opponent's King. Shogi is played on a nine-by-nine
+board. The vertical rows are called files, the horizontal ones ranks or
+just rows. Each player has twenty pieces: one King, two Gold Generals, two
+Silver Generals, two kNights, two Lances, one Rook, one Bishop and nine
+Pawns. The player moving up the board and making the first move is
+referred to as black and his opponent white, although in Shogi sets all
+pieces have the same colour. They are differentiated only in direction:
+pieces pointing away from a player are his. The pieces lie flat on the
+board and have their Japanese name written on them.
THE MOVES
Apart from the King and the Gold General all pieces can promote.
After promotion their moves are as follows:
+
+ Promoted Silver, promoted kNight, promoted Lance and promoted Pawn all
move as a Gold.
+
+ The promoted Rook in addition to the moves of the unpromoted Rook can
move one step in the diagonal directions. It either moves like a Rook
or like a King.
+
+ The promoted Bishop in addition to the moves of the unpromoted Bishop
can move one step horizontally or vertically. It either moves like a
Bishop or like a King.
move. Captured pieces become part of the capturer's force. In a later move,
instead of moving a piece on the board, a player may put a piece that he
has captured from his opponent back onto the board, in an empty square.
-This is called dropping a piece. Pieces are always dropped unpromoted: if
-a promoted piece is captured, it reverts to its unpromoted rank.
-Pieces may be dropped on any empty square on the board with only three
-restrictions:
+This is called dropping a piece. Pieces are always dropped unpromoted: if a
+promoted piece is captured, it reverts to its unpromoted rank. Pieces may
+be dropped on any empty square on the board with only three restrictions:
+
1) After dropping a piece it must be able to make a legal move. This applies
to Pawns, Knights or Lances. They may not be dropped onto a square from
which they will never be able to move.
+
2) Attacking the King by dropping a Pawn on the square in front of him is not
allowed if the King cannot prevent being captured on the following move.
To use the Chess expression: checkmating the King with a Pawn drop is
prohibited.
+
3) A pawn may only be dropped on a file (vertical row) if there is no other
unpromoted pawn of the same player on that file.
-----
The game of Shogi has very few draws (roughly 1 percent), mainly because of
-the possibility to drop pieces. Draws cannot be offered and can arise from
-two situations:
+the ability to drop pieces. Draws cannot be offered and can arise from two
+situations:
+
1) A position (including the pieces in hand) occurs 4 times with the same
player to move ("Sennichite"). However, if this is caused by consecutive
checks (direct attacks on the King, threatening to capture it on the next
move) by one side, the player giving these checks loses the game.
+
2) Both players have moved their King into the the promotion zone (or they
cannot be prevented to do so) and the Kings cannot be checkmated. In
- that case the players may decide to count their pieces where the King does
- not count, the Rook and Bishop count as 5 points, and all other pieces as
- one point. Promotion is disregarded. If both players have at least 24
- points the game is a draw ("Jishogi"). If a player has less, he loses the
- game.
+ that case the players may decide to count their pieces where the King
+ does not count, the Rook and Bishop count as 5 points, and all other
+ pieces as one point. Promotion is disregarded. If both players have at
+ least 24 points the game is a draw ("Jishogi"). If a player has less,
+ he loses the game.
+
Of course, a player can refuse to count pieces when he still has mating
chances or chances to gain material which would affect the outcome of the
counting. There is no strict rule about what to do if this is not the case,
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