@email{mvanier@@cs.caltech.edu}.
-GNU shogi is actually two programs:
-
-@sp 1
+GNU Shogi is actually two programs:
@table @samp
@end table
-@sp 1
-
Since xshogi invokes gnushogi, most players will just type ``xshogi''
and start playing.
--- Alexander Alekhine @*
(quoted in David Pritchard, @cite{The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants})
-@sp 1
-
``... shogi [is] by far the most complex form of chess that has ever
achieved widespread popularity.''
--- R. Wayne Schmittberger, @cite{New Rules for Classic Games}
@end quotation
-@sp 1
-
Shogi is the version of chess played in Japan. It is strikingly
different from standard chess (which I shall refer to henceforth as
``international chess'') and also to all other regional variants,
because captured pieces can re-enter play on the side of the capturer.
This has several interesting effects on the play of the game:
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item
Shogi is much more complex than international chess, at least in
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
Shogi is extremely popular in Japan; it has been estimated that 20
million Japanese can play shogi, of which perhaps 1 million are active
players. It is even more popular there than the game of go, Japan's
The opening setup for shogi is as follows:
@ifnottex
+@verbatim
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| wL | wN | wS | wG | wK | wG | wS | wN | wL | a @*
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| | wR | | | | | | wB | | b @*
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | c @*
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| | | | | | | | | | d @*
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| | | | | | | | | | e @*
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| | | | | | | | | | f @*
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | g @*
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| | bB | | | | | | bR | | h @*
-+---------------------------------------------+ @*
-| bL | bN | bS | bG | bK | bG | bS | bN | bL | i @*
+---------------------------------------------+
+| wL | wN | wS | wG | wK | wG | wS | wN | wL | a
++---------------------------------------------+
+| | wR | | | | | | wB | | b
++---------------------------------------------+
+| wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | c
++---------------------------------------------+
+| | | | | | | | | | d
++---------------------------------------------+
+| | | | | | | | | | e
++---------------------------------------------+
+| | | | | | | | | | f
++---------------------------------------------+
+| bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | g
++---------------------------------------------+
+| | bB | | | | | | bR | | h
++---------------------------------------------+
+| bL | bN | bS | bG | bK | bG | bS | bN | bL | i
++---------------------------------------------+
+@end verbatim
@end ifnottex
@c The following TeX macros are taken with permission from
\endVerbatim
@end tex
-@sp 1
-
Here, ``b'' stands for ``black'' and ``w'' stands for ``white'', so
that, for instance, ``bL'' means ``black lance''. The numbers above the
files and the letters to the right of the ranks represent the most
@end table
-@sp 1
-
The three ranks furthest away from each player constitute his/her
``promotion zone''. A player may, but is not required to, promote a
piece after making a move in which the piece begins and/or ends in the
the promotion zone, out of the promotion zone, or entirely within the
promotion zone. Promotion is mandatory in these cases:
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item You must promote a pawn or a lance after moving it to the last rank.
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
These forced promotions ensure that a piece cannot be moved to a square
from which it would have no further move.
play as a consequence of the drop rule. In fact, most of the ways a
game can be drawn in chess are not allowed in shogi:
-@sp 1
-
@itemize @bullet
@item Draws cannot be offered.
@end itemize
-@sp 1
-
There are only two legal ways in which a draw can occur:
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item A position (including the pieces in hand) occurs 4 times with the same
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
@c Handicaps.
@node Handicaps, Notes for chess players, Draws, The rules of shogi
Tony Hoskings (@pxref{References and links}) and, I believe, represent
current Japanese practice.
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
Another advantage of playing handicap games is that the handicaps alter
the optimal strategy for both players. For instance, handicaps all have
their own opening lines which may bear little or no resemblance to those
Here are a few miscellaneous things that may confuse chess players.
Some of these have been mentioned elsewhere, but they bear repeating.
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item There is no queen.
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
@c
@c Sample game.
@c
three-mover. Here is a really trivial three-mover:
@ifnottex
-
-
- 3 2 1 @*
-----------------+ @*
-| | | | a @*
-----------------+ @*
-| | | wK | b @*
-----------------+ @*
-| | | | c @*
-----------------+ @*
-| bN | | | d @*
-----------------+ @*
-| | | | e @*
-----------------+ @*
-| | bN | | f @*
-----------------+ @*
-
-@sp 1
+@verbatim
+ 3 2 1
+----------------+
+| | | | a
+----------------+
+| | | wK | b
+----------------+
+| | | | c
+----------------+
+| bN | | | d
+----------------+
+| | | | e
+----------------+
+| | bN | | f
+----------------+
Black in hand: S, G
-
+@end verbatim
@end ifnottex
\endVerbatim
@end tex
-@sp 1
-
Here, Black plays G*2b, White plays K1c, and Black plays G*1d mate.
More typical tsume problems range from 5 moves to arbitrarily high
numbers of moves, and they can be quite brain-busting. Tsume problems
The historical variants include:
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
@c
@c Differences between shogi and chess.
@c
Here are the significant differences between chess and shogi:
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
The effects of all these differences on play include (in my opinion):
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
@c --------------------
@c gnushogi.
This section describes how to run the ``gnushogi'' program.
-@sp 1
-
SYNOPSIS
-@sp 1
-
gnushogi [ [[-]a] [-b bookfile] [-B binbookfile] [-C] [-h langfile]
[-L langfile] [-r length] [-R] [-s pathname] [-l pathname] [-S binbooksize]
[-t] [-c size] [-T size] [-v] [-x] [-X] arg1 arg2 ]
-@sp 1
-
DESCRIPTION
-@sp 1
-
GNU shogi (gnushogi) plays a game of japanese chess (shogi) against the
user or it plays against itself.
gnushogi.bbk which is located in a directory specified in the Makefile.
To invoke the program type:
-@sp 1
-
@table @samp
@item gnushogi -C
raw test display version
@end table
-@sp 1
-
TIME CONTROLS
-@sp 1
-
If one argument is given, it is the search time per move in
[minutes:]seconds. So gnushogi 30 will generate one move every 30
seconds, while gnushogi 5:00 will generate one move every 5 minutes.
For use with xshogi see the documentation on that program.
@xref{xshogi}.
-@sp 1
-
@page
BOOK
-@sp 1
-
The book gnushogi.tbk consists of a sequence of openings. An opening
begins with a line starting with a # (the rest of the line is a comment).
Following this is a series of moves in algebraic notation alternating
are stored as position:move so transpositions between openings can take
place.
-@sp 1
-
HASHFILE
-@sp 1
-
The hashfile if created should be on the order of 4 megabytes; you can
create such a hashfile by typing ``gnushogi -c 22'' (see below). This
file contains positions and moves learned from previous games. If a
hashfile than without, but it is not clear yet whether it provides a
real advantage.
-@sp 1
-
LEGAL MOVES
-@sp 1
-
Note: Piece letters are determined by the language file. What is
specified here is the default (English).
the move, as in 2d2c+ or P2c+. Note that you must use capital letters
for the pieces by default.
-@sp 1
-
COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
-@sp 1
-
@table @samp
@item -a
@end table
-@sp 1
COMMANDS
-@sp 1
-
In addition to legal moves, the following commands can be entered at the
gnushogi prompt. Note: command names are determined by the language
file and may vary with the implementation. The default language is
@end table
-@sp 1
-
@c --------------------
@c xshogi.
This section describes how to run the ``xshogi'' program.
-@sp 1
-
SYNOPSIS
-@sp 1
-
xshogi [ options ]
-@sp 1
-
DESCRIPTION
-@sp 1
-
xshogi provides an X11/Xt/Athena Widgets user interface for gnushogi.
With xshogi you can play gnushogi, set up arbitrary positions, force
variations, or watch xshogi manage a game between two shogi programs.
mouse to another square. If the move is illegal, gnushogi will not
allow it. xshogi will then retract the move.
-@sp 1
-
COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
-@sp 1
-
The following command line options also correspond to X resources that
you can set in your .Xdefaults file.
-@sp 1
-
@table @samp
@item [standard Xt options]
@end table
-@sp 1
-
@page
OTHER X RESOURCES
-@sp 1
-
@table @samp
@item initString
@end table
-@sp 1
-
COMMAND BUTTONS AND KEYS
-@sp 1
-
@table @samp
@item Quit
@end table
-@sp 1
-
LIMITATIONS
-@sp 1
-
If you press the Pause button during GNU Shogi's turn,
xshogi will stop the clocks, but gnushogi will still make a
move.
The game parser recognizes only algebraic notation.
-@sp 1
-
AUTHORS
-@sp 1
-
Original authors of XBoard: Chris Sears and Dan Sears.
Enhancements for XBoard (Version 2.0): Tim Mann.
Current maintainer: Mike Vanier.
-@sp 1
-
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
-@sp 1
-
XShogi borrows its piece bitmaps from CRANES Shogi.
Copyright 1991 by Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts.
There are very few English-language books for people learning shogi.
The two I recommend are:
-@sp 1
-
@enumerate
@item
@end enumerate
-@sp 1
-
Another book you may find is @cite{Shogi: Japan's Game of Strategy} by
Trevor Leggett. This book is very elementary and is somewhat outdated,
having been published first in 1966. However, it does feature a paper
Shogi sets are available from:
-@sp 1
-
@quotation
George F. Hodges @*
P.O. Box 77 @*
United Kingdom BR1 2WT
@end quotation
-@sp 1
-
George also sells equipment for all the historical shogi variants
(@pxref{Shogi variants}) (except for Kyoku tai shogi) and also sells
back issues of the magazine ``Shogi'' which he published for 70 issues
Here are some useful URLs:
-@sp 1
-
@table @asis
@item Pieter Stouten's shogi page: @uref{http://www.shogi.net}
@end table
-@sp 1
-
@c -----------------
@c Acknowledgements.
@c -----------------
I would like to thank the following people:
-@sp 1
-
@itemize @bullet
@item
@end itemize
-@sp 1
-
@c -----
@c Bugs.
@c -----
projects / gnushogi.git / commitdiff