3 <title>mini-Shogi</title>
4 <link rel=StyleSheet href="./moves.css" type="text/css">
5 <script type="text/javascript" src="chu.js"></script>
8 <h1>mini-Shogi (Diamond Quest)</h1>
9 <table cellpadding="20"><tr><td>
12 <h3>Initial setup</h3>
22 c1, c5: Silver General
28 <h3>Moves at a Glance</h3>
30 <p>Click on a piece below to see its moves</p>
32 <table class="board"><tr><td class="n" id="0x9">
34 </td><td class="n" id="1x9">
36 </td><td class="n" id="2x9">
38 </td><td class="n" id="3x9">
40 </td><td class="n" id="4x9">
42 </td><td class="n" id="5x9">
44 </td><td class="n" id="6x9">
46 </td><td class="n" id="7x9">
48 </td><td class="n" id="8x9">
50 </td><td class="n" id="9x9">
52 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x8">
54 </td><td class="n" id="1x8">
56 </td><td class="n" id="2x8">
58 </td><td class="n" id="3x8">
60 </td><td class="n" id="4x8">
62 </td><td class="n" id="5x8">
64 </td><td class="n" id="6x8">
66 </td><td class="n" id="7x8">
68 </td><td class="n" id="8x8">
70 </td><td class="n" id="9x8">
72 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x7">
74 </td><td class="n" id="1x7">
76 </td><td class="n" id="2x7">
78 </td><td class="n" id="3x7" onmouseDown="down_click(3,7)" onmouseUp="up_click()">
79 <img src="sym/WhiteGold.png">
80 </td><td class="n" id="4x7" onmouseDown="down_click(4,7)" onmouseUp="up_click()">
81 <img src="sym/WhiteAdvisor.png">
82 </td><td class="n" id="5x7">
84 </td><td class="n" id="6x7">
86 </td><td class="n" id="7x7">
88 </td><td class="n" id="8x7">
90 </td><td class="n" id="9x7">
92 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x6">
94 </td><td class="n" id="1x6">
96 </td><td class="n" id="2x6">
98 </td><td class="n" id="3x6">
100 </td><td class="n" id="4x6">
102 </td><td class="n" id="5x6">
104 </td><td class="n" id="6x6" onmouseDown="down_click(6,6)" onmouseUp="up_click()">
105 <img src="sym/WhiteKing.png">
106 </td><td class="n" id="7x6">
108 </td><td class="n" id="8x6">
110 </td><td class="n" id="9x6">
112 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x5">
114 </td><td class="n" id="1x5">
116 </td><td class="n" id="2x5">
118 </td><td class="n" id="3x5">
120 </td><td class="n" id="4x5">
122 </td><td class="n" id="5x5">
124 </td><td class="n" id="6x5" onmouseDown="down_click(6,5)" onmouseUp="up_click()">
125 <img src="sym/WhiteCrownedRook.png">
126 </td><td class="n" id="7x5" onmouseDown="down_click(7,5)" onmouseUp="up_click()">
127 <img src="sym/WhiteRook.png">
128 </td><td class="n" id="8x5">
130 </td><td class="n" id="9x5">
132 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x4">
134 </td><td class="n" id="1x4">
136 </td><td class="n" id="2x4">
138 </td><td class="n" id="3x4">
140 </td><td class="n" id="4x4">
142 </td><td class="n" id="5x4">
144 </td><td class="n" id="6x4" onmouseDown="down_click(6,4)" onmouseUp="up_click()">
145 <img src="sym/WhiteCrownedBishop.png">
146 </td><td class="n" id="7x4" onmouseDown="down_click(7,4)" onmouseUp="up_click()">
147 <img src="sym/WhiteBishop.png">
148 </td><td class="n" id="8x4">
150 </td><td class="n" id="9x4">
152 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x3">
154 </td><td class="n" id="1x3">
156 </td><td class="n" id="2x3">
158 </td><td class="n" id="3x3">
160 </td><td class="n" id="4x3">
162 </td><td class="n" id="5x3">
164 </td><td class="n" id="6x3">
166 </td><td class="n" id="7x3">
168 </td><td class="n" id="8x3">
170 </td><td class="n" id="9x3">
172 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x2">
174 </td><td class="n" id="1x2">
176 </td><td class="n" id="2x2">
178 </td><td class="n" id="3x2">
180 </td><td class="n" id="4x2">
182 </td><td class="n" id="5x2">
184 </td><td class="n" id="6x2" onmouseDown="down_click(6,2)" onmouseUp="up_click()">
185 <img src="sym/WhitePawn.png">
186 </td><td class="n" id="7x2">
188 </td><td class="n" id="8x2">
190 </td><td class="n" id="9x2">
192 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x1">
194 </td><td class="n" id="1x1">
196 </td><td class="n" id="2x1">
198 </td><td class="n" id="3x1">
200 </td><td class="n" id="4x1">
202 </td><td class="n" id="5x1">
204 </td><td class="n" id="6x1">
206 </td><td class="n" id="7x1">
208 </td><td class="n" id="8x1">
210 </td><td class="n" id="9x1">
212 </td></tr><tr><td class="n" id="0x0">
214 </td><td class="n" id="1x0">
216 </td><td class="n" id="2x0">
218 </td><td class="n" id="3x0">
220 </td><td class="n" id="4x0">
222 </td><td class="n" id="5x0">
224 </td><td class="n" id="6x0">
226 </td><td class="n" id="7x0">
228 </td><td class="n" id="8x0">
230 </td><td class="n" id="9x0">
234 <p id="piece" height="20">:<br>:<br>:<br>:</p>
236 <table cellpadding="5" border="1"><tr><td>
243 Moves (<a href="Betza.html">Betza notation</a>)
306 </td></tr><tr><td colspan="5">
307 Promoted pieces (not initially present)
329 <h3>Pawn peculiarities</h3>
331 <li>Pawns move <b>and capture</b> straight ahead.</li>
332 <li>It is forbidded to have more than one Pawn in the same file.</li>
333 <li>It is forbidden to checkmate the opponent with a Pawn drop.</p>
335 <h3>General rules</h3>
337 <li>The game is won by capturing the opponent's King.</li>
338 <li>Pieces captured change color, and are kept in hand by the side who captured them.
339 In stead of a normal move, such pieces can be dropped at any later time.</li>
340 <li>Pieces cannot be moved or dropped to a location where all their moves would go off board.</li>
341 <li>Pieces optionally promote at the end of a move into, in or out of the promotion zone.</li>
342 <li>The promotion zone consists of the last rank.</li>
343 <li>Pieces obtained by promotion revert to their original form on capture.</li>
344 <li>Perpetual checking is forbidden, and would be ruled a loss on the 4-fold repeat.</li>
345 <li><b>On other 4-fold repetitions white loses.</b></li>
347 <h3>XBoard interface issues</h3>
349 Mini-Shogi is (not yet) a standard variant in XBoard.
350 It has to be played in XBoard by selecting regular Shogi
351 after having set the board- and holdings-size overrides in the New Variant dialog all to 5
352 (i.e. 5x5 board, and holdings for 5 piece types).
353 This is not all, however; the pieceToCharTable has to be changed to tell XBoard that the Lance and Knight do not participate.
354 (In regular Shogi they would, but here they would push Silver and Gold out of the holdings!)
355 This can unfortunately only be done through command-line options.
358 It is therefore best to put all options needed to massage XBoard into playing this variant in a settings file mini.xop.
359 On install .xop files are associated with XBoard, so clicking them would start XBoard with the options in that file.
360 You could then set everything in the file needed to start in mini-Shogi mode:
366 -pieceToCharTable "P.BR.S...G.+.++.+Kp.br.s...g.+.++.+k"
368 Since the game is just a subset of regular Shogi, legality testing can remain on.
369 You could also specify your favorite mini-Shogi engine with -fcp in that file.
372 You can drop pieces by dragging them onto the board from the holdings displayed beside the board.
375 Of course there will always be people that prefer an oriental look, with pentagonal kanji tiles.
376 XBoard comes with a set of kanji pieces in the 'themes/shogi' sub-directory of its data directory
377 (e.g. /usr/local/share/games/xboard).
378 You can select that as -pieceImageDirectory (-pid for short) from the command line, or from the View -> Board dialog.
379 You would also have to tick 'Flip black pieces Shogi style' there (or use the option <b>-flipBlack true</b>)
380 to make sure the pieces won't go upside down when you flip the view.
382 <h3>Differences with FIDE</h3>
384 In stead of Queens you have Silver and Gold Generals.
385 Pawns capture straight ahead.
386 Captured pieces can later be dropped to augment the army of their capturer.
387 There is no castling, Pawn double-push or e.p. capture.
389 <h3>Strategy issues</h3>
391 Because pieces are dropped back, there will not be a traditional end-game.
392 Trading material does not constitute progress towards winning, even when you are ahead.
395 Because Gold Generals obtained through promotion revert to their original form on capture,
396 they are really different piece types from the primordial Golds that move the same.
397 In notation they are therefore not indicated as 'G', but as the ID of the original piece prefixed with a '+'.
398 Especially the promoted Pawn (aka Tokin) is more valuable: it is much better to lose a Gold that gives the opponent a Pawn in hand,
399 than to lose a Gold that gives him a Gold in hand.
402 It is a big advantage to have a General on the central square.
405 Pieces in hand are in general worth more than on the board, as they are much more mobile.
406 And you can drop them in the promotion for an easy promotion on the next turn.
407 But pieces in hand cannot capture anything, and don't guard your promotion zone.