Shogi Rules — An overall explanation of Japanese Chess
Shogi is a very interesting game and there are many fans all over the world. Unfortunately, however, while there are many shogi materials written in Japanese, there are few written in English.
Therefore, I will explain the overall rules of shogi in this story in English.
Shogi is a game similar to chess, but with a few different rules and pieces. The following three points are especially important to remember in shogi rules.
- The goal of the game is to capture the opponent’s king.
- Players should move or drop one piece per turn.
- A piece taken from the opponent can be reused as your own piece.
Note
This story is an excerpt from the 1st edition of my book. (I’ve revised it to the 5th edition.) This story provides a concise summary of the minimum information needed to learn Shogi. Therefore, if you want to learn more, please read my book.
About the shogi board and pieces
The shogi board has 9 rows and 9 columns. There are 8 types of pieces, and each player has a total of 20 pieces.
Each player starts with these pieces:
- 1 King(王)
- 1 Rook(飛)
- 1 Bishop(角)
- 2 Gold Generals(金)
- 2 Silver Generals(銀)
- 2 Knights(桂)
- 2 Lances(香)
- 9 pawns(歩)
Due to the reusability of the pieces, they are not colored in white and black like in chess. Instead, the direction of the piece indicates which player owns the pieces.
There are numbers in the rows and columns. The Kanji, 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, and 九 mean 1–9. These numbers are used in the notation of the movements. Each square in the shogi board has its own numbers. These numbers are assigned a two-digit number that combines the row and column numbers.
Promotion
The three lines on the opposite side are the opponent’s position. And the three lines in the foreground are the ally’s position. The pieces which entered in or moved from the opponent’s position can be promoted, except for the king and the gold general. Then, the pieces will be stronger.
As I will explain to you how to move the pieces in the next story, their movements would be changed if the pieces are promoted. Please remember that players can choose to promote pieces or not. Some pieces reduce movement as they are promoted, so it may be better not to promote in some situations.
I will explain three patterns of the promotion rules in the picture below.
Pattern.1: The pawn(歩) enters the opponent’s position, then becomes a promoted pawn(と).
Pattern.2: The rook(飛) moves from the opponent’s position, then becomes a promoted rook(龍).
Pattern.3: The pawn(歩) enters the opponent’s position, but is intentionally not promoted.
How to move and read pieces
Most of the piece has two Kanji on each side of the front and back. However, on the shogi board presented in my story, each piece is represented by one Kanji so that you can remember it easily. Therefore, at first, it is enough to remember one Kanji on each side.
1. King(王将, 玉将)
King(王将, 玉将) can move one step in any direction. King can’t be promoted even if it enters the opponent’s position. Please remember the Kanjis “王” and “玉”.
2. Rook(飛車), Dragon(龍王)
Rook(飛車) can move vertically or horizontally at any distance.
If the rook is promoted it will become a dragon(龍王). It can move diagonally forward and backward in addition to the move of the rook. Please remember the Kanjis “飛” and “龍”.
3. Bishop(角行), Horse(龍馬)
Bishop(角行) can move diagonally at any distance.
If the bishop is promoted, it will become Horse(龍馬). It can move one step vertically or horizontally in addition to the move of the bishop. Please remember the Kanjis “角” and“馬”.
4. Gold General(金将)
Gold General(金将) can move one step at a time except diagonally backward. I will call it “Gold” in short. It can’t be promoted even if it enters the opponent’s position. Please remember the Kanji “金”.
5. Silver General(銀将), Promoted Silver(全)
Silver General(銀将) can move one step straight forward or diagonally in any distance. I will call it “Silver” in short.
If the silver is promoted, it will become a promoted silver(全). It can move the same as gold(金). Please remember the Kanjis “銀” and “全”.
6. Knight(桂馬), Promoted Knight(圭)
Knight(桂馬) can move two steps forward and one step on each side.
If Knight is promoted, it will become Promoted Knight(圭). It can move the same as Gold(金). Please remember the Kanjis “桂” and “圭”.
7. Lance(香車), Promoted Lance(杏)
Lance(香車) can move forward at any distance.
If the lance is promoted, it will become a promoted lance(杏). It can move the same as gold(金). Please remember the Kanjis “香” and “杏”.
8. Pawn(歩兵), Tokin(と金)
Pawn(歩兵) can only take one move forward.
If the pawn is promoted, it will become a tokin(と金). Tokin can move the same as gold (金). Please remember the words “歩” and “と”.
Take and Drop the pieces
If your piece collides with an opponent’s piece, you must take its piece. Then, you will be able to drop the taken piece as your own piece. On the other hand, if your piece collides with your other piece, you can’t jump over your piece, basically.
Here’s an example of the movement. On this board, the bishop(角) can take the opponent’s pawn(歩) and rook(飛). However, the bishop can’t move above the ally’s silver(銀) and lance(香), so it stops before these pieces.
Knight(桂) is an exceptional piece that can jump over the pieces.
Once you take the opponent’s piece, it will be yours. From the next turn, you can drop it. Even if you take a promoted piece, the piece can be used as a not-promoted piece. For example, let’s take the opponent’s dragon with the pawn.
Then, the rook will be yours. After the pawn moves, the rook will move to your hand.
If you have taken pieces, you can drop them wherever you like except for an illegal move. Please look at the picture below. The pieces surrounded by the red frame are the taken pieces.
The taken pieces are placed on the right side by each player. This picture indicates that the ally has 1 pawn and 1 silver. Plus, the opponent has 2 pawns and 1 silver. Players can drop the piece into a vacant square. For example, let’s drop the silver on the board.
As a result, dropped silver is placed on the board. Please note that a dropped piece will not be promoted until it moves.
Turn determination — Sente, and Gote
Shogi players should move or drop the piece once per turn. The first turn player is called “Sente”, and the second turn player is called “Gote”. Some shogi players call “White” and “Black” like a chess rule. So how do you think the order of movement is determined? In general, the players determine the turn by using a “piece toss”. It is so-called a “furigoma”.
Furigoma
Firstly, one player tosses five pawns. Then if the number of the face-up pawns is more than the face-down pawns, the tosser would become the first-turn player(Sente). For example, there are three face-up pawns and one face-down pawn in the picture below, so the tosser is the first player.
The player tosses the pieces again if there is an equal number of face-up pawns and face-down pawns. If the thrown pieces overlap or stand, these pieces are not counted and the remaining pieces are counted.
Of course, a piece toss is used when players are in a face-to-face situation. On the other hand, if you play an online shogi game, the player’s turn is usually determined randomly.
Notation — how to read Kifu
There are several numbers on the board. They are used in the notation, so-called “Kifu” in the Shogi.
Note: The Kanji, 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, and 九 mean 1–9.
For example, please look at the picture below. “P-76” indicates a pawn’s movement.
The notation “P-76” has 3 meanings, pieces name, symbol, and destination.
1. Piece’s name
In the notation, the piece’s name is abbreviated. For instance, Pawns are abbreviated as “P”. The table below shows the contrast between the abbreviated and the piece’s names. Promoted pieces are written with a “+” sign.
Note: Knight is not called “K”, because “K” is the king’s abbreviated name.
2. Symbol
There are three symbols, each with a different meaning.
The first symbol, “-” means “general move”. In the picture below, “P-76” indicates that Pawn just moved to 76. It didn’t take nor drop.
The second symbol, “x” means “take”. The picture below, “Px54” indicates that the pawn moved to 54 and took the opponent’s piece.
The third symbol, “*” means “drop”. In the picture below, “S*23” indicates that silver dropped to 23.
3. Destination
For the destination, the number for each square of the board is written. As I explained in the “Description of the board”, each square has its own number. Please check the number of each square.
The notation P-76 indicates that the pawn has moved to the 7th column of the 6th row.
Well, how do you notate this move? Four Golds can move to 55 on this board, so you can’t notate the Kifu as “G-55”. In this case, the proper Kifu is “G55–66”. It means the Gold moved to 55 from 66.
You can omit the symbol between the piece’s name and destination in this case. So you don’t need to notate “G-55–66”.
When the piece is promoted, the symbol “+” is notated in the destination. In the picture below, Bishop moved to 53 from 75 and was promoted. In this case, it is notated as “B-53+”.
If the piece is intentionally not promoted, the symbol “=” is notated in the destination. In the picture below, Knight moved to 43 from 55. It wasn’t promoted because it can capture the king. In this case, it is notated as “N-43=”.
Check
When the moved or dropped piece can take the king in the next movement, its move or drop is called “Check”. The pictures below show the samples of the check.
When the king is checked, its owner should remove the check in one of three ways.
- Escaping the king
- Defending the king by another piece
- Capturing the piece which checked king
Escaping the king
Escaping the king is the simplest way to remove the check. However, keep in mind that if another opponent’s piece is waiting where the king has moved, that move is meaningless. In the example below, if the king on 53 is checked by the pawn on 54, K-63 is one way to remove the check. But K-44 is a pointless movement because the gold on 45 can take the king.
Defending the king by another piece
Secondly, if the king is checked from a distance, you can remove the check by moving or dropping a defensive piece in between. In the example below, if the king on 51 is checked by the lance on 55, P*52 is one way to remove the check.
The pawn is often used to defend against this situation. That’s because it’s of the lowest value. If you use a valuable piece such as a rook, it might be taken. I don’t recommend doing it.
Capturing the piece which checked the king
Third, there is also a way to capture the piece that checks the king. In the example below, if the king on 51 is checked by the dragon on 71, Sx71 is one way to remove the check.
Checkmate, Threatmate, and Brinkmate
Checkmate
When the king is checked and can’t escape, the situation is called “Checkmate”. The example below indicates a typical checkmate, so-called “Head gold”. On this board, Gote’s king can’t escape. So in this situation, Sente wins the game.
Most of the pieces except for a king have their own patterns to checkmate. Since checkmate is an important thing to win, shogi players should remember some patterns.
Threatmate
As shown in the picture below, a player can checkmate his opponent’s king on his next turn, which is called “Threatmate”. If this board is Sente’s turn, checkmate with G-52, and Sente wins. If it is Gote’s turn, Gote needs to move like K-61 to avoid Threatmate.
Brinkmate
A higher-level version of Threatmate, in which Threatmate can never be eliminated, is called “Brinkmate”. In the following image, Sente has two aims next, G*61 or G*41; no matter which piece Gote has in his/her hand, Gote cannot remove Threatmate.
For learning how to defend a threatmate, this book will help you.
Draw rules
A few shogi games end in a draw by two rules below.
- Repetition
- Impasse
According to statistics, shogi draws are only 1–2%, but chess draws are about 30%. In Shogi, a player can win or lose in most games. The difference arises from the respective rules on whether the taken pieces can be reused or not. In shogi, there are few situations where one player has only the king and a few pieces. Therefore, the stalemate rule of chess does not exist in shogi.
Repetition — moves for a thousand days
When the same movements and same board occur 4 times, the game ends in a draw. This situation is called “Repetition” in the shogi rule. As an example, I will introduce the movements of repetition from this board.
If the same movement is repeated 4 times as in the procedure below, it will be a Repetition draw.
In this example, the game ended with a repetition draw after the defender persisted. Another repeating pattern is when both sides are defending too hard to attack, and both players choose to repeat before the fight begins.
Impasse — double entering kings
In addition to Repetition, the game may end with each king never being caught. This situation is called “Impasse” in the shogi rule. The state in which each king enters the position of the opponent is called “double entering kings”. In this case, the game is either a draw or a win or loss.
When the “double entering kings” occurs, each player counts their points by their pieces. As the table below shows, the point depends on the pieces. Promotion is not considered in the points.
How to decide the winner or loser by points is not unified. Either the 27-point method or the 24-point method is used.
In general, the 27-point method is often used in amateur games, and the 24-point method is used in professional games.
Illegal move
Except for illegal moves, you can move pieces as their movement, or drop a piece at any position. The illegal moves that I will introduce later are prohibited because the game cannot be played properly or one side becomes too advantageous.
Please note that if you make an illegal move, you will lose.
I will explain the following illegal moves.
- Two Pawns
- Drop Pawn mate
- Move or Drop a piece that can’t move forever
- Making perpetual check four times
Two Pawns
If there are two unpromoted pawns on the column after the player drops the pawn, the player loses because this is an illegal move.
Please note that “Two Pawns” means “Two unpromoted Pawns”. I mean, if the promoted Pawn(と) has already been placed on the column, dropping another Pawn on the same column is not prohibited.
Please be careful when you drop a pawn, as even professional shogi players violated Two Pawns in a few games.
Drop Pawn mate
The only way to checkmate with a pawn is to go one step further and check. It is an illegal move to checkmate by Dropping a pawn as shown on the board below.
Move or Drop a piece that can’t move forever
Knight, Lance, and Pawn can move only forward. So in the example below, these pieces can’t move forever. Therefore, these movements are illegal moves, P-91=, L-81=, N-72=, N*32, L*21, and P*11.
Making perpetual check four times
Generally, repetition makes the game a draw. However, repetition by perpetual check is prohibited. When it occurs four times, one player who repeatedly checks would lose.
Ending game
There are several patterns to end the game. The winner will be decided when one king is checkmated, or one player makes an illegal move.
In another pattern, the player who resigned will be lost. Generally, shogi players don’t play until the king is taken. If one player thinks there is no method to win, he or she should resign. Resignation is etiquette for shogi players, so please don’t hesitate to do it.
When the repetition or impasse occurs, the players will draw the game. If the game ends in a draw, players switch the turn player and start the game from the initial board again.
