From: Adam Atkinson <ghira <at> MISTRAL <dot> CO <dot> UK>
Date: 30 sep 1995
Subject: Re: does king can move in check?

Phil Holland wrote:

>In Shogi you do not have to state "Check" and so, if you accidentally, or
>otherwise, move your own King into check, you only lose the game if your
>opponent takes your King.  If your opponent misses the opportunity, then
>you have escaped!  The same is true if you do not realise that you have
>put your opponent's King in check.  In this case your opponent can escape
>without moving if you undo the check yourself!
>
>This lack of illegal moves relating to check means that "Stalemate", as
>seen in Western Chess, must be impossible.
>
Well, no. If your king is entirely hemmed in by your own pieces and/or the
edge of the board, and no piece has any move available, and you have no
pieces in hand (or any pieces you have in hand cannot be dropped for some
reason) then you have no legal moves available. So a stalemate position can
be created whether or not it's legal to move into check.

However, I find it very hard to believe that such a position would ever
arise in a real game.

Alessandro Castelli wrote to me about this issue and I suggested he write
to the list. He says one of his regular correspondents has a real problem
with it. I can't really see why. His "point" seems to be that no-one would
ever actually move their King into check. (Though it could be "forced" by
something quite close to a stalemate, in which case you lose, of course).
Well, of course they wouldn't, but I don't see where this "point" is
supposed to lead.

Perhaps Alessandro could explain his correspondent's problem in more
detail.

Adam Atkinson
Brighton, UK