From: Sam Sloan <ishipres <at> BEST <dot> COM>
Date: 22 nov 1996
Subject: My Basic Rules of Shogi

HANDICAP GAMES

Because material advantage means relatively little in shogi, it is common
for games to be played at big handicaps. Do not feel insulted if your
opponent offers to play you at rook odds. It is probably a compliment.

An experienced player at shogi can give a beginner the handicap of eight
pieces easily. This means that the experienced player plays without his
rook, his bishop, his two lances, and his two silver generals. In fact,
games are sometimes played at the handicap of ten pieces (without the two
golds as well) and still the giver of the handicap wins. I have seen games
where a player gave a beginner a handicap of the entire board, playing only
with his bare king, without even pawns, and still won.

I am by no means a great player of shogi. Nevertheless, I can easily give
the average person, not a regular club or tournament player, the handicap of
six pieces, meaning a rook, a bishop, two lances and two knights. Moreover,
I can give any player rated less than 5 kyu the handicap of a rook and a
bishop and I will win every game at those odds.

On the other hand, a recognized professional player in Japan can easily give
me rook odds and can probably give me rook and bishop odds, winning most of
the games at those odds.

How is it possible to give such enormous odds? Such a thing would be not be
possible in chess.

This is because of the dynamics of the game. To win a game of shogi, the
player must break though the enemy barrier and, in order to do that, the
player must make sacrifices. Remember that, in shogi, the attacking force,
however small, will almost always eventually overwhelm the defending force,
however large.

If I give my opponent a handicap of eight pieces, meaning that I only have
my pawns plus two gold generals, my opponent will often just decide to hide
behind his pawns, thinking that my small force can never get him. This
strategy leads to certain death, for him.

If he knows enough to realize that he has to attack, it is not so simple.
Unlike chess, he cannot simply pile up and trade down to an endgame.
Remember that captured pieces come back into the game. Therefore, even
exchanges tend to favor the weaker side, whereas in chess, even exchanges
favor the stronger side.

So, the player who has received the handicap realizes that he must sacrifice
and break through and get behind the enemy wall of pawns. This is where the
calculating ability of the stronger player becomes decisive. The player who
has received the handicap thinks that he sees a way to sacrifice, beak
through and checkmate the enemy king. However, there is a slight flaw in his
analysis. It is not quite checkmate. The enemy king slips out. Now, the
piece he sacrificed for his breakthrough is in the enemy hand and can be
dropped anywhere on the board, with devastating effect. Once the player who
has received the handicap gets just one or two pieces in hand, the final
result is just a foregone conclusion.

 RANKINGS AND RATINGS

One of the good things about shogi is that there is a firm system of ratings
so that everyone knows how good everyone is. This is not to say that there
are not problems with this. Players often exaggerate their level. For
example, there is a well known book on shogi by Trevor Leggett. It says in
the introduction that he is a 5-dan player, the first Westerner ever to be
awarded that ranking. However, I know players who knew Trevor Leggett and
they say that, in reality, he was a 5-kyu player, which is 10 ranks lower.
His book shows it. This example is not uncommon. Japanese players often
exaggerate their own prowess, although rarely by such a wide margin. It is
common for players in Japan to claim to be 1-dan when they are actually only
5-kyu. Unlike in chess, shogi rankings are nowhere officially published. It
is also possible to buy a ranking, provided that you pay enough money, of
course.

Roughly speaking, we can say that a 1-dan player in shogi is the equivalent
of an 1800 player in chess. Every ranking up or down from that is the
equivalent of 100 points. Thus, a 4-kyu player is the equivalent of 1400. I
am officially ranked 2-dan at shogi. This makes me the equivalent of a 1900
player. By the way, my current United States Chess Federation rating at
chess is 2102.

This is true up until 4-dan. After that, it becomes less clear. After about
7-dan, players reach professional strength. As in go, professional players
start at one dan and go up to 9-dan, which is the highest rank.

Because of the greater complexity of shogi, the stronger player will win
with much greater frequency than in chess. Big upsets are much rarer.

In games between players of unequal strength, there is a handicap system. If
a player is one rank better than his opponent, the lower ranked player has
the first move. If the difference is two ranks, for example a 1-dan player
against a 2-kyu player, the dan player must play without his left lance. For
three ranks difference, the higher player plays without his bishop, for four
ranks without his rook, for five ranks without a rook and a lance and for
six ranks without a bishop and a rook.

This means that if a 1-dan player plays a 6-kyu player, the 1-dan player
gives a handicap of rook and bishop. This may seem like a big handicap. Yet,
the truth is that these handicaps are too small. At these odds, the 1-dan
player will win almost every game.

This winds up the major rules of shogi. Shogi is such a complicated game
that probably I have forgotten something really important. I just can't
think of it right now.

Sam Sloan