From: Sam Sloan <ishipres <at> BEST <dot> COM>
Date: 15 nov 1997
Subject: Basic Rules of Shogi

Basic Rules of Shogi

                        by Sam Sloan, 2-dan

Shogi is Japanese chess. It is a distant cousin of Western chess, but
clearly recognizable as chess.

As in Western chess, shogi has rooks, knights, bishops, pawns and kings. The
games ends in checkmate.

However, unlike in Western chess, shogi also has lances, silver generals,
gold generals, horses and dragons.

The most significant features of shogi are that when a player captures one
of the opponent's pieces, that piece becomes a part of his or her army. The
piece can then be dropped back onto the board. Since shogi pieces are all of
the same color but are pointed in a certain direction, they can be simply
turned around to point the other way.

The other major difference is that, as to contrasted to chess, where a pawn
can promote to a queen when it reaches the enemy back rank, in shogi almost
all pieces have the option of promoting to a stronger piece just by reaching
the seventh rank. As a result, multiple promotions are a feature of every
game in shogi, whereas promotions are relatively rare in Western chess.

A recent survey has shown that there has been a great increase in the
popularity of shogi in Japan. A whopping 76 % of all young people have
played shogi, whereas less than 10% have played either Western chess or go.
Shogi is the most popular board strategy game in Japan. What this means is
that, if you want to get a Japanese girl, you gotta learn how to play shogi.
With this important fact in mind, here are the basic rules.

In this discussion, for the convenience of the reader, we will use only
Western terms. I am well aware that many purists insist that for the purpose
of maintaining and furthering Japanese culture, we must use Japanese
language words. However, I, for one, am not interested in becoming
thoroughly imbued with Japanese culture. I just want to win a couple of
games of chess. If somebody wants to make an argument about this, why don't
we just wager a little money on the side. The fact that I can probably whip
their ass at shogi, and probably give them rook and bishop odds as well,
plus blindfolded, without knowing hardly any Japanese language at all,
should only add to their utter humiliation.

THE SHOGI BOARD AND PIECES

Shogi is played on a board of 9 x 9 squares. The board is slightly
rectangular, longer than it is wide. The board is not checkered. All squares
have the same color. The pieces are flat tiles pentagonal in shape, and
pointed in a certain direction. Japanese or modified Chinese characters are
written on the pieces to signify their value. Most of the pieces can be
turned over to become a stronger piece. For example, a rook when turned over
becomes a dragon. A bishop when turned over becomes a horse.

One major objection which Westerners have to learning shogi is that it
becomes necessary to learn a bunch of difficult Japanese characters. I did
not find that a problem. It took me less than an hour to feel comfortable
with them. Nevertheless, others do not agree and this has been and will
continue to be a significant barrier to the spread of shogi outside of Japan.

Westernized sets have been introduced which, in the place of Chinese
characters, give simplified diagrams of how the respective pieces move. This
helps beginners get over the initial hurdle and, as soon as they feel that
they know the pieces, they invariably prefer to play with Japanese style sets.

At the beginning, each side has one king, one rook, one bishop, two lances,
two knights, two silver generals, two gold generals, and nine pawns, for a
total of 20 pieces in all.

The initial setup resembles that of chess, but with major differences. The
lances go in the corners. Next to the lances are the knights. Next to the
knights are the silver generals. Next to the Silver generals are the gold
generals. In the center, between the two gold generals, is the king. That
takes care of the back rank.

On the second rank are just two pieces. In front of the knight on the left
side is the bishop. In front of the knight on the right side is the rook.

An important fact to note about this is that at the initial stage, the two
enemy bishops are pointed at each other. They often capture each other in
the initial stages of the game. However, as noted previously, once captured,
they can be dropped back into the game. Unlike certain other pieces, the
bishops can be dropped anywhere on the board without restriction. Therefore,
before trading bishops with the opponent, the player needs to look around to
see where he can drop his newly captured bishop and where the opponent can
drop his bishop as well.

On the third rank, in front of the rook and the bishop, is a row of nine
pawns. Because of these two walls of pawns, the bishops cannot capture each
other immediately, However, the best first move in shogi is to move forward
the pawn in front of the left side silver general, which opens the long
diagonal and frees the bishop. One of the best first moves on the other side
is to make the same move, so that the long diagonal is completely open and
the two bishops can capture each other. However, such a capture would cost a
tempo, so it is rarely made. Instead, the first player often then moves up
the pawn in front of the left side gold general, thereby closing the long
diagonal again.

HOW THE PIECES MOVE

Three of the pieces in shogi move exactly the same as in Western chess.
These are the king, the rook and the bishop. However, remember that, in the
beginning, each side has only one bishop.

The pawns move similar to the pawns in Western chess, in that they move one
square forward. However, the pawns in shogi do not capture diagonally.
Instead, they capture the same way that they move. This greatly changes the
dynamics of the game, because pawns can never blockade each other and there
are no pawn chains as in Western chess.

The other major difference is that when the pawn reaches the seventh rank,
it promotes to a "tokin". A tokin moves like a gold general, which means
that it can move one square in any direction except that it cannot move
diagonally backwards. Thus, the tokin can move one square in any of six
directions. A tokin is a strong and dangerous piece, precisely because it is
so weak. If the enemy captures a gold general, he gets a gold general which
he can drop back anywhere on the board. However, if the enemy captures a
tokin, all he gets is a lowly pawn, because captured promoted pieces revert
to their status before promotion. For this reason, a tokin is actually worth
more than a gold general.

Another important rule and the rule which is most frequently violated in
shogi, is that two pawns for the same side can never occupy the same file.
Where this comes up most often is in drops. A player is holding a captured
pawn in hand and he drops in on the board, forgetting that he has another
unpromoted pawn on the same file. When that happens, the harsh rule in shogi
is that the player who has made the illegal move immediately loses the game.

According to the proper etticut, what you are supposed to do when your
opponent does this is you are supposed to leap up from the board, point at
the two pawns on the same file, and say "Ni Fu !!!". Nifu is an expression
in Japanese which means, "You idiot. You just lost the game."

However, I never do that. If my opponent commits nifu, I just calmly make a
move, preferably in some other area of the board, away from the nifu. Then,
after two or three more moves, my opponent will probably notice it himself,
and politely give up the game, or I will casually point it out myself. The
reason I do this is that usually, if I call nifu as soon as he makes the
illegal move, he hastily takes it back and plays another move.

The remainder of the pieces can best be visualized by thinking in terms of
chess. Remember that chess and shogi do obviously have a common ancestor. In
the original game, and in all variations of modern chess, including Western
chess, Chinese chess, Korean chess, and Thai chess, the piece in the corner
is a rook, the piece next to the corner is a knight, and the next piece is a
bishop or an elephant.

It is the same in shogi as well, except that all of the pieces, while
similar, are weaker.

The piece in the corner is a lance. The lance is a vestigial rook. It used
to be a rook but it got weaker. Now, it can only move directly forward. It
cannot move sideways or backwards. It can never retreat. Upon reaching the
seventh or eighth rank, the lance has the option of promoting to a piece
that moves like a gold general. If a lance reaches the ninth rank, which is
the opponent's first rank, the lance must promote to a promoted lance, which
moves like a gold general. This is because of a rule in shogi which provides
that no piece can ever move to a square from which it can never move again.

The piece next to the lance is the knight. Again, it moves similar to the
knight in Western chess, but is weaker. The knight has only two legal moves.
Either one square forward and one square diagonally to the right, or one
square forwards and one square diagonally to the left. Unlike the knight in
Chinese or Korean chess, the knight in shogi can jump. Upon reaching the
seventh rank, the knight has the option of promotion to a piece which moves
like a gold general. Upon reaching the eighth or ninth rank, the knight must
promote to a promoted knight, which moves like a gold general.

Next to the knight is the silver general. This is a vestigial bishop. It
moves one square in any direction or one square directly forward. The silver
general cannot move straight backwards or straight sideways.

I found the silver general to be the most frustrating piece to learn. I kept
forgetting that if I moved it straight forward, I could not retreat it
straight backwards again. It would require a minimum of three moves to get
back to the square from whence it came. (Work this out). Many a time I
wanted to smash the board on my opponent's head when to realized this, but
eventually I got used to the way the silver general moves.

Upon reaching the opponent's seventh, eighth or ninth rank, the silver
general has the option of promoting to a piece which moves like a gold
general. However, it is frequently the case that the silver general prefers
to remain a silver general and does not promote to a gold general. This is
because a silver general can move zigzag and backwards more readily than a
gold general. For example, if the opponent's king has moved forward and is
behind the silver general, the silver general will probably want to remain a
silver general to that it can attack the enemy king more readily from behind.

The gold generals are next to the silver generals and are on each side of
the king. The gold general is a vestigial queen. It moves one square in any
direction, except that it cannot move diagonally backwards. The next point
is important,. The gold general is the only piece besides the king which
cannot promote to a stronger piece. Let's try that again. The gold general
is the only piece besides the king which cannot promote to a stronger piece.
Look on the back side of the gold general and you will see that it is blank.
The gold general and the king are the only pieces like that.

The bishop moves like a bishop in Western chess. However, upon moving in,
through or out of the seventh, eighth or ninth rank, the bishop promotes to
a horse. Please note that the horse is a different piece from the knight.
The knight is a weak piece. The horse is an extremely strong piece. The
horse can move one square in each direction, plus it can move the full
length of the board diagonally. The horse is considered to be the strongest
defensive piece.

The rook moves like a rook in Western chess. However, upon moving in,
through or out of the seventh, eighth or ninth rank, the rook promotes to a
dragon. The dragon is the strongest piece of all. It can move one square in
any direction, plus it can move the full length of the board horizontally or
vertically. The dragon is the strongest attacking piece. The dragon should
never be used as a defensive piece, except in dire emergency, because a
dragon can easily get stuck behind its own pieces and trapped and captured
by two enemy gold generals. It is harder to trap a horse, and that is the
reason why a horse can be better used defensively.

RULES ABOUT PROMOTION

There are special rules concerning promotion which are a bit complicated.
Basically, any piece, except for the gold general and the king, which moves
in, through or out of the seventh, eighth or ninth rank, can and, in some
cases, must promote to a stronger piece. For example, let's say that you
capture the enemies bishop. Later, you drop the bishop onto the eighth rank.
It is still a bishop because it has not moved yet. However, upon the next
move of the bishop, whether it moves to the ninth, seventh, sixth or any
other rank, it has the option of promoting to a horse. In the case of the
bishop, the rook and the pawn, there is never a situation when it is better
not to promote than to promote. (Work this out). However, there are
situations in which a silver, a lance or a knight might chose not to promote.

Let's work this out. A knight can jump forward only  like a knight in
Western chess. Thus, a knight on the seventh rank attacks two squares on the
ninth rank. If the knight promotes, it moves like a gold general, which is
generally a stronger piece in that it can move in six different directions.
However, if the knight on the seventh needs to be able to move to the ninth,
because it is checking the enemy king for example, it will remain a knight.

The same holds true of the lance. A lance on the seventh can move two
squares forward to the ninth. If it promotes, it can move in six different
directions, but it cannot move two squares forward. However, it almost never
happens that a lance, having the opportunity to promote, remains a lance,
because a lance on the seventh is so weak, whereas a promoted lance, which
moves like a gold general, is so strong.

As noted previously, if a lance reaches the ninth rank or if a knight
reaches the eighth or ninth rank, it must promote, because of the rule that
a piece can never reach a square from which it can never move. If a player
forgets and fails to promote a lance which has reached the ninth rank or a
knight which has reached the eighth or the ninth rank, he has made an
illegal move which is an automatic loss.

SPECIAL RULES ABOUT DROPS

After a piece is captured, it can be dropped back onto the board by the
capturing side. This counts as a move. The rook, the bishop, the silver
general and the gold general can be dropped onto any empty square anywhere
on the board. The lance and the knight are limited in that the knight can
never be dropped onto the eighth or the ninth rank and the lance and the
pawn can never be dropped onto the ninth rank, because of the rule that a
piece can never be dropped on to a square from which it can never move.

There are several important restrictions on pawn drops. By far the most
important is that a pawn can never be dropped onto a file on which there is
already an unpromoted pawn of the same side. If this occurs, there has been
a nifu, which is a fatal disease in shogi.

Another rule is that a pawn can never be dropped on the opponent's back
rank, because of the rule that a piece can never reach a square from which
it can never move.

A third extremely important rule is that a pawn can never be dropped in such
a way that it administers checkmate. This again results in an immediate
loss. I have lost games this way and this is the most frustrating way to
lose. You think that you have won the game and suddenly your victory turns
to a loss. Even professional players lose games like this occasionally.

SPECIAL RULES ABOUT DRAWS

There is virtually no such thing as a draw in shogi. Shogi is such an
aggressive, bloodthirsty game that the players keep attacking each other
until one eventually annihilates the other.. Legitimate draws occur less
than 1% of the time, and when they occur, the game is simply replayed again,
with the side moving first in the first game now moving second. (As the
pieces have no colors in shogi, it is not accurate to say that the colors
are reversed.)

There is no such thing as stalemate in shogi. Since pieces never leave the
game but can always be dropped back into the game by the capturing side,
just about the only mathematical way for stalemate to occur would be if one
side had all the pieces and the other side had only a bare king. In a real
competitive game, the side with the lone king would be checkmated long
before this could occur.

Occasionally a draw occurs in the opening by both players moving, usually a
rook or a bishop, back and forth perpetually.

The other draw situation requires some explaining. Indeed, this is the most
difficult rule in shogi and the rule itself has never been formulated precisely.

Sometimes, and indeed fairly frequently, it happens that the king crosses
the board entirely and reaches the opponent's back rank. Because the pieces
in shogi tend to be weaker moving backwards than forward, a king on the
enemy back rank can be difficult to checkmate. The side with the king on the
enemy back rank can then drop a pawn on say the seventh rank and on the next
move will move it one forward promoting it to a tokin. Then, following this
pattern, the side with a king on the enemy back rank drops and then promotes
another pawn, and then another, and then another.

Soon, the king on the enemy back rank will be surrounded by its own tokins.
They will be like a horde of termites or like ants in an anthill. Even if
the other side has all the major pieces on the board, the side with the king
and just a relatively few tokins can never be penetrated and the king can
never be checkmated.

In this situation, the rule is that the other side must then move his king
and all of his pieces over to the opponent's side of the board. Eventually,
a position swill be reached where both sides have all their pieces in enemy
territory. Since checkmate is no longer possible, or at least is highly
unlikely, the result of the game is decided by a point count.

This works like this: each player counts the pieces in his possession. Each
rook and each bishop, whether promoted or unpromoted, is worth five points.
Every other piece or pawn is worth one point. The kings don't count. The
total number of points in the game is 54. (Work this out).The rule is: If a
player has more than 31 points, he wins. If a player has less than 23
points, he loses. If a player has anywhere from 23 to 31 points, the game is
a draw and must be replayed.

Mathematically, this works out that if a player has three of the four major
pieces in the game, the two rooks and the two bishops, he almost certainly
wins the game. If he has only one of the four major pieces, he almost
certainly loses. If both sides each have two of the four major pieces, the
game will almost certainly be a draw. (Work this out.)

What makes this rule so difficult and uncertain to administer is that it
almost never really happens like this. After one side has got his king
safely ensconced on the opponent's back rank, he can attack his opponent at
will. In shogi, even a small attacking force will eventually overwhelm all
but the largest defensive force, so that the player who has his king in
safety and only a few major active pieces can just keep attacking his
opponent again and again. Since exchanged pieces come back in the game, this
attack will just keep going endlessly. Nobody wants to play a game of shogi
lasting five, ten or even fifteen hours, and these games could actually last
that long without some extraordinary intervention.

As a result, what happens is that eventually an arbiter will be called. He
will decide at what point the game will be halted. As far as I know, there
is no hard and fast rule about this. If an official iron-clad rule has been
formulated, I am not aware of.

SUMMARY

As can be seen, the rules of shogi are extremely complex, far more complex
than the rules of Western chess. The reason for the harsh rule that an
illegal move loses instantly is that otherwise these games would last
forever. You should never allow your opponent to retract a move, even in a
friendly game, for the same reason.

If you find these rules difficult, do not feel alone. Every year, at least
one or two official top level tournament games by professional players are
won or lost when one of the professionals makes an illegal move. An illegal
move in a tournament game between masters or experts is almost unheard of in
Western chess.

BASIC STRATEGIC CONCEPTS

There is obviously a lot of deep strategy in such a complex game as shogi.
Here are a few points which Western players in particular should be
concerned about.

The most common and biggest mistake which a Western player makes in shogi is
to start counting up and hoarding the pieces he has captured. In chess, if a
player is just one lowly pawn ahead, he will probably in more than 90% of
the cases have a winning position.

As a result, a chess player taking up shogi will have a natural tendency to
go around grabbing enemy pawns, thinking that by accumulating material he is
building up a winning advantage.

In reality, material advantage has almost no bearing in shogi. What is
important in shogi is king safety. Shogi can be thought of as a racing game,
not unlike backgammon or Parcheesi. The important point to remember is that,
given enough time, the attacking force, however small, will almost always
overwhelm the defending force, however large.

Shogi is simply not a defensive game. It is an attacking game. The side with
the attack will almost always win. In chess, a normal strategy is to grab a
pawn, even though it gives the opponent the attack. You then set up a solid
defensive position, beat back the opponent's attack, trade down pieces,
eventually queen a pawn and win the game.

This sort of strategy will not work at all at shogi. In all but the rarest
of games, both sides have an attack, and both attacks will succeed in
checkmating the enemy king, if given enough time. What the shogi player
tries to do is to break through with his attack on the enemy king before the
enemy breaks through with his attack on the player's king. Both attacks
would succeed eventually. The winner of the game is simply the one who
brings his attack through first.

In games between evenly matched opponents, most of the time it comes down to
a situation where both sides are right on the brink of checkmating the
other. These are actually called brinkmates. There are composed problems
which are called tsumi shogi problems. The way these problems work is that
the problem shows several pieces near an enemy king. The assumption in these
problems is that every other piece which is not shown in the game belongs to
the side with the king. The problem is to make a series of moves, each one
of which must be check, and at the end of the sequence is checkmate.

These problems, unlike problems in Western chess, have practical application
because real games of shogi usually end like this. Usually, both players are
threatening immediate checkmate. Whomever has the next move will win the
game. However, each move must be check. If the player makes just one move
which is not a check, then the other side will have the opportunity to move
and will checkmate.

So, the point is, always attack. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead", as
we say. Forget about accumulating material advantage. If you ever find
yourself stuck in a defensive position, forget it. You've lost the game already.

SOME OPENING STRATEGY

Openings are not worked out in such a detailed way as in Western chess. What
I mean to say is: In chess, the opening known as the Ruy Lopez goes 1.e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5. This and only this is the Ruy Lopez. If any other moves
are played on the first three moves, it is simply not and will never be a
Ruy Lopez. It is something else instead.

In shogi, openings are known by the position of the rook and by the
formation of the "castle" or king position which is set up. For example, it
might be said that the first player played a fourth file rook and the second
player played a static rook, which means that he left the rook in its
starting position, while advancing the pawn directly in front of the rook.

In the early part of the game, each player will build a castle around his
king. This is not exactly like castling in chess, but is somewhat similar.
The player marches his king to the right or the left hand side of the board
and then surrounds it with defensive pieces. In so doing, he divides his
army into two forces, the attacking force and the defensive force.

There are around one hundred recognized formations for castles. The most
popular are the Fortress or Yagura, the Boat or Mino Gakoy and the
Bear-in-the-Hole or Anogumo. Me? I'm a cowardly sort. I play the Anoguma.

Even as a beginner, you will need to know one of these formations and use it
all the time until you learn it.

The easiest to learn is the Mino Gakoy. I recommend that one. To set up this
castle, first you must move the rook over to the left hand side of the board
somewhere, either the third, fourth or the fifth file from the left. I
recommend the fourth file. Next, you march your king up and over to the
square where the rook started out. This takes three moves. Next, the silver
general near the king moves one square directly forward, so that it defends
the knight which is behind the king. Finally, the gold general which is on
the left hand side moves diagonally right up one so that it is defended by
the gold general on the right side which still has never moved. Now the Mino
Gakoy is complete. This has taken five moves. In addition, in most cases,
the player will advance his lance pawn one square to give an escape route
for the king to run out once the enemy succeeds in breaking open his castle.

It is extremely important that the knight behind the king and the lance
diagonally behind the king never move. They must remain where they are to
defend the king. Note that the lance pawn diagonally in front of the king is
defended by three pieces, the lance, the knight and the king. Similarly, the
pawn in front of the silver general is defended by three pieces, the knight,
the silver and the king. However, the pawn directly in front of the king is
only defended by two pieces, the silver general and the king. This is the
terrible weakness of the Mino Gakoy and that is where in all likelihood the
enemy will try to break through and checkmate.

Particularly at the lower levels, you will find players who do not bother
with these castles. They just start attacking from the first move. The
favorite opening of such players is called the climbing silver attack. It is
a bit like the Fool's Mate attack in chess, which starts with 1. e4 e5 2.
Qh5. In shogi, the left side silver general simply runs up by itself and
attacks, supported only by a pawn. The silver tries to sacrifice itself in
such a way that the pawn can promote, with devastating effect.

The problem is that the climbing silver attack is not entirely bad and there
are a lot of traps and tricks in it. You need to know what you are doing and
to defend against it with great caution. Finally, if you do succeed in
fending off the climbing silver, the game is far from over. Your opponent
has only lost one or two tempi at the most, which hardly counts in a complex
game like shogi.

For the first move of the game, there are only two moves worthy of
consideration. You must either move the pawn in front of the rook or you
must move the third file pawn opening, the long diagonal for the bishop. The
opponent will also make one of these two opening moves. It can be
demonstrably proven that any other first move bedsides these two is bad.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

One of the most commonly asked questions is: What is the relative value of
the pieces? In chess, there is a well known formula. The pawn is worth one,
the knight and bishop are worth three, the rook is worth five and the queen
is worth nine. Every chess player in the world, from Kasparov down to the
lowest patzer, applies this formula in determining who is ahead in material.
Naturally, chess players expect to find a similar rule in shogi.

However, in shogi, there is no such rule. Material advantage doesn't mean
much, if indeed anything at all. A silver general might be the most valuable
piece on the board if it is threatening checkmate on the next move, or it
might be less than worthless and an absolute liability if stranded out of
action on the wrong side of the board where it can be picked off at will and
made part of the enemy army.

As a rule, two pieces, no matter what they are, are better than one. For
example, the rook is the strongest piece and the gold general is a seemingly
weak piece. However, if I can get two gold generals in exchange for a rook,
I will usually feel that I have gotten the best end of the bargain. Like an
army of termites, gold generals and the other short pieces are fantastically
effective for moving in and checkmating the enemy king, whereas the rook
often has to stand from a distance and watch helplessly.

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