From: Larry Kaufman <lkaufman <at> WIZARD <dot> NET>
Date: 25 mar 1999
Subject: Re: Capture a king?

-----Original Message-----
From: Pauli Misikangas <pmturune <at> CS <dot> HELSINKI <dot> FI>
To: SHOGI-L <at> techunix <dot> technion <dot> ac <dot> il <SHOGI-L <at> techunix <dot> technion <dot> ac <dot> il>
Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999 1:28 PM
Subject: Capture a king?


>Hi,
>
>I have understood that shogi rules allow a player to move or leave his own
>king into a check (probably because of mistake)? Thus, the opponent could
>capture the king on the next move. How are these situations handled in
>practice? Is the king really captured, or does the player that leaves his
>king in check automatically lose (game ends before capturing the king)?
>
>When one's king is checkmated, he is supposed to resign. So, a shogi game
>does not really end immediately after the checkmate move, but after
>resigning, right? But does the checkmated side have to resign? Or is it
>legal to still make a move (of course this makes no sense), thus forcing
>the opponent to capture the king on the next move?
>
>PS. I am asking these stupid and theoretical questions because I want to
>handle these situations correctly in my shogi program (Shocky).
>
>Best regards,
>
>Pauli Misikangas


     I think the situation is almost exactly the same as in blitz chess.  In
both tournament shogi and blitz chess, illegal moves lose, and leaving the
king in check may be claimed by capturing the king or by pointing out the
error.  Whether leaving a king in check in shogi is "legal" or not makes no
difference; in either case the penalty is the same, loss of the game.  When
checkmate occurs, the opponent either acknowledges it by saying "you won" or
if he mistakenly thinks he has a way out, he will make a move.  In that case
you may either take his king or just point out that you could do so, and he
will resign.  No shogi player will ever refuse to resign if he sees that he
has been checkmated; at least it has not happened to me in several thousand
games.  I would advise that your program end the game with the checkmate,
simply to save the user the time and slight embarrassment of having to
resign.
     Actually there is one way in which this detail might actually matter.
Suppose in a game with a fixed time limit I checkmate you with one second
remaining; you then make a move and my flag falls before I can physically
take your king.  Who wins the game?  I think in any western shogi tournament
I would still get the win, but in a Japanese tournament I honestly don't
know what the ruling would be.  If any one really knows the answer to this
question, please let us know.

     Regards, Larry Kaufman, Amateur 5 dan