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, also known as Japanese chess, is a
strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ...
board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...
for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
and is in the same family of games as Western chess, ''
chaturanga Chaturanga ( sa, चतुरङ्ग; ') is an ancient Indian strategy game. While there is some uncertainty, the prevailing view among chess historians is that it is the common ancestor of the board games chess (European), xiangqi (Chines ...
,
Xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ...
'',
Indian chess Indian chess is the name given to regional variations of chess played in India in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is distinct from chaturanga. There are several such variations, all quite similar to modern rules, with variants regarding castl ...
, and ''
janggi ''Janggi'' (including romanizations ''changgi'' and ''jangki''), sometimes called Korean chess, is a strategy board game popular on the Korean Peninsula. The game was derived from xiangqi (Chinese chess), and is very similar to it, including t ...
''. ''Shōgi'' means general's (''shō'' ) board game (''gi'' ). Western chess is sometimes called (''Seiyō Shōgi'' ) in Japan. Shogi was the earliest chess-related historical game to allow captured pieces to be returned to the board by the capturing player. This drop rule is speculated to have been invented in the 15th century and possibly connected to the practice of 15th century
mercenaries A mercenary, sometimes Pseudonym, also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a memb ...
switching loyalties when captured instead of being killed. The earliest predecessor of the game,
chaturanga Chaturanga ( sa, चतुरङ्ग; ') is an ancient Indian strategy game. While there is some uncertainty, the prevailing view among chess historians is that it is the common ancestor of the board games chess (European), xiangqi (Chines ...
, originated in India in the sixth century, and the game was likely transmitted to Japan via China or
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...
sometime after the
Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...
."Shogi". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2002. Shogi in its present form was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the drop rule was recorded from 1210 in a historical document '' Nichūreki'', which is an edited copy of ''Shōchūreki'' and ''Kaichūreki'' from the late
Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...
(c. 1120).


Equipment

Two players face each other across a board composed of rectangles in a grid of 9 ''ranks'' (rows, ) by 9 ''files'' (columns, ) yielding an 81 square board. In Japanese they are called ''Sente'' (first player) and ''Gote'' (second player), but in English are conventionally referred to as Black and White, with Black the first player. The board is nearly always rectangular, and the rectangles are undifferentiated by marking or color. Pairs of dots mark the players' promotion zones. Each player has a set of 20 flat wedge-shaped pentagonal pieces of slightly different sizes. Except for the kings, opposing pieces are undifferentiated by marking or color. Pieces face ''forward'' by having the pointed side of each piece oriented toward the opponent's side – this shows who controls the piece during play. The pieces from largest (most important) to smallest (least important) are: * 1
king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
* 1 rook * 1
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
* 2 gold generals * 2 silver generals * 2
knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...
* 2
lance A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier (lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike s ...
s * 9 pawns Several of these names were chosen to correspond to their rough equivalents in international chess, and not as literal translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name written on its surface in the form of two ''
kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...
'' (Chinese characters used in Japanese), usually in black ink. On the reverse side of each piece, other than the king and gold general, are one or two other characters, in amateur sets often in a different color (usually red); this side is turned face up during play to indicate that the piece has been promoted. Following is a table of the pieces with their Japanese representations and English equivalents. The abbreviations are used for game notation and often when referring to the pieces in speech in Japanese. English speakers sometimes refer to promoted bishops as ''horses'' and promoted rooks as ''dragons'', after their Japanese names, and generally use the Japanese term ''tokin'' for promoted pawns. Silver generals and gold generals are commonly referred to simply as ''silvers'' and ''golds'', respectively. The characters inscribed on the reverse sides of the pieces to indicate promotion may be in red ink, and are usually cursive. The characters on the backs of the pieces that promote to gold generals are cursive variants of 'gold', becoming more cursive (more abbreviated) as the value of the original piece decreases. These cursive forms have these equivalents in print: for promoted silver, for promoted knight, for promoted lance, and for promoted pawn (tokin). Another typographic convention has abbreviated versions of the original values, with a reduced number of strokes: for a promoted knight , for a promoted lance , and the as above for a promoted silver, but (a
hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contras ...
symbol for the syllable "to") for ''tokin''. The suggestion that the Japanese characters have deterred Western players from learning shogi has led to "
Westernized Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...
" or "international" pieces which use iconic symbols instead of characters. Most players soon learn to recognize the characters, however, partially because the traditional pieces are already iconic by size, with more powerful pieces being larger. As a result, Westernized pieces have never become popular. Bilingual pieces with both Japanese characters and English captions have been developed as have pieces with animal cartoons.


Setup and gameplay

Each player sets up friendly pieces facing forward (toward the opponent). * In the rank nearest the player: ** The king is placed in the center file; ** The two gold generals are placed in files adjacent to the king; ** The two silver generals are placed adjacent to each gold general; ** The two knights are placed adjacent to each silver general; ** The two lances are placed in the corners, adjacent to each knight. :That is, the first rank is : :Or : * In the second rank, each player places: ** The bishop in the same file as the left knight; ** The rook in the same file as the right knight. * In the third rank, the nine pawns are placed one per file. A ''furigoma'' 振り駒 'piece toss' is used to decide who moves first. One of the players tosses five pawns. If the number of tokins (promoted pawns, と) facing up is higher than unpromoted pawns (歩), then the player who tossed the pawns plays ''gote'' 後手 'white' (that is, getting the second move). After the piece toss ''furigoma,'' the game proceeds. If multiple games are played, then players alternate turns for who goes first in subsequent games. (The terms "Black" and "White" are used to differentiate sides although there is no difference in the color of the pieces.) For each turn, a player may either move a piece that is currently on the board (and potentially promote it, capture an opposing piece, or both) or else drop a piece that has been previously captured onto a square of the board. These options are explained below.


Rules


Objective

The usual goal of a game is for one player to
checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...
the other player's king, winning the game.


Movement

Most shogi pieces can move only to an adjacent square. A few may move across the board, and one jumps over intervening pieces. The lance, bishop, and rook are ''ranging'' pieces: They can move any number of squares along a straight line limited only by intervening pieces and the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by removing it from the board and replacing it with the moving piece. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece must stop short of that square; if the friendly piece is adjacent, the moving piece may not move in that direction at all.
A king (玉/王) moves one square in any direction,
orthogonal In mathematics, orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of '' perpendicularity''. By extension, orthogonality is also used to refer to the separation of specific features of a system. The term also has specialized meanings in ...
or diagonal. A rook (飛) moves any number of squares in an orthogonal direction. A bishop (角) moves any number of squares in a diagonal direction. Because they cannot move orthogonally, the players' unpromoted bishops can reach only half the squares of the board, unless one is captured and then dropped. A gold general (金) moves one square orthogonally, or one square diagonally forward, giving it six possible destinations. It cannot move diagonally backwards. A silver general (銀) moves one square diagonally, or one square straight forward, giving it five possible destinations. Because an unpromoted silver can retreat more easily than a promoted one, it is common to leave a silver unpromoted at the far side of the board. (See
Promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
). A knight (桂) jumps at an angle intermediate to orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square straight forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single move. Thus the knight has two possible forward destinations. Unlike international chess knights, shogi knights cannot move to the sides or in a backwards direction. The knight is the only piece that ignores intervening pieces on the way to its destination. It is not blocked from moving if the square in front of it is occupied, but neither can it capture a piece on that square. It is often useful to leave a knight unpromoted at the far side of the board. A knight ''must'' promote, however, if it reaches either of the two furthest ranks. (See
Promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
.) A lance (香) moves just like the rook except it cannot move backwards or to the sides. It is often useful to leave a lance unpromoted at the far side of the board. A lance ''must'' promote, however, if it reaches the furthest rank. (See
Promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
.) A pawn (歩) moves one square straight forward. It cannot retreat. Unlike international chess pawns, shogi pawns capture the same as they move. A pawn ''must'' promote if it arrives at the furthest rank. (See
Promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
.) In practice, however, a pawn is usually promoted whenever possible. There are two restrictions on where a pawn may be dropped. (See
Drops Drop, DROP, drops or DROPS may refer to: * Drop (liquid) or droplet, a small volume of liquid ** Eye drops, saline (sometimes mydriatic) drops used as medication for the eyes * Drop (unit), a unit of measure of volume * Falling (physics), allowi ...
.) All pieces but the knight move either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. These directions cannot be combined in a single move; one direction must be chosen. Every piece blocks the movement of all other non-jumping pieces through the square it occupies. If a piece occupies a legal destination for an opposing piece, it may be ''captured'' by removing it from the board and replacing it with the opposing piece. The capturing piece may not continue beyond that square on that turn. Shogi pieces capture the same as they move. Normally, when moving a piece, a player snaps it to the board with the ends of the fingers of the same hand. This makes a sudden sound effect, bringing the piece to the attention of the opponent. This is also true for capturing and dropping pieces. On a traditional ''shogi-ban'', the pitch of the snap is deeper, delivering a subtler effect.


Promotion

A player's ''promotion zone'' consists of the furthest one-third of the board – the three ranks occupied by the opponent's pieces at setup. The zone is typically delineated on shogi boards by two inscribed dots. When a piece is moved, if part of the piece's path lies within the promotion zone (that is, if the piece moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone; but ''not'' if it is dropped into the zone – see
Drops Drop, DROP, drops or DROPS may refer to: * Drop (liquid) or droplet, a small volume of liquid ** Eye drops, saline (sometimes mydriatic) drops used as medication for the eyes * Drop (unit), a unit of measure of volume * Falling (physics), allowi ...
), then the player has the option to ''promote'' the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is indicated by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the character of the promoted piece. Promoting a piece is usually not compulsory; however, if a pawn or lance is moved to the furthest rank, or a knight is moved to either of the two furthest ranks, that piece ''must'' promote (otherwise, it would have no legal move on subsequent turns). A silver general is never required to promote, and it is often advantageous to keep a silver general unpromoted (it is easier, for example, to extract an unpromoted silver from behind enemy lines: a promoted silver, with only one line of retreat, can be easily blocked.) Rooks, bishops and pawns are almost always promoted, as these pieces do not lose any of their powers upon promotion. Promoting a piece changes the way it moves. The various pieces promote as follows: * A silver general, knight, lance, or pawn has its normal power of movement replaced by that of a gold general. * A rook or bishop keeps its original movement and gains the power to move one square in any direction (like a king). For a promoted bishop, this means it is able to reach any square on the board, given enough moves. * A king or a gold general does not promote; nor can a piece that is already promoted. When captured, a piece loses its promoted status. Otherwise promotion is permanent. A promoted rook ("dragon king", 龍王 ''ryūō''; alternate forms: 龍, 竜) moves as a rook and as a king. It is also called a dragon. A promoted bishop ("dragon horse", 龍馬 ''ryūma''; alternate form: 馬) moves as a bishop and as a king. It is also known as a horse. A promoted silver (成銀 ''narigin''; alternate forms: 全, cursive 金), a promoted knight (成桂 ''narikei''; alternate forms: 圭, 今, cursive 金), a promoted lance (成香 ''narikyō''; alternate forms: 杏, 仝, cursive 金) and a promoted pawn (と金 ''tokin''; alternate forms: と, 个) all move the same way as a gold general. The promoted pawn is often called by its Japanese name tokin, even by non-Japanese players.


Drops

Captured pieces are retained in hand and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. The Japanese term for ''piece(s) in hand'' is either 持ち駒 ''mochigoma'' or 手駒 ''tegoma.'' On any turn, instead of moving a piece on the board, a player may select a piece in hand and place it – unpromoted side up and facing the opposing side – on any empty square. The piece is then one of that player's active pieces on the board and can be moved accordingly. This is called ''dropping'' the piece, or simply, a ''drop''. A drop counts as a complete move. A drop cannot capture a piece, nor does dropping within the promotion zone result in immediate promotion. Capture and/or promotion may occur normally, however, on subsequent moves of the piece. Restrictions. There are three restrictions on dropping pieces; the last two of these apply only to pawns. # Piece with No Moves ( ja, 行き所のない駒 ''ikidokorononaikoma''): Pawns, lances and knights may not be dropped onto the last (9th) rank, and knights may not be dropped onto the penultimate (8th) rank; this is because such dropped pieces would have no legal moves on subsequent turns (as they can only move in the forward direction). # Two Pawns ( ja, 二歩 ''nifu''): A pawn may not be dropped onto a file (column) containing another unpromoted pawn of the same player (promoted pawns do not count). # Drop Pawn Mate ( ja, 打ち歩詰め ''uchifuzume''): A pawn may not be dropped to give an immediate
checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...
. (This rule only applies specifically to pawns, drops ''and'' checkmates − to clarify, a player ''may'' deliver an immediate checkmate by dropping a non-pawn piece, a player ''may'' checkmate a king with a pawn that is already on the board, and a pawn ''may'' be dropped to give an immediate check as long as it does not also result in checkmate.) A corollary of the second restriction is that a player with an unpromoted pawn on every file is unable to drop a pawn anywhere. For this reason, it is common to sacrifice a pawn in order to gain flexibility for drops. Captured pieces are typically kept on a wooden stand (駒台 ''komadai)'' which is traditionally placed so that its bottom-left corner aligns with the bottom-right corner of the board from the perspective of each player. It is not permissible to hide pieces from full view. It is common for players to swap bishops, which oppose each other across the board, early in the game. This leaves each player with a bishop in hand to be dropped later. The ability for drops in shogi gives the game tactical richness and complexity. The fact that no piece ever goes entirely out of play accounts for the rarity of draws.


Check

When a player's move threatens to capture the opposing king on the next turn, the move is said to ''give check'' to the king and the king is said to be ''in check.'' If a player's king is in check, that player's responding move must remove the check if possible. Ways to remove a check include moving the king away from the threat, capturing the threatening piece, or placing another interposing piece between the king and the threatening piece. To announce check in Japanese, one can say ''ōte'' (), however, this is an influence of international chess and is not required, even as a courtesy. It may be common to announce ''ōte'' in beginner matches or for local rules to dictate that you have to announce it. Announcing a check vocally is unheard of in serious play.


End of the game

The usual way for shogi games to end is for one side to checkmate the other side's king, after which the losing player will be given the opportunity to admit defeat. Unlike western chess or xiangqi, checkmate is almost always the result in shogi since pieces never retire from play which gives the players a sufficient number of pieces to deliver checkmate. That said, there are three other possible ways for a game to end: ''repetition'' ( ''sennichite''), ''impasse'' ( ''jishōgi''), and an ''illegal move'' (). The first two – repetition and impasse – are particularly uncommon. Illegal moves are also uncommon in professional games although this may not be true with amateur players (especially beginners). Unlike western chess, there is no tradition of offering a mutual
draw by agreement A game of chess can end in a draw by agreement. A player may offer a draw at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. In some competitions, draws by agreement are restricted; for example draw offers may be subject to the ...
.


Checkmate

If the king is in check and there is no possible move which could protect the king, the move is said to ''
checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...
'' (''tsumi'' 詰み) the king. Checkmate effectively means that the opponent wins the game as the player would have no remaining legal moves. (See also: tsumeshogi,
hisshi Brinkmate is the situation in which an unavoidable checkmate sequence will be created by the player's next move. In shogi, brinkmate is known as hisshi (必至 "desperation, inevitability" or 必死 "sure kill"). Note that in shogi ''tsume'' is de ...
.)


Resignation

The losing player will usually resign when the situation is thought to be hopeless and may declare the resignation at any time during their turn. Although a player may resign just after they are checkmated, playing up to the checkmate point rarely occurs in practice as players normally resign as soon as a loss is deemed inevitable – such as when a ''tsume'' (forced mate sequence) is realized by the losing player. Similarly, if a player were to lose in an Entering King situation (see section below) by having less than 24 points (or by any of the other Impasse rules used by amateurs), then the player will usually resign before that point. In traditional tournament play, a formal resignation is required – that is, a checkmate is not a sufficient condition for winning. The resignation is indicated by bowing and/or saying 'I lost' (負けました ''makemashita'') and/or placing the right hand over the piece stands. Placing the hand over the piece stand is a vestige of an older practice of gently dropping one's pieces in hand over the board in order to indicate resignation. In western practice, a handshake may be used.


Illegal move

In professional and serious (tournament) amateur games, a player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. The loss stands even if play continued and the move was discovered later in game. However, if neither the opponent nor a third party points out the illegal move and the opponent later resigned, the resignation stands as the result. Illegal moves include: * Violating the ''Two Pawns'' (''nifu'') restriction (See §Drops above.) * Violating the ''Drop Pawn Mate'' (''uchifuzume'') restriction * Dropping or moving a piece to position where it cannot move (such as dropping a knight to an opponent's last two ranks, etc.) * Dropping a piece with its promoted value * Playing out of turn, e.g. making more than one move or white moving first instead of moving second. * Making
perpetual check In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can a draw by an unending series of checks. This typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate, and failing to continue the series of checks give ...
four times (cf. ''
sennichite ''Sennichite'' (千日手, ''lit.'' "moves (for) a thousand days") or repetition draw is a rule in shogi stating that the game will end in a draw if the same position is repeated four times during a game as long as the repetitions do not involve ch ...
'') * Leaving one's king in check, or moving one's king into check * Moving a piece contrary to how its movements are defined (for example, moving a gold like a silver, or moving an unpromoted bishop off its legal diagonal) In friendly amateur games, this rule is sometimes relaxed, and the player may be able to take back the illegal move and replay a new legal move. In particular, the Two Pawn violation is the most common illegal move played by professional players. The Two Pawn violation played by
Takahiro Toyokawa is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 7-dan. Early life Toyokawa was born in Suginami, Tokyo on February 20, 1967. In December 1982, he entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school at the rank 6-kyū under the guidance of ...
(against Kōsuke Tamura) in the 2004 NHK Cup is infamous since it was broadcast on television. On the 109th move, Toyokawa (playing as Black) dropped a pawn to the 29 square while he already had a pawn in play on the board on the 23 square and, thus, lost the game.


Repetition (draw)

If the same game position occurs four times with the same player to move and the same pieces in hand for each player, then the game ends in a repetition draw (千日手 ''sennichite,'' lit. "moves for a thousand days"), as long as the positions are not due to
perpetual check In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can a draw by an unending series of checks. This typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate, and failing to continue the series of checks give ...
. Perpetual check (連続王手の千日手) is an illegal move (see above), which ends the game in a loss in tournament play. In professional shogi, a repetition draw outcome is not a final result as draws essentially do not count. There can be only one victorious through wins. In the case of a repetition draw, professional shogi players will have to immediately play a subsequent game (or as many games as necessary) with sides reversed in order to obtain a true win outcome. (That is, the player who was White becomes Black, and vice versa.) Also, depending on the tournament, professional players play the subsequent game in the remainder of the allowed game time. Thus, aiming for a repetition draw may be a possible professional strategy for the White player in order to play the second replay game as Black, which has a slight statistical advantage and/or greater initiative. For instance,
Bishop Exchange Fourth File Rook In shogi, the Bishop Exchange Fourth File Rook (角交換四間飛車 ''kaku kōkan shikenbisha'') or Open Bishop Diagonal Fourth File Rook (角道オープン四間飛車 ''kaku michi shikenbisha'') is a Fourth File Rook (Ranging Rook) ope ...
is a passive strategy for White with the goal of a repetition draw (as it requires two tempo losses – swinging the rook and trading the bishops) while it is a very aggressive strategy if played by Black. Repetition draws are rare in professional shogi occurring in about 1–2% of games and even rarer in amateur games. In professional shogi, repetition draws usually occur in the opening as certain positions are reached that are theoretically disadvantaged for both sides ( reciprocal zugzwang). In amateur shogi, repetition draws tend to occur in the middle or endgame as a result of player errors.


Impasse

The game reaches an Impasse or Deadlock (持将棋 ''jishōgi'') if both kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones – a situation known as 相入玉 (''ai-nyū gyoku'' "double entering kings") – and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. An Impasse can result in either a win or a draw. If an Impasse happens, the winner is decided as follows: each player agrees to an Impasse, then each rook or bishop, promoted or not, scores 5 points for the owning player, and all other pieces except kings score 1 point each. A player scoring fewer than 24 points loses. (Note that in the start position, both players have 27 points each.) If neither player has fewer than 24, the game is no contest — a draw. In professional shogi, an Impasse result is always a draw since a player that cannot obtain the 24 points will simply resign. ''Jishōgi'' is considered an outcome in its own right rather than no contest, but there is no practical difference. As an Impasse needs to be agreed on for the rule to be invoked, a player may refuse to do so and attempt to win the game in future moves. If that happens, there is no official rule about the verdict of the game. However, in amateur shogi, there are different practices most of which force a win resolution to the Impasse in order to avoid a draw result. The first draw by Impasse occurred in 1731 in a bishop handicap game between the seventh Lifetime Meijin, , and his brother, Sōkei Ōhashi.


=Entering King

= As a practical matter, when an opponent's king has entered a player's own territory especially with supporting defending pieces, the opponent's king is often very difficult to mate given the forward attacking nature of most shogi pieces. This state is referred to as entering king (入玉 ''nyū gyoku''). If both players' kings are in entering king states, the game becomes more likely to result in an impasse. In the adjacent diagram example, although White's king is in a strong
Bear-in-the-hole castle The Bear-in-the-hole or Anaguma castle (穴熊 ''anaguma'', badger, lit. "hole-bear") is a castle used in shogi. (An anaguma is a Japanese badger.) It is commonly used in professional shogi. History The Bear-in-the-hole was initially a castle ...
, Black's king has entered White's territory making it very difficult to mate. Therefore, this position favors Black. An example of Entering King occurred in the fourth game of the 60th Ōi title match between
Masayuki Toyoshima is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9-dan. He is a former holder of the Ryūō, Meijin, Ōi, Kisei and Eiō titles. Toyoshima, together with Akira Inaba, Tetsurō Itodani and Akihiro Murata, is one of four Kansai-based young s ...
and
Kazuki Kimura is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9- dan. He is a former Ōi title holder. He is also the oldest player to win a major title for the first time. Early life Kimura was born in Yotsukaidō, Chiba Prefecture on June 23, 1973. He lea ...
held on August 2021, 2019. After being unsuccessful in attacking Kimura and also in defending his own king within his camp, Toyoshima (playing as White) moved his king away from Kimura's attacking pieces by fleeing up the second file, ultimately entering his king into Kimura's camp by move 150. Although Toyoshima had achieved Entering King, he still had only 23 pointsone point shy of the required 24 points for an
Impasse A bargaining impasse occurs when the two sides negotiating an agreement are unable to reach an agreement and become deadlocked. An impasse is almost invariably mutually harmful, either as a result of direct action which may be taken such as a s ...
drawwhile Kimura (Black) had 31 points. Toyoshima then spent the next 134 moves trying to bring his point total, which fluctuated between 17 and 23, up to the necessary 24. By the 231st move, the game had reached a Double Entering Kings state, and by move 285 Kimura had successfully kept Toyoshima's point total at bay. Here, Toyoshima with 20 points (and Kimura at 34 points) resigned. Incidentally, this game broke the record of longest game in a title match.


=Amateur resolutions

= For amateur games, there are various guidances with little standardization. Fairbairn reports a practice in the 1980s (considered a rule by the now defunct Shogi Association for The West) where the dispute is resolved by either player moving all friendly pieces into the promotion zone and then the game ends with points tallied. Another resolution is the 27-Point (27点法) rule used for some amateur tournaments. One version of this is simply the player who has 27 or more points is the winner of the Impasse. Another version is a 27-Point Declaration rule. For instance, the Declaration rule on the online shogi site,
81Dojo 81Dojo (Japanese: ''hachi-jū-ichi dōjō,'' ''hachi-jū-ichi'' or ''hachi-ichi'') is a non-profit internet shogi server and internet forum. While the site is based in Japan, there is an additional English language version of the website, making ...
, is that the player who wants to declare an Impasse win must (i) declare an intention to win via Impasse, (ii) have the king in the enemy camp (the promotion zone for that player), (iii) 10 other pieces must be in the promotion zone, (iv) not be in check, (v) have time remaining, and (vi) must have 28 points if Black or 27 points if White. If all of these conditions are met, then the Impasse declarer will win the game regardless of whether the opponent objects. Yet another resolution to Impasse is the so-called Try Rule (トライルール ''torairūru''). In this case, after both kings have entered their corresponding promotion zones, then the player who first moves the king to the opponent's king's start square (51 for Black, 59 for White) first will be the winner. As an example, the popular 将棋ウォーズ (Shogi Wars) app by HEROZ Inc. used the Try Rule up until 2014. (Now the app uses a variant of the 27-Point Declaration Rule – although it differs from the variant used on the 81Dojo site.) The idea of "Try Rule" was taken from
rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...
(see
Try (rugby) A try is a way of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area (on or behind the goal line). Rugby union and league differ slightly in defining "grounding the bal ...
).


Draws in tournaments

In professional tournaments, the rules typically require drawn games to be replayed with sides reversed, possibly with reduced time limits. This is rare compared to
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
and
xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ...
, occurring at a rate of 1–2% even in amateur games. The 1982 ''Meijin'' title match between Makoto Nakahara and Hifumi Katoh was unusual in this regard with an impasse draw in the first (
Double Fortress The Double Fortress (相矢倉 or 相櫓 ''aiyagura'') is a shogi opening in which both players construct Fortress formations. Double Fortress games are the most common type of Fortress games found at all levels of play. Historical Fortress E ...
) game on April 13–14 (only the fifth draw in the then 40-year history of the tournament). This game (with Katoh as Black) lasted for 223 moves with 114 minutes spent pondering a single move. One of the reasons for the length of this game was that White (Nakahara) was very close to falling below the minimum of 24 points required for a draw. Thus, the end of the endgame was strategically about trying to keep White's points above the 24-point threshold. In this match, ''sennichite'' occurred in the sixth and eighth games. Thus, this best-of-seven match lasted eight games and took over three months to finish; Black did not lose a single game and the eventual victor was Katoh at 4–3.


Time control

Professional games are timed as in international chess, but
professional shogi players A professional shogi player (将棋棋士 ''shōgi kishi'' or プロ棋士 ''puro kishi'' "professional player") is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players. There are two categories of professional player ...
are almost never expected to keep time in their games. Instead a timekeeper is assigned, typically an apprentice professional. Time limits are much longer than in international chess (9 hours a side plus extra time in the prestigious ''Meijin'' title match), and in addition ''byōyomi'' (literally "second counting") is employed. This means that when the ordinary time has run out, the player will from that point on have a certain amount of time to complete every move (a ''byōyomi'' period), typically upwards of one minute. The final ten seconds are counted down, and if the time expires the player to move loses the game immediately. Amateurs often play with electronic clocks that beep out the final ten seconds of a ''byōyomi'' period, with a prolonged beep for the last five.


Player rank and handicaps

Amateur players are ranked from 15 ''
kyū is a Japanese term used in modern martial arts as well as in tea ceremony, flower arranging, Go, shogi, academic tests and other similar activities to designate various grades, levels or degrees of proficiency or experience. In Mandarin Ch ...
'' to 1 kyū and then from 1 ''
dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
'' to 8 dan. Amateur 8 dan was previously only honorarily given to famous people. While it is now possible to win amateur 8 dan by actual strength (winning amateur Ryu-oh 3 times), this has yet to be achieved. Professional players operate with their own scale, from 6 kyū to 3 dan for pro-aspiring players and professional 4 dan to 9 dan for formal professional players. Amateur and professional ranks are offset (with amateur 4 dan being equivalent to professional 6 kyū).


Handicaps

Shogi has a handicap system (like go) in which games between players of disparate strengths are adjusted so that the stronger player is put in a more disadvantageous position in order to compensate for the difference in playing levels. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces are removed from the setup, and instead White plays first.


Notation

There are two common systems used to notate piece movements in shogi game records. One is used in Japanese language texts while a second was created for western players by George Hodges and Glyndon Townhill in the English language. This system was updated by Hosking to be closer to the Japanese standard (two numerals). Other systems are used to notate shogi board positions. Unlike chess, the origin (11 square) is at the top right of a printed position rather than the bottom left. In western piece movement notation, the format is the piece initial followed by the type of movement and finally the file and rank where the piece moved to. The piece initials are K (King), R (Rook), B (Bishop), G (Gold), S (Silver), N (Knight), L (Lance), and P (Pawn). Simple movement is indicated with -, captures with x, and piece drops with *. The files are indicated with numerals 1–9. The older Hodges standard used letters a–i for ranks, and the newer Hosking standard also uses numerals 1–9 for the ranks. Thus, Rx24 indicates 'rook captures on 24'. Promoted pieces are notated with + prefixed to the piece initial (e.g. +Rx24). Piece promotion is also indicated with + (e.g. S-21+) while unpromotion is indicated with = (e.g. S-21=). Piece ambiguity is resolved by notating which square a piece is moving from (e.g. N65-53+ means 'knight from 65 moves to 53 and promotes,' which distinguishes it from N45-53+). The Japanese notation system uses Japanese characters for pieces and promotion indication and uses Japanese numerals instead of letters for ranks. Movement type aside from drops is not indicated, and the conventions for resolving ambiguity are quite different from the western system. As examples, the western Rx24 would be in Japanese notation, +Rx24 would be , S-21+ would be , S-21= would be , and N65-53+ would be showing that the leftmost knight jumped (implicitly from the 65 square), which distinguishes it from in which the rightmost knight jumped. Although not strictly part of the notational calculus for games, game results are indicated in Japanese newspapers, websites, etc. with wins indicated by a white circle and losses indicated by a black circle.


Strategy and tactics

Shogi is similar to chess but has a much larger game tree complexity because of the use of drops, greater number of pieces, and larger board size. In comparison, shogi games average about 140 (half-)moves per game (or 70 chess move-pairs) whereas chess games average about 80 moves per game (or 40 chess move-pairs) and minishogi averages about 40 moves per game (or 20 chess move-pairs). Like chess, however, the game can be divided into the opening, middle game and endgame, each requiring a different strategy. The opening consists of arranging one's defenses usually in a
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
and positioning for attack; the mid game consists of attempting to break through the opposing defenses while maintaining one's own; and the endgame starts when one side's defenses have been compromised. In the adjacent diagram, Black has chosen a Ranging Rook position (specifically
Fourth File Rook In shogi, Fourth File Rook (四間飛車 ''shikenbisha'') is a class of Ranging Rook openings in which the rook is initially positioned on the fourth file if played by White or the sixth file if played by Black. History The earli ...
) where the rook has been moved leftward away from its starting position. Additionally, Black is utilizing a Silver Crown castle, which is a type of fortification structure constructed with one silver and two gold pieces and the king moved inside of the fortification – the ''silver crown'' name comes from the silver being positioned directly above the king's head on the 27 square as if it were a crown. In the diagram, White has chosen a
Static Rook Static Rook (居飛車 ''ibisha'') openings in shogi typically have the player's rook at its start position, which is the second file (on the 28 square) for Black and the eighth file (on the 82 square) for White. Explanation Static Rook is a ...
position, in which the rook remains on its starting square. This Static Rook position is specifically a type of Counter-Ranging Rook position known as Bear-in-the-hole Static Rook that uses a
Bear-in-the-hole castle The Bear-in-the-hole or Anaguma castle (穴熊 ''anaguma'', badger, lit. "hole-bear") is a castle used in shogi. (An anaguma is a Japanese badger.) It is commonly used in professional shogi. History The Bear-in-the-hole was initially a castle ...
. The Bear-in-the-hole fortification has the king moved all the way into very edge corner of the board on the 11 square as if it were a badger in a hole with a silver moved to the 22 square in order to close up the hole and additional reinforcing golds on 31 and 32 squares. This board position required 33 moves (or 12 move pairs as counted in western chess) to construct.


Etiquette

Shogi players are expected to follow etiquette in addition to rules explicitly described. Commonly accepted etiquette include the following: * Greetings to the opponent both before and after the game * Avoiding disruptive actions both during the game and after, for instance: ** Not changing the move once realized on the board ** Fair withdrawal without any disruption, such as scattering pieces on the board to demonstrate frustration * Announcing one's resignation Shogi piece sets may contain two types of king pieces, (king) and (jewel). In this case, the higher classed player, in either social or genuine shogi player rank, may take the king piece. For example, in titleholder system games, the current titleholder takes the king piece as the higher. The higher-ranked (or older) player also sits facing the door of the room and is the person who takes the pieces out of the piece box. Shogi does not have a
touch-move rule The touch-move rule in chess specifies that a player, having the move, who deliberately touches a piece on the board must move or capture that piece if it is legal to do so. If it is the player's piece that was touched, it must be moved if the p ...
as in western chess tournament play or
chu shogi Chu shogi ( or Middle Shogi) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game native to Japan. It is similar to modern shogi (sometimes called Japanese chess) in its rules and gameplay. Its name means "mid-sized shogi", from a time when there wer ...
. However, in professional games, a piece is considered to be moved when the piece has been let go of. In both amateur and professional play, any piece may be touched in order to adjust its centralization within its square (to look tidy). Taking back moves (待った ''matta'') in professional games is prohibited. However, in friendly amateur games in Japan, it is often permitted. Professional players are required to follow several ritualistic etiquette prescriptions such as kneeling exactly 15 centimeters from the shogi board, sitting in the formal seiza position, etc.


Game setup

Traditionally, the order of placing the pieces on the board is determined. There are two commonly used orders, the ''Ōhashi'' order 大橋流 and the ''Itō'' order 伊藤流. Placement sets pieces with multiples (generals, knights, lances) from left to right in all cases, and follows the order: # King # Gold generals # Silver generals # Knights :In ito, the player now places: ::5.  Pawns (left to right starting from the leftmost file) ::6.  Lances ::7.  Bishop ::8.  Rook :In ohashi, the player now places: ::5.  Lances ::6.  Bishop ::7.  Rook ::8.  Pawns (starting from center file, then alternating left to right one file at a time)


Furigoma

Among amateur tournaments, the higher-ranked player or defending champion performs the piece toss. In professional games, the furigoma is done on the behalf of the higher-ranked player/champion by the timekeeper who kneels by the side of the higher-ranked player and tosses the pawn pieces onto a silk cloth. In friendly amateur games, a player will ask the opponent to toss the pawns out of politeness. Otherwise, the person who tosses the pawns can be determined by Rock–paper–scissors.


History

From '' The Chess Variant Pages'': It is not clear when chess was brought to Japan. The earliest generally accepted mention of shogi is (1058–1064) by Fujiwara Akihira. The oldest archaeological evidence is a group of 16 shogi pieces excavated from the grounds of
Kōfuku-ji is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples in the city of Nara, Japan. The temple is the national headquarters of the Hossō school. History Kōfuku-ji has its origin as a temple that was established in 669 b ...
in
Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakaya ...
. As it was physically associated with a wooden tablet written on in the sixth year of Tenki (1058), the pieces are thought to date from that period. These simple pieces were cut from a writing plaque in the same five-sided shape as modern pieces, with the names of the pieces written on them. The dictionary of common folk culture, (c. 1210–1221), a collection based on the two works and , describes two forms of shogi, large ''(dai)'' shogi and small ''(shō)'' shogi. These are now called
Heian shogi Heian shōgi (平安将棋 "Heian era chess") is a predecessor of modern shogi (Japanese chess). Some form of chess almost certainly reached Japan by the 9th century, if not earlier, but the earliest surviving Japanese description of the rules date ...
(or Heian small shogi) and Heian dai shogi. Heian small shogi is the version on which modern shogi is based, but the ''Nichūreki'' states that one wins if one's opponent is reduced to a single king, indicating that drops had not yet been introduced. According to Kōji Shimizu, chief researcher at the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, the names of the Heian shogi pieces keep those of
chaturanga Chaturanga ( sa, चतुरङ्ग; ') is an ancient Indian strategy game. While there is some uncertainty, the prevailing view among chess historians is that it is the common ancestor of the board games chess (European), xiangqi (Chines ...
(general, elephant, horse, chariot and soldier), and add to them the five treasures of Buddhism (jade, gold, silver, katsura tree, and incense). Around the 13th century the game of
dai shogi Dai shogi (大将棋, 'large chess') or Kamakura dai shogi (鎌倉大将棋) is a chess variant native to Japan. It derived from Heian era shogi, and is similar to standard shogi (sometimes called Japanese chess) in its rules and game play. Dai sh ...
developed, created by increasing the number of pieces in Heian shogi, as was sho shogi, which added the rook, bishop, and drunken elephant from dai shogi to Heian shogi. The drunken elephant steps one square in any direction except directly backward, and promotes to the prince, which acts as a second king and must also be captured along with the original king for the other player to win. Around the 15th century, the rules of dai shogi were simplified, creating the game of
chu shogi Chu shogi ( or Middle Shogi) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game native to Japan. It is similar to modern shogi (sometimes called Japanese chess) in its rules and gameplay. Its name means "mid-sized shogi", from a time when there wer ...
. Chu shogi, like its parent dai shogi, contains many distinct pieces, such as the queen (identical with Western chess) and the lion (which moves like a king, but twice per turn, potentially being able to capture twice, among other idiosyncrasies). The popularity of dai shogi soon waned in favour of chu shogi, until it stopped being played commonly. Chu shogi rivalled sho shogi in popularity until the introduction of drops in the latter, upon which standard shogi became ascendant, although chu shogi was still commonly played until about World War II, especially in
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...
. It is thought that the rules of standard shogi were fixed in the 16th century, when the drunken elephant was removed from the set of pieces present in sho shogi. There is no clear record of when drops were introduced, however. In the
Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...
, shogi variants were greatly expanded:
tenjiku shogi Tenjiku shogi (天竺将棋 ''tenjiku shōgi,'' "Indian chess" or 天竺大将棋 ''tenjiku dai shōgi'' "great Indian chess") is a large-board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th or 16th century and was based on th ...
,
dai dai shogi Dai dai shōgi (大大将棋 'huge chess') is a large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th century and is based on the earlier dai shogi. Apart from its size, the major difference is in the range of the pieces ...
,
maka dai dai shogi Maka dai dai shōgi (摩訶大大将棋 or 摩𩹄大大象戯 'ultra-huge chess') is a large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th century and is based on dai dai shogi and the earlier dai shogi. The three Ed ...
,
tai shogi Tai shogi (泰将棋 ''tai shōgi'' or 無上泰将棋 ''mujō tai shōgi'' "grand chess", renamed from 無上大将棋 ''mujō dai shōgi'' "supreme chess" to avoid confusion with 大将棋 '' dai shōgi'') is a large-board variant of shogi (Ja ...
, and
taikyoku shogi is the largest known variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game was created around the mid-16th century (presumably by priests) and is based on earlier large board shogi games. Before the rediscovery of taikyoku shogi in 1997, tai shogi was ...
were all invented. It is thought that these were played to only a very limited extent, however. Both standard shogi and Go were promoted by the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
. In 1612, the shogunate passed a law giving endowments to top shogi players (). During the reign of the eighth shōgun,
Tokugawa Yoshimune was the eighth '' shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lineage Yoshi ...
, castle shogi tournaments were held once a year on the 17th day of
Kannazuki Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations stating the year of the reign of the current Emperor. The written form starts with ...
, corresponding to November 17, which is Shogi Day on the modern calendar. The title of ''meijin'' became hereditary in the Ōhashi and Itō families until the fall of the shogunate, when it came to be passed by recommendation. Today the title is used for the winner of the Meijin-sen competition, the first modern title match. From around 1899,
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...
s began to publish records of shogi matches, and high-ranking players formed alliances with the aim of having their games published. In 1909, the was formed, and in 1924, the was formed. This was an early incarnation of the modern , or JSA, and 1924 is considered by the JSA to be the date it was founded. In 1935, ''meijin'' Kinjirō Sekine stepped down, and the rank of meijin came to be awarded to the winner of a . became the first Meijin under this system in 1937. This was the start of the shogi title matches (see titleholder system). After the war other tournaments were promoted to title matches, culminating with the in 1988 for the modern line-up of seven. About 200 professional shogi players compete. Each year, the title holder defends the title against a challenger chosen from knockout or round matches. After the Second World War,
SCAP SCAP may refer to: * S.C.A.P., an early French manufacturer of cars and engines * Security Content Automation Protocol * '' The Shackled City Adventure Path'', a role-playing game * SREBP cleavage activating protein * Supervisory Capital Assessm ...
(occupational government mainly led by US) tried to eliminate all "feudal" factors from Japanese society and shogi was included in the possible list of items to be banned along with
Bushido is a moral code concerning samurai attitudes, behavior and lifestyle. There are multiple bushido types which evolved significantly through history. Contemporary forms of bushido are still used in the social and economic organization of Japan. ...
(philosophy of samurai) and other things. The reason for banning shogi for SCAP was its exceptional character as a board game seen in the usage of captured pieces. SCAP insisted that this could lead to the idea of prisoner abuse. But Kozo Masuda, then one of the top professional shogi players, when summoned to the SCAP headquarters for an investigation, criticized such understanding of shogi and insisted that it is not shogi but western chess that potentially contains the idea of prisoner abuse because it just kills the pieces of the opponent while shogi is rather democratic for giving prisoners the chance to get back into the game. Masuda also said that chess contradicts the ideal of gender equality in western society because the king shields itself behind the queen and runs away. Masuda's assertion is said to have eventually led to the exemption of shogi from the list of items to be banned.


Tournament play

There are two organizations for shogi professional players in Japan: the JSA, and the , or LPSA. The JSA is the primary organization for men and women's professional shogi while the LPSA is a group of women professionals who broke away from the JSA in 2007 to establish their own independent organization. Both organize tournaments for their members and have reached an agreement to cooperate with each other to promote shogi through events and other activities. Top professional players are fairly well-paid from tournament earnings. In 2016, the highest tournament earners were Yoshiharu Habu and Akira Watanabe who earned ¥91,500,000 and ¥73,900,000. (The tenth highest earner, Kouichi Fukaura, won ¥18,490,000.) The JSA recognizes two categories of shogi professionals: , and . Sometimes ''kishi'' are addressed as , a term from Go used to distinguish ''kishi'' from other classes of players. JSA professional ranks and female professional ranks are not equivalent and each has their own promotion criteria and ranking system. In 2006, the JSA officially granted women "professional status". This is not equivalent, however, to the more traditional way of "gaining professional status", i.e., being promoted from the : leagues of strong amateur players aspiring to become a professional. Rather, it is a separate system especially designed for female professionals. Qualified amateurs, regardless of gender, may apply for the "Shoreikai System" and all those who successfully "graduate" are granted ''kishi'' status; however, no woman has yet to accomplish this feat (the highest women have reached is "Shoreikai 3 ''dan'' league" by
Kana Satomi is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 6-dan. She is the current holder of the Women's and titles as well as the , and titles, thus making her a . She is also the career leader in women's professional shogi major titles. Sat ...
and
Tomoka Nishiyama is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 4-dan. She is the current holder of the and titles as well as a former holder of the and titles. Early life and education Nishiyama was born on June 27, 1995 in Ōsakasayama, Osaka. ...
), so ''kishi'' is
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...
only used to refer to male shogi professionals. The JSA is the only body which can organize tournaments for professionals, e.g., the eight major tournaments in the titleholder system and other professional tournaments. In 1996, Yoshiharu Habu became the only ''kishi'' to hold seven major titles at the same time. For female professionals, both the JSA and LPSA organize tournaments, either jointly or separately. Tournaments for amateurs may be organized by the JSA and LPSA as well as local clubs, newspapers, private corporations, educational institutions or municipal governments for cities or prefectures under the guidance of the JSA or LPSA. Since the 1990s, shogi has grown in popularity outside Japan, particularly in the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, and especially in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
. The January 2006 edition of stated that there were 120,000 shogi players in Shanghai. The spread of the game to countries where Chinese characters are not in common use, however, has been slower.


In Europe

, in Europe there are currently over 1,200 active players.


Computer shogi

Shogi has the highest game complexity of all popular chess variants. Computers have steadily improved in playing shogi since the 1970s. In 2007, champion Yoshiharu Habu estimated the strength of the 2006 world computer shogi champion Bonanza at the level of two-dan shoreikai. The JSA prohibits its professionals from playing computers in public without prior permission, with the reason of promoting shogi and monetizing the computer–human events. On October 12, 2010, after some 35 years of development, a computer finally beat a professional player, when the top ranked female champion Ichiyo Shimizu was beaten by the Akara2010 system in a game lasting just over 6 hours. On July 24, 2011, computer shogi programs Bonanza and Akara crushed the amateur team of Kosaku and Shinoda in two games. The allotted time for the amateurs was one hour and then three minutes per move. The allotted time for the computer was 25 minutes and then 10 seconds per move. On April 20, 2013, GPS Shogi defeated 8-dan professional shogi player Hiroyuki Miura in a 102-move game which lasted over 8 hours. On December 13, 2015, the highest rated player on Shogi Club 24 was computer program Ponanza, rated 3455. On April 10, 2016, Ponanza defeated Takayuki Yamasaki, 8-dan in 85 moves. Takayuki used 7 hours 9 minutes. In October 2017,
DeepMind DeepMind Technologies is a British artificial intelligence subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. and research laboratory founded in 2010. DeepMind was acquired by Google in 2014 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, after Google's restru ...
claimed that its program
AlphaZero AlphaZero is a computer program developed by artificial intelligence research company DeepMind to master the games of chess, shogi and go. This algorithm uses an approach similar to AlphaGo Zero. On December 5, 2017, the DeepMind team re ...
, after a full nine hours of training, defeated
elmo Elmo is a red Muppet monster character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who has a falsetto voice and illeism, he hosts the last full five-minute segment (fifteen minutes prio ...
in a 100-game match, winning 90, losing 8, and drawing two. From a
computational complexity In computer science, the computational complexity or simply complexity of an algorithm is the amount of resources required to run it. Particular focus is given to computation time (generally measured by the number of needed elementary operations) ...
point of view, generalized shogi is
EXPTIME-complete In computational complexity theory, the complexity class EXPTIME (sometimes called EXP or DEXPTIME) is the set of all decision problems that are solvable by a deterministic Turing machine in exponential time, i.e., in O(2''p''(''n'')) time, whe ...
.


Video games

Hundreds of
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...
s were released exclusively in Japan for several consoles.


Culture

According to professional player Yoshiharu Habu, in Japan shogi is viewed as not merely a game as entertainment or a mind sport but is instead an art that is a part of traditional Japanese culture along with
haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a '' kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a '' kigo'', or ...
,
tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the '' Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short ...
, noh,
ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It is also known as . The tradition dates back to Heian period, when floral offerings were made at altars. Later, flower arrangements were instead used to adorn the (alcove) of a traditional Japan ...
, and the
Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...
. Its elevated status was established by the ''
iemoto is a Japanese term used to refer to the founder or current Grand Master of a certain school of traditional Japanese art. It is used synonymously with the term when it refers to the family or house that the iemoto is head of and represents. Th ...
'' system supported by the historical
shogunate , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...
. The backwards ''uma'' (shogi horse symbol) is often featured on merchandise (such as on large decorative shogi piece sculptures, keychains, and other keepsakes) available for sale in Tendō. It also serves as a symbol of good luck. (Cf. Rabbit's foot.) There are multiple theories on its origin. One is that ''uma'' (うま ) spelled in the Japanese syllabary backwards is まう ''mau'' (舞う), which means ''(to) dance'' and dancing horses are a good luck omen. File:左馬.gif, The backwards 馬 ''uma'' (左馬 ''hidari uma'') File:Ningen shogi himeji.jpg, Ningen Shogi held in Himeji City with real people (2015) File:Tendo station and shogi museum.jpg, Tendō shogi museum (right) next to Tendō Station (top)


In popular culture

In the manga and anime series ''
Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...
'', shogi plays an essential part in Shikamaru Nara's character development. He often plays it with his sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, apparently always beating him. When Asuma is fatally injured in battle, he reminds Shikamaru that the shogi king must always be protected, and draws a parallel between the king in shogi and the children who would grow up to take care of the Hidden Leaf (Konoha) in the future, as well as his yet-unborn daughter, Mirai, whom he wanted Shikamaru to guide. Shogi has been a central plot point in the manga and anime '' Shion no Ō'', the manga and anime '' March Comes in Like a Lion'', and the manga and television drama ''
81diver is a manga written by Yokusaru Shibata. It was serialized in ''Weekly Young Jump'', published by Shueisha. It is aired as a drama series from May 3, 2008, starring Junpei Mizobata and Riisa Naka. The title refers to the main character's shogi ...
''. In the manga and anime ''
Durarara!! , often shortened to ''DRRR!!'', is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita, with illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda. ''Durarara!!'' tells the story of a dullahan working as an underworld courier in Ikebukuro, an intern ...
'', the information broker Izaya Orihara plays a twisted version of chess, go and shogi, where he mixes all three games into one as a representation of the battles in
Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits. It is considered the second larges ...
. In the video game ''
Persona 5 is a 2016 role-playing video game developed by Atlus. It takes place in modern-day Tokyo and follows a high school student known by the pseudonym Joker who transfers to a new school after being falsely accused of assault and put on probation ...
'', the Star confidant, a girl named Hifumi Togo, is a high school shogi player looking to break into the ranks of the professionals. The player character will gain a knowledge stat when spending time with the confidant, supposedly from learning to play shogi. The abilities learned from ranking up the confidant comes from Japanese shogi terms. In the manga and anime '' When Will Ayumu Make His Move?'', second-year high school student Urushi Yaotome is the president of her school's shogi club, though the club is considered illegitimate due to not having enough members, the only other member being first-year student Ayumu Tanaka.


See also

* Mind sport * Shogi tactics *
Shogi strategy Shogi, like western chess, can be divided into the opening, middle game and endgame, each requiring a different strategy. The opening consists of arranging one's defenses and positioning for attack, the middle game consists of attempting to break ...
*
Shogi variant A shogi variant is a game related to or derived from shogi (Japanese chess). Many shogi variants have been developed over the centuries, ranging from some of the largest chess-type games ever played to some of the smallest. A few of these variant ...
s **
Chu shogi Chu shogi ( or Middle Shogi) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game native to Japan. It is similar to modern shogi (sometimes called Japanese chess) in its rules and gameplay. Its name means "mid-sized shogi", from a time when there wer ...
**
Dai shogi Dai shogi (大将棋, 'large chess') or Kamakura dai shogi (鎌倉大将棋) is a chess variant native to Japan. It derived from Heian era shogi, and is similar to standard shogi (sometimes called Japanese chess) in its rules and game play. Dai sh ...
** Dōbutsu shōgi * Tsumeshogi *
Chess variant A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...
s **
Crazyhouse Crazyhouse (also known as drop chess, mad chess, reinforcement chess, turnabout chess and schizo-chess) is a chess variant in which captured enemy pieces can be reintroduced, or ''dropped'', into the game as one's own. The drop rule resembles tha ...
* Computer shogi * List of world championships in mind sports *
Janggi ''Janggi'' (including romanizations ''changgi'' and ''jangki''), sometimes called Korean chess, is a strategy board game popular on the Korean Peninsula. The game was derived from xiangqi (Chinese chess), and is very similar to it, including t ...
*
Xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* ''SHOGI Magazine'' (70 issues, January 1976 – November 1987) by The Shogi Association (edited by George Hodges) * * * * * * * *


External links


Shogi Shack





Shogi Hub
portal for current information about the shogi world (tournaments, news, etc.)
Shogi-L
shogi mailing list


Japanese–English shogi glossary



International Shogi Magazine
Rules * Shogi Harbour
Level 1 Shogi Course
by women's professional player Karolina Styczyńska
40 shogi lessons
on YouTube by HIDETCHI



by Hans Bodlaender and Fergus Duniho, '' The Chess Variant Pages''
Rules and Manners of Shogi
by Tomohide Kawasaki (a.k.a. HIDETCHI)
FESA - Shogi official playing rules


by Jean-Louis Cazaux
Shogi and Dobutsu-Animal shogi rules to download
by Filip Marek Online play
81Dojo
English-language shogi play online
Lishogi

Shogi Dojo 24
shogi server in Japan
Shogi Wars

Shogi Quest

PlayOK shogi

GoldToken
online turn-based shogi
World Shogi League
international online tournament associated with 81Dojo and the
Japan Shogi Association The , or JSA, is the primary organizing body for professional shogi in Japan. The JSA sets the professional calendar, negotiates sponsorship and media promotion deals, helps organize tournaments and title matches, publishes shogi-related materia ...

HamShogi
handicap shogi against the computer
instructions


real time play against human or (weak) computer players. Online tools
将棋DB2
shogi game record database
Kyokumenpedia
game record databases as move decision tree with user-generated wiki annotations (associated with 81Dojo)
Shogi Playground
record or play through games, mate problems, board positions

{{Authority control Abstract strategy games Japanese games Traditional board games Games related to chaturanga