Rules and history

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Shogi

• Rules and history
• By Ryo Enda

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Difference from Shogi and Chess

• The main difference is that Shogi board is more
  bigger then the chess board. The Shogi board is 9
  by 9 squared and chess is 8 by 8 squared. The
  next difference is that in Shogi, after you take
  the enemy's piece, you can take control of it by
  putting the piece on any empty space! By from
  this rule, the more you take, the more pieces you
  will have. But in the other hand there are no
  such pieces like queens in the western chess that
  can go in all direction

Shogi board
Western Chess board
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Set up of the pieces
This is the way you put the pieces at the start.
1 king, 2 gold generals, 2 silver generals, 2
knights (honourable horse), 2 lances, 1 rook
(flying chariot) 1 bishop (angle goer) and 9
pawns (soldier). One of the negative thing about
shogi is that there are only 1 rook and 1 bishop
unlike the western chess. But in the other hand,
there are 9 pawns while the western chess only
has 8.
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Pieces name and how to move them(For the
important Pieces)
The most important piece is obviously the King
and it moves just like the one in western chess.
The next important pieces are the Flying Chariot
and the Angle Goer. They are important because
this 2 pieces are the only pieces that can move a
infinite squares in a particular direction. Its
the same as the rook and bishop in the western
chess.
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How to move the 2 Generals
The generals are for defending the king so the
generals must stay with the king or else the king
will be defence less. The gold general can move
in all direction except the bottom corners and
the silver general can move in all direction
except the bottom, left and right.
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The attacking pieces
These pieces are usually used in attacking
because of the amount of distance they can move.
The knight moves like the one in western chess
(but can only move forward) and the lance which
can only go straight in any amount of spaces and
the pawn which moves like the one in western
chess.
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Rank (promote) up rules
When a shogi piece reach a enemys base (3 lines
from the top), the piece ranks up into a more
powerful piece. But there is one exception, king
and the gold general cant rank up. The rook can
move 1 space to the 4 diagonal corner and the
bishop can move 1 space to the sides and front
and back. All the other pieces can move like the
gold general (all spot to 1 space except the
bottom corners).
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History of Shogi
Western chess and Shogi are like cousins because
is you trace back the history of this two game,
it will end up starting at ancient India. Even
Chinese chess (Xianggi) is the cousin of the two
game as well. Shogi became a tactic board at the
Edo period (since the beginning of the
seventeenth century) and it was used to protect a
general called Tokugawa army. But the old tactic
shogi dose not look like the one now days because
the shape is a bit more squareish and there were
2 colour. The colour represents the pieces for
the ally and for the enemy, red is the enemy and
blue is the ally. After the defeat of the
Tokugawa army (around 20centry) shogi got to a
shape like now days (the pentagon shaped piece)
and became very popular.
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Basic tactics
Some of the tactic is like the western chess but
some are quite different. This move is called
kings chariot. In your first move you move your
rook to the front on your king so if the pawn in
the front get defeated, the rook and defeat the
opponents king.
To repel this tactic you must move your gold
general into the front of your king to protect
it.
The next is called Check chariot or Check
gore. This is when the opponents king gets check
with the opponents rook or bishop. So the
opponent has to lose the bishop or the rook to
prevent the king from getting defeated.
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Advanced tactics
The next is called Check chariot or Check
gore. This is when the opponents king gets check
with the opponents rook or bishop. So the
opponent has to lose the bishop or the rook to
prevent the king from getting defeated.
To prevent this tactic you must check if there
are any rook or bishop which is ranged with the
king so you should move the king even if its not
check.
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• Dont only play western chess, play SHOGI!

Presented by Ryo Enda