After a long search.. I have finally able to download a shogi game.. haha.. Always wanna learn how to play that thing.. but after few days trying.. I found out that its harder than western chess.. lolx..
Anyways, for those who still wondering what Shogi is.. here's a little info I have gathered.. (mostly from uncle wikipedia.. =.=||)
Shogi (将棋, shōgi?, generals' chess), pronounced /ˈʃoʊɡiː/ (rhymes with yogi) in English, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan. Shōgi means general's (shō 将) boardgame (gi 棋). In early years, however, shogi was written 象棋 (the same as Xiangqi, "elephant chess").
The earliest predecessors of the game, chaturanga, originated in India in the 6th century AD, and spread from China to Japan, where it spawned a number of variants. 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was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the "drop rule" was recorded from 1210 in a historical document Nichūreki, which is an edited copy of Shōchūreki and Kaichūreki from the late Heian period (ca 1120).
According to ChessVariants.com, "Perhaps the enduring popularity of Shogi can be attributed to its 'drop rule'; it was the first chess variant wherein captured pieces could be returned to the board to be used as one's own. David Pritchard credits the drop rule to the practice of 16th century mercenaries who switched loyalties when captured—no doubt as an alternative to execution."
For the game itself, Shogi has 40 wedge-shape pieces ( thats 20 pieces for each player) aligned on a 9x9 board
Unlike western chess, where the pieces are differentiate by colors, shogi pieces are differentiate by the direction of the pieces facing.. meaning if it is your piece, then the top edge of the shogi piece is facing the opponent..
Shogi pieces are distributed to 8 classes
the 8 classes are
> pawn - aligned at the 3rd row on the board, 9 pieces
> bishop - is put on the 2nd row and on the 2nd left hand box, 1 piece
> rook - is put on the 2nd row and on the 2nd right hand box, 1 piece
> lance - is put on the corner of the the 1st row, 2 pieces
> knight - is put next to lance on the 1st row, 2 pieces
> silver general - is put next to knight on the 1st row, 2 pieces
> gold general - is put next to S. general on the 1st row, 2 pieces
> King - is put next to G. general on the 1st row/ middle of 1st row, 1 piece
this classes can be promoted to a higher classes when they reach a certain point on the board.. and the movement is also different *I'll talk on the movements on another post*
pawn > tokin
bishop > horse
rook > dragon
lance> pr. lance
knight > pr. knight
silver general > pr. silver general
as you can see, only gold general and the King cannot be promoted..
another feature that is different from the western chess is the reuse of captured pieces.. meaning a player can use the captured pieces to in play again..
* one of the reason why it doesn't use colors to differentiate the pieces
dropping has its rules tho.. here are the rules.. (sort of)
A drop cannot capture a piece, nor does dropping within the promotion zone result in immediate promotion. However, either capture or promotion may occur normally on subsequent moves by the piece.
A pawn, knight, or lance may not be dropped on the far rank, since it would have no legal move on subsequent turns. Similarly, a knight may not be dropped on the penultimate rank.
There are two other restrictions when dropping pawns:
1. A pawn cannot be dropped onto the same file (column) as another unpromoted pawn controlled by the same player (Promoted pawns do not count). A player who has an unpromoted pawn on every file is therefore unable to drop a pawn anywhere. For this reason it is common to sacrifice a pawn in order to gain flexibility for drops.
2. A pawn cannot be dropped to give an immediate checkmate. However, other pieces may be dropped to give immediate checkmate, a pawn that is already on the board may be advanced to give checkmate, and a pawn may be dropped so that either it or another piece can give checkmate on a subsequent turn.
Well thats all for now on Shogi.. haha.. Please try it~
Shogi I entry log complete..
Chiosu~
