Board and setup
A 9×9 board with kings, rooks, bishops, golds, silvers, knights, lances and pawns.
Traditional / SHOGI
Shogi
Capture pieces, drop them back and turn defence into attack.
Also known as: Japanese Chess
Shogi is defined by its drop rule, which lets captured pieces return to the board and keeps every game full of twists.
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SHOGIABOUT THE GAME
About the game
Shogi is a traditional Japanese board game. It shares historical roots with other chess-family games, but over a long development it settled into its own pieces, board and promotion rules.
Shogi’s most distinctive feature is the drop: a captured piece can be brought back into the battle under your own control. Because of this, the pieces in hand off the board remain part of the position at every moment.
Reference：www.shogi.or.jp ↗
Rules
Shogi — How to play
Youzai Board Game Club — The server implementation governs play here; tournament and other site rules may differ.
Making a move
Captured pieces become pieces in hand and may be dropped onto empty squares. Eligible pieces can promote when entering or leaving the far three ranks.
Winning and draws
Win when the opponent has no legal board move or drop.
Rules on this site
No second unpromoted pawn in a file, pawn-drop mate or dead drop. Four appearances of the same position draw on this server.
Helpful examples
- The king moves one square in any of the eight directions; the gold moves one point forward, sideways, or straight back; the silver moves one point forward or diagonally forward or backward.
- The knight only leaps forward in an L shape; the lance slides straight forward; the pawn moves one point forward only. The rook slides orthogonally, and the bishop slides diagonally.
- A promoted silver, knight, lance or pawn moves like a gold. A promoted rook gains a one-point diagonal move, and a promoted bishop gains a one-point orthogonal move.
Complete beginner guide
From setup to the end of the game
Read these steps in order to complete your first game. This guide combines public rules with this site’s server implementation; where versions differ, this site’s ruling applies.
Setup and objective
A 9×9 board where players alternate moves. Each piece points toward the opponent to show ownership. The goal is to protect your own king while leaving the opponent with no legal reply.
Moving and promoting
A gold moves one point forward, sideways or straight back, never diagonally backward. A silver moves one point forward, diagonally forward, or diagonally backward. The rook slides orthogonally and the bishop slides diagonally. Eligible pieces may promote when they enter or leave the far three ranks.
Captured pieces and drops
A captured piece flips to its unpromoted side and joins your hand as a piece in hand, which you may later drop onto an empty square instead of making a normal move. For example, after capturing a silver, you can drop it on an allowed square the following turn.
Restrictions on this site
You may not drop a second unpromoted pawn into a file that already has one. A dropped pawn may not deliver an immediate checkmate, and pawns, lances and knights may not be dropped where they would never be able to move again. This site declares a draw when the same position, including pieces in hand and the side to move, repeats four times.
General rules reference：www.shogi.or.jp ↗