David P Hurley
Level: Basic

After graduating from the University of York in 1985 with a degree in Politics and English Literature I took a course in Teaching English as …

Shogi is commonly referred to in English as “Japanese Chess” because Shogi and Chess share some common characteristics and are both thought to have derived from the Indian game of Chaturanga.

The first couple of things Chess players are likely to notice about Shogi are the size of the board and the number of pieces. Chess players who are used to playing with sixteen pieces each on an 8 x 8 board may be surprised to find that Shogi is played on a 9×9 board and that each player starts with twenty pieces.

Also, whereas in Chess the pieces stand upright like soldiers, in Shogi they lie flat on the board and are wedge shaped, with the sharp end of the wedge pointing forwards so that the players can tell at a glance whose side each piece is on!

The rank of a piece is indicated by its size and by one or two Japanese characters painted on its upper face.

When a player advances a piece to the 7th, 8th or 9th row of the board it may be possible to promote it by turning it over, depending on which piece it was that the player moved.

Chess players will be surprised to learn that in Shogi captured pieces may be “dropped” back on the board and used by the player who captured them! This is a unique feature of the Japanese game. When a player captures a piece he puts it to one side (or places it on a special tray). Then, when it is his turn he can either move a piece on the board or “drop” one of the captured pieces onto a vacant space on the board. Because of this innovation the pieces are not distinguished by colour as they are in Chess, Igo, or other games.

A game of Shogi tends to take longer to get going than a game of Chess as some of the pieces have limited movement ranges and also because players commonly prefer to build a defensive organization around the King before attacking.

Nevertheless, Shogi has an opening, middle and end phase as does Chess, but the “drop” rule gives Shogi a more open-ended character as the board can suddenly fill up with pieces again if the players engage in a battle of “drop” and “counter-drop”.

The drop rule allows for the truth that captured soldiers may be turned against their former masters. The sudden appearance of a Shogi piece “dropped” behind enemy lines may be likened to the unwelcome appearance of a Ninja warrior breaking into the Daimyo’s castle!

Shogi offers an early example of how a foreign invention is introduced into Japan and modified and refined to become something unique to the Japanese.

In recent years Shogi has begun to attract a following outside of Japan, in China, Europe and America. If you enjoy playing Chess, I recommend that you try playing Shogi and experience something of the unique spirit the Japanese have imparted to this ancient family of games.