Shogi

small shogi board

Game pieces ( Japanese 駒 koma )

Shogi ( . Jpn 将棋 , also obsolete: 象戯/象棋/象棊 ) is the Japanese version of chess .

Chess came to Japan from the Empire of China via Korea or via Burma and Malaysia in the 8th century. The Shogi has changed to many different variants in Japan. There were different board sizes from three by three up to 36 by 36 fields and about eight hundred playing pieces ( Taikyoku-Shogi ; "Ultimate Shogi"). Today the Shogi presented below and the variants Chu-Shogi ("Middle Shogi") and Tori-Shogi ("Bird Shogi") are played. The most common board size was and is nine by nine fields.

There are some striking differences to other chess variants:

The Shogi tokens ( 駒 , Koma ) have no color: their affiliation to a player is indicated by the direction in which they stand on the field. When a stone is captured, the hitting player can later bring it back into play as his own stone. If a figure reaches the opponent's starting area, it can be promoted: the flat, pentagonal token is turned over and the new figure with expanded / changed options appears on the back. If a piece is captured, the promotion is reversed.

Although the Japanese chess game is far removed from the continental Asian chess games (Indian chess Chaturanga , Chinese chess Xiangqi ), there are clearly recognizable similarities. The moves of the figures king , chariot (tower), bishop, knight and soldier (pawn) are similar to those of other chess games.

Rules of the game

As usual in games of the chess family, two opponents sit opposite each other on a board and take turns making a move. The shogi board has 81 fields of the same color, which are arranged in nine rows (across) and nine lines (lengthways). The aim of the game is to checkmate the opposing king with your own pieces (also known as "stone" or "figure" for short). A king is checkmated when the player can no longer prevent his king from being captured on the next move. Because of the possibility of figures again use a Shōgipartie is rarely draw from.

Stones and move rules

A move is made by picking up the figure to be moved with the hand and placing it back on the target square. The target space on which a piece can move depends on its move rules.

○ Stone moves to this target
space ● Stone moves any distance in this direction

stone

Japanese name

train

stone

Japanese name

train

king

王将 ( ōshō = king ) and 玉将 ( gyokushō = jewel general )

○	○	○
○	玉	○
○	○	○

All adjacent fields.

-

tower

飛車 ( hisha = flying chariot )

	●
●	飛	●
	●

Any distance horizontally and vertically

Dragon

龍王 ( ryūō = dragon king )

○	●	○
●	龍	●
○	●	○

Rook + king.

runner

角行 ( kakugyō = sloping runner )

●		●
	角
●		●

Any distance diagonally

horse

龍馬 ( ryūma or ryūme = noble steed )

●	○	●
○	馬	○
●	○	●

Bishop + king

Golden General

金将 ( kinshō = Golden General )

○	○	○
○	金	○
	○

Horizontal, vertical or forward diagonal

-

Silver General

銀将 ( ginshō = silver general )

○	○	○
	銀
○		○

Diagonal or forward vertically

Promoted silver

成銀 ( narigin = silver promoted )

○	○	○
○	全	○
	○

Like a golden general

Jumper

桂馬 ( keima = laurel horse )

○		○

	桂

Two squares forward and then one sideways, can skip other pieces

Promoted jumper

成桂 ( narikei = promoted laurel )

○	○	○
○	圭	○
	○

Like a golden general.

lance

香車 ( kyōsha = fragrant chariot )

	●
	香

As far forward as you want

Promoted lance

成香 ( narikyō )

○	○	○
○	杏	○
	○

Like a golden general

Farmer

歩兵 ( fuhyō = foot soldier )

	○
	歩

One field forward

Promoted farmer

と金 ( tokin = gilded )

○	○	○
○	と	○
	○

Like a golden general.

○ Stone moves to this target
space ● Stone moves any distance in this direction

The chess player Werner Golz made the Shogi known to a larger group in German-speaking countries. For those interested in Shogi without knowledge of the Japanese language, he developed an easily understandable ideographic representation of the characters. The top of these pieces shows the possible moves of the original pieces, the underside that of the conversion figures, if any.

Shogi ideograms based on Werner Golz
Shogi figure	German equivalent	Transformation figure	German equivalent	ideogram
Gyokusho	king	-	-	-
Hisha	tower	Ryūō	Dragon: crowned tower
Kakugyō	runner	Ryūma	Horse: crowned runner
Kinshō	Gold General	-	-	-
Ginshō	Silver general	Narigin	promoted silver general
Keima	Jumper	Narikei	promoted jumper
Kyōsha	Lancers	Narikyō	promoted lancer
Fuhyō	Farmer	Tokin	promoted soldier

Outside of Japan, game pieces with FIDE figure symbols (king, rook, bishop, knight, pawn) are often used . Gold and silver general are designated by the alchemical symbols for gold / sun (ʘ) and silver / moon (☽), the lance is symbolized by an arrow pointing in the direction of pull. The transformation figures (dragon = crowned tower, horse = crowned runner, others = promoted silver generals, jumpers, lances (riders), peasants) are represented by starting figures colored in red.

initial position

Shogi basic position FIDE stones

Basic position of the Shogi

The three of the nine rows that are closest to the player form his starting zone. The start zone is also the so-called promotion zone of his opponent. As in European chess, one row is completely occupied by pawns. However, this is not the second, but the third row. In the second row there is only a runner (second field from the left) and a tower (second field from the right). These are each diagonally opposite the corresponding figures of the opponent. Seven fields in the second row are empty at the start of the game. In the middle of the first row is the king. On the four fields from the edge to next to the king there are lance, knight, silver general and gold general on each side.

promotion

If the move of a pawn within the promotion zone (the back three rows in the opposing half of the board) begins, ends or takes place entirely in this zone, this figure can be promoted. The promotion is carried out by turning the pawn over before touching down on the target space. The bottom is now on top, and the movement rules for the figure change. The move in which the figure is promoted must still follow the move rules for the figure that was not promoted.

The promotion can be dispensed with if the figure that was not promoted still has a possible target space available for another move from the target space. For example, a lance that is pulled to the back row needs to be carried. However, if it moves to the penultimate row, it does not have to be promoted, even if the last space is occupied by its own piece: Your own piece can move away or be captured, which would allow the lance to move again.

A promotion remains until the promoted piece is captured. It is not possible to move a piece back by moving on the board.

Beat

Game situation on a board, as it is typically used in tournaments in Germany. Next to the board are the Komadai for placing the pieces in hand.

Instead of moving a piece to a free space, you can move to a space on which an opposing piece is standing. As a result, the opposing piece is defeated. The batting player takes the opponent's piece from the board. The rules of movement for capturing are the same as for a normal move, including the possibility of promoting the capturing piece (in contrast to European chess, where the pawns have special capturing moves).

The captured piece is not out of the game because it can be used again as a separate piece in a later turn by the player who captured it. It is said that the hitting player gets the piece "on hand". The pieces in hand must be visible to the opponent at all times individually and without promotion. So they must not be held in the hand, but must be put down. So-called Komadai are used to place the figures. A komadai is traditionally a stand that is set up next to the board for this purpose. In Europe, square wooden tiles are more likely to be used or they are not used at all and the figures are placed on the right of the board without any special device.

Capturing is carried out by first removing the opponent's piece from the target square and then placing your own piece on the target square as in a normal move (and turning it over in the case of a simultaneous promotion).

If a player moves so that he could capture the opponent's king on the next move, he offers chess (analogous to the European chess game). The opponent must fend off this threat with his next move. If the threat cannot be averted, the king is checkmated and the player bidding chess wins.

Deploy

If the player whose turn it is has pieces in hand, he can place one of them. This is done as an alternative to moving a piece already on the board. To do this, the player takes a piece from his hand and places it on any free space on the board. The figures are always used without promotion, but can be promoted in the further course of the game according to the same rules as all other figures. There are certain restrictions to be observed when inserting. Pieces may only be used in such a way that they theoretically have a legal move afterwards (i.e. pawn and lance not on the last row, knight not on one of the last two rows). A pawn may also not be placed on a line on which there is already an unsupported pawn of the same player. It is allowed to fend off a chess bid or bid chess with the insertion of a piece. Direct mating by placing a pawn is not allowed.

Capturing and using are complete moves, after which it is the opponent's turn again.

draw

If a position is repeated four times (with the same pieces in hand and the same player to move), which is called sennichite , the game ends in a draw. However, if the repetition of positions was forced by repeatedly giving chess, the player who played chess loses, because giving continuous chess is forbidden in Shogi. In contrast to chess, in Shogi it is not allowed to agree on ties in official games.

When a king gets into the conversion zone , which is called nyū gyoku ( entering king ), it is much harder to checkmate him, as many pieces can only move forward (pawn, lance, horse) and also the silver and gold general stronger in forward direction are. If both players manage to move their king into the conversion zone ( ai-nyū gyoku ), often neither player can force a decision. When this is the case and the players agree that neither can win by mating, the game is decided by counting the material, both on the board and in hand. A bishop or rook counts five, another piece counts one point, the king is not counted, promotion is ignored. If a player has less than 24 points, he loses. Otherwise the game ends in a tie, which in this case is called jishōgi .

A newer alternative is the throne rule: if a player moves his king to the starting space of the opposing king (throne) he wins the game.

In the event of a tie, the game is usually repeated, often with a shorter cooling-off period.

notation

Field coordinates

A short notation based on the notation of international chess is used in Europe to write down shogi games. The rows are labeled with the letters from a - i and the lines with the numbers from 1 - 9. Seen from black, the right corner field is labeled “1i”, the corner field at the top left is “9a”.

The meanings of the other symbols can be seen from the following tables:

Symbol (Ger. / Eng.)	meaning
: or x	hits
'or *	is used on
+	is promoted
=	will not be promoted
-	moves to
#	Checkmate

Note: The "-" symbol is often left out.

stone	Symbol (german)	Symbol (english)
king	K	K
tower	T	R.
runner	L.	B.
gold	G	G
silver	S.	S.
Jumper	Sp	N
lance	La	L.
Farmer	(B) *	(P) *
Dragon (promoted tower)	D.	+ R
Horse (promoted runner)	P	+ B
promoted silver	+ S	+ S
promoted jumper	+ Sp	+ N
promoted lance	+ La	+ L
Tokin (promoted farmer)	To	+ P

* When noting moves, the pawn symbol is usually left out. Examples:

K5i (King moves to 5i)

G4i-5h (the gold on field 4i moves after 5h)

3f (pawn moves to 3f)

Sp'4e (knight is placed on 4e)

Nx3g + (Silver hits 3g and is promoted)

In contrast to official chess tournaments, the notation of the game in shogi tournaments is not mandatory in Europe. This is due, among other things, to the significantly shorter reflection times. The German notation is hardly used in Germany. The international notation is also predominantly used in German-language literature. The transcription of a game is called a kifu .

Classification and ranking systems

Shog players who play in clubs and tournaments usually wear a rank that may include a. serves as a guide when choosing a game partner.

Master ranks, which are referred to as Dan , theoretically range from 1st to 9th Dan. The 1st Dan is the lowest master level, a 7th Dan for amateurs (in Japan rarely also the 8th Dan) the highest.
Student ranks, called Kyū , are graded in Japan from 10th to 1st Kyū, with 1st Kyū being the highest. Beginners are usually classified there as 10th Kyū. In Europe, student grades up to the 20th Kyū are awarded.

Professional players work on their own scale, starting from 6 Kyū to 3 Dan for pro candidates and professionals 4 Dan to 9 Dan for formal professional players. Amateur and professional grades are different (an amateur 4 dan equates to a professional 6 kyū ). In addition, a method based on the Elo system is used to determine the skill level of individual players.

Game operations in Europe

There are currently (November 2017) over 1200 active players in Europe. These are organized in 19 national associations, including Shogi Deutschland e. V. and the Austrian Shogi Association. With over 300 players, Belarus is the largest national association . A relatively large number of children and young people play here. They are followed by the associations of Russia and Germany, each with a little less than 200 players.

The umbrella organization of the national organizations is the FESA ( Federation of European Shogi Associations ) founded in 1985 . Your tasks are, on the one hand, the organization of the annual European Championship (ESC European Shogi Championship ) and an open tournament taking place in parallel (WOSC World Open Shogi Championship ), and on the other hand, the establishment and maintenance of a rating system with Elo numbers for the active players and the award of ranks (20 Kyū to 6 Dan ). It has been a registered association based in France since the beginning of 2016.

Tournaments

The regional associations hold tournaments on a regular basis . Many tournaments have a number of participants between 10 and 20. Some larger tournaments are significantly higher, rarely with over 100 players. Often players from several countries take part in regional tournaments. The results of all official tournaments are published on the FESA website. For 2016 around 250 tournaments are listed here.

The thinking times for tournaments are usually chosen so that a game lasts about one and a half to two hours (for example 45 minutes per player plus 30 seconds byōyomi ). You can play three to five games in one day. Many tournaments are played on a weekend with four to seven rounds over a day or two.

Germany

The national association of Shogi players in Germany is Shogi Germany e. V. , in short: ShD . It was founded shortly after the inner-German border opened in Heidelberg in November 1989 as a sub-organization of the European Shogi Association (FESA) under the leadership of Pieter Stouten (NL). The main aim of the association is to create a platform for the dissemination and promotion of Japanese chess. The first chairperson is currently Monika Pfaff.

In Germany (as of January 1, 2018) 162 people are organizing Shogi. There are probably a few hundred active players who play more or less regularly on the Internet. In contrast to the chess scene, there are no registered clubs apart from the state association, but only loosely organized clubs or game evenings with around half a dozen players each. The focus of the activities is in southwest Germany between Frankfurt and Stuttgart. There are other groups in Berlin, Hamburg, Lübeck, Paderborn, Düsseldorf and Munich. Among the German shogi players are also some well-known chess players such as GM Gerald Hertneck , and the IMs Christian Seel and Martin Zumsande .

Up until 2009 there were three to four weekend tournaments per year in Germany. In 2010, with the Kurpfalz Grand Prix in Ludwigshafen alone, the offer was expanded to nine tournaments a year. The most important tournament in Germany is the annual open German championship (ODM), which was won by Thomas Leiter in Frankfurt in 2017. In November 2009, a German women's championship was held in Ludwigshafen for the first time. First German female champion is Kirstin Auburger, who also played chess in the second women's league for TSG Mutterstadt. Since 2010 a German youth championship (DJM) has been held annually in three age groups (U10, U14 and U18).

Austria

In Austria (as of March 9, 2020) 16 people are organizing Shogi. There are probably a few dozen active players who play more or less regularly on the Internet. In contrast to the chess scene, there are no registered clubs apart from the state association, but only loosely organized clubs or game evenings with around half a dozen players each. The largest group here are players from Graz. An Austrian shogi championship has been held in Austria since 2000.

The ESC / WOSC

The most important shogi event in Europe is the ESC / WOSC, which is held every summer. ESC means European Shogi Championship and is the five-round knockout European championship. The 32 highest rated European players in the ESC / WOSC are qualified. The WOSC is the World Open Shogi Championship , a kind of open European championship in which players from outside Europe can also take part. The WOSC goes over nine rounds. The rounds of the ESC are integrated into the WOSC, so the results of the ESC also count for the WOSC. In the third tournament of the event, the European Championship in Blitzshogi (short cooling-off time: seven or eight minutes per player for the entire game) is played as an open tournament.

year	place	Participant WOSC	WOSC winner	European champion	Winner of the open EM in Blitzshogi
2009 July 16-18	Stockholm	32	Karl Wartlick (Germany)	Jean Fortin (France)	?
2010 July 16-18	Debrecen	39	Kimio Takahashi (Japan)	Jean Fortin (France)	Laszlo Abuczki (Hungary)
2011 July 14-17	Ludwigshafen am Rhein	82	Makoto Kawato (Japan)	Jean Fortin (France)	Makoto Kawato (Japan)
2012 July 13-15	Krakow	87	Ito Takumi (Japan)	Thomas Leiter (Germany)	Nakai Hiroe (Japan)
2013 July 18-21	Minsk	92	Ito Takumi (Japan)	Sergey Korchitsky (Belarus)	Nakai Hiroe (Japan)
2014 July 17-20	Budapest	78	Karolina Styczynska (Poland)	Karolina Styczynska (Poland)	?
2015 August 21-23	Prague	119	Hideaki Takahashi (Japan)	Jean Fortin (France)	?
2016 August 18-21	Amsterdam	121	Hideaki Takahashi (Japan)	Jean Fortin (France)	?
2017 3-6.8.	Kiev	66	Shun Tokuni (Japan)	Vincent Tanian (Belarus)	Shun Tokuni (Japan)
2018 July 26-29	Berlin	128	Hideaki Takahashi (Japan)	Thomas Leiter (Germany)	Vincent Tanian (Belarus)
2019 August 16-18	Bratislava	104	Hideaki Takahashi (Japan)	Vincent Tanian (Belarus)	Hideaki Takahashi (Japan)

Handicap games

Unlike the other games of chess family is at Shōgi usual with default ( handicap play). The stronger player gives the weaker a few pieces. These are removed from the game before the game begins and cannot be used again like the captured pieces. The system is so well established that handicap items in Europe can even be used to evaluate the Elo numbers . If the difference between the strength of two opponents, measured in Elo numbers, is known and not too great, by selecting the correct handicap, an approximately equal chance in a game can be established. In this way, interesting games can still come about even with a greater difference in skill level and beginners will soon have a chance against medium-strength players.

variants

Dōbutsu Shogi

Dōbutsu Shōgi , international: Let's Catch the Lion! , is a variant on 3 × 4 fields that was developed in 2009 to introduce small children to the Shogi game.

Chu-Shogi

initial position

Chū-Shogi ( Japanese 中将棋 ) is an old variant of Shogi, which is still occasionally played even in Europe today. It has the following differences to Shogi:

The board is bigger (twelve by twelve fields).
Captured pieces are not reinstated.
There are no jumpers.
Each player starts with 46 pieces in 21 different types. In addition, nine transformation figures can occur which are not identical to the original figures, so that up to thirty different types of figures can be represented on the playing field.

Shogi in manga, anime and television

In Japanese manga , Shogi plays an important role in some series. For example in Shion no Ō , Gekka no Kishi , March Comes in like a Lion , Ryuuou no Oshigoto! as well as mononofu . The television series 81diver also essentially takes up the game.

literature

Shogi Germany e. V. (Ed.): Shogi . 5th edition. Self-published, Stuttgart 2006.

Frank Sölter, Shogi: Beginner's Book; the Japanese chess . 1st edition. Wild, Kassel 1994, ISBN 3-928435-29-9 , 125 pages ( carton )

Dennis Schneider: Shogi - Japanese chess . 1st edition. Self-published, 2010.

Heinz Machatscheck: Ticket to Ride - The magical world of board games . New Life Publishing House, Berlin

Stephan Michels: Shogi - Chess of the Samurai . ISBN 978-3-9816733-0-2

Web links

Commons : Shogi - collection of images

2011 European Championship and World Open Championship website , accessed February 9, 2012

Official website of Shogi Germany e. V. , accessed on February 25, 2017

Page from Shogi Kurpfalz with a small beginners course, videos and detailed current tournament reports , accessed on February 25, 2017

With a German explanation of the rules and explanations on the Japanese scene , accessed on February 9, 2012

With tournament reports, videos and DW ratings , accessed on August 15, 2015

FESA is the homepage of the Federation of European Shogi Associations (English) , accessed on February 25, 2017

Shogi: Japanese Chess (the Chess Variant Pages) , Comprehensive Shogi Rulebook, accessed February 9, 2012

Chushogi.de German Chu Shogi Association with many sample games and reports , accessed on February 9, 2012

[1] , game plan of the starting position with FIDE figures (English), accessed on May 23, 2020

Individual evidence

↑ 将棋 . In: 世界大百科事典第２版 at kotobank.jp. Hitachi Solutions, accessed March 31, 2012 (Japanese).

↑ Motif Shogi Pieces. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .

↑ Elo system. FESA, accessed December 27, 2017 .

↑ Shōreikai Gaiyō ( ja ) Japan Shogi Association. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 21, 2015. @1@ 2