Shogi

How to play Shogi (Japanese Chess)

Shogi, often called Japanese chess, is one of the great strategy board games of the world, played in Japan for many centuries. Two players face each other across a 9×9 board, each commanding an army of twenty pieces, and race to checkmate the opposing King. What sets Shogi apart from other chess variants is the drop rule: pieces you capture do not leave the game — they switch sides and can be parachuted back onto the board as your own. This makes Shogi famously sharp and comeback-friendly, because material is never truly lost. Play a friend on the same screen, or take on the computer at three levels.

The goal

The aim is to checkmate your opponent’s King: to attack it so that it cannot escape capture on the next move. There is no draw by material in this app — the game is decided when one King is checkmated (or, extremely rarely, a side has no legal move). Sente, the first player (shown as Black here), moves first, then the players alternate. Every turn you either move a piece already on the board or drop a captured piece from your hand.

The board and the pieces

The board is a 9×9 grid of 81 squares. Each side starts with a King, a Rook, a Bishop, two Gold generals, two Silver generals, two Knights, two Lances and nine Pawns — twenty pieces in all. Pieces are wedge-shaped and point toward the enemy, so you can always tell whose piece is whose by which way it faces; the pieces on your opponent’s side appear upside-down. Use the Flip Board button so each player can read the board from their own side. Promoted pieces are shown in red.

How the pieces move

• King (王/玉): moves one square in any of the eight directions. Losing the King ends the game, so guard it well.
• Rook (飛): slides any number of empty squares straight — up, down, left or right. It is the most powerful piece and promotes to a Dragon, which also gains one-square diagonal moves.
• Bishop (角): slides any number of empty squares diagonally. It promotes to a Horse, which additionally moves one square straight in any direction.
• Gold general (金): moves one square straight in any direction or one square diagonally forward — six squares in all, but never diagonally backward. Gold cannot promote and is never demoted when captured.
• Silver general (銀): moves one square straight forward or one square in any of the four diagonal directions — five squares. It is agile but leaves gaps sideways and straight back. It promotes to a Gold-moving piece.
• Knight (桂): jumps two squares forward and one to the side, leaping over anything in between. It is the only piece that jumps, and it can only ever move forward. It promotes to move as a Gold.
• Lance (香): slides any number of empty squares straight forward only — never sideways or back. It promotes to move as a Gold.
• Pawn (歩): moves and captures one square straight forward. Unlike Western chess there is no double step and no diagonal capture. A promoted Pawn (a “tokin”) moves as a Gold and is a powerful attacker.

Promotion

The three ranks furthest from you form your promotion zone. When a piece moves into, within, or out of that zone, you may promote it — turning it over to its stronger promoted side (shown in red). Rook, Bishop, Silver, Knight, Lance and Pawn can all promote; the King and the Gold cannot. Promotion is optional: sometimes an un-promoted Silver or Knight keeps handier moves, so the game asks you each time whether to promote.

Promotion is compulsory in one case: when a piece would otherwise have no legal move ever again. A Pawn or Lance reaching the last rank, or a Knight reaching either of the last two ranks, has no forward square left, so it must promote. The game handles this automatically.

The drop rule (Shogi’s signature)

When you capture an enemy piece it goes into your hand, flipped to its plain (un-promoted) side. On any later turn, instead of moving a piece on the board, you may drop a piece from your hand onto any empty square as your own — anywhere on the board, near or far. Dropped pieces always arrive un-promoted (a captured Dragon comes back as a plain Rook). This is why Shogi games rarely simplify: every capture arms your opponent, and a piece in hand can strike anywhere. There are four restrictions:

• No two Pawns on a file (nifu): you may not drop a Pawn onto a file that already contains one of your own un-promoted Pawns. A promoted Pawn on the file does not count.
• No dead drops: you may not drop a piece where it could never move again — a Pawn or Lance on the last rank, or a Knight on either of the last two ranks.
• No pawn-drop mate (uchifuzume): you may not drop a Pawn so that it delivers immediate checkmate. (You may still drop a Pawn to give ordinary check, and any other piece may be dropped for mate.)
• Legal position only: like any move, a drop may not leave your own King in check. When you are in check, dropping a piece to block or capture the attacker is a perfectly good defence.

Check and checkmate

When your King is attacked it is in check, and you must respond at once — move the King to safety, capture the attacker, or block the line (a drop is a great way to block). If there is no legal way to escape check, it is checkmate and the game is over. Because Kings are never actually captured, you can always see a checkmate coming: the app highlights your King in red when it is in check.

Two players and vs Computer

In the two-player game you and a friend share one screen, taking turns as Sente and Gote; the Flip Board button turns the board so each of you reads it from the front, and Undo takes back a slip. In “Shogi vs Computer” you pick your side and one of three levels. Easy plays loosely and makes mistakes, so newcomers can win. Normal looks a few moves ahead and punishes blunders. Expert searches deeper, values pieces in hand and hunts for mate — including mating drops. The computer thinks entirely on your device, so it works offline. Beat it to earn ranking points: Easy +10, Normal +30, Expert +100.

Strategy tips

• Build a castle. Spend your early moves tucking your King into a corner behind a wall of Gold and Silver generals. A safe King lets you attack freely, and most Shogi games are won by whoever checkmates first, not by material.
• Keep pieces in hand ready to drop. A Gold or Silver in hand is often worth more than one on the board, because you can drop it exactly where the action is — to defend your castle or to reinforce an attack instantly.
• Attack where you have more force. Trade pieces near the enemy King to open lines, then drop and push pieces into the gaps. Rooks and Bishops love open files and diagonals aimed at the opposing castle.
• Mind the drop when you defend. Before you capture, ask what your opponent can do with the piece you are handing them. Sometimes it is better to block with a drop of your own than to capture and arm the enemy.
• Promote with purpose. A tokin (promoted Pawn) or a promoted Silver near the enemy King is a slow, unstoppable battering ram. But do not promote a Silver if its diagonal-back moves are more useful for defence — you choose each time.

Frequently asked questions