How to play
Shogi
Shogi (Japanese chess) is played on a 9 × 9 board. Sente moves first from the bottom, Gote sits at the top. All pieces are flat five-sided wooden tiles of one colour: a piece belongs to the player it points away from (the tip faces the opponent). The goal is to checkmate the other king.
How the pieces move
| King 玉 | One square in any direction. |
|---|---|
| Rook 飛 | Any number of squares straight · promotes to the Dragon 龍, which also steps one square diagonally. |
| Bishop 角 | Any number of squares diagonally · promotes to the Horse 馬, which also steps one square straight. |
| Gold 金 | One square forward, diagonally forward, sideways or straight back (not diagonally back) · does not promote. |
| Silver 銀 | One square forward, diagonally forward or diagonally back. |
| Knight 桂 | Jumps two squares forward and one to the side (forward only, over any piece). |
| Lance 香 | Any number of squares straight forward; never back. |
| Pawn 歩 | One square forward, and captures by moving forward (not diagonally as in international chess). |
A promoted silver, knight, lance or pawn (全 圭 杏 と) moves like a gold. Promoted pieces are written in red.
Promotion
- The last three ranks on the opponent's side are the promotion zone. A piece moving into, out of or within it may promote; this site asks whether you want to.
- A piece that could never move again unpromoted (pawn or lance on the last rank, knight on the last two) must promote.
- Kings and golds never promote.
Dropping captured pieces
- A captured piece goes to your hand (unpromoted). Instead of moving, you may drop a piece from your hand on any empty square.
- No pawn may be dropped on a file that already holds one of your unpromoted pawns (nifu).
- A pawn drop may not give immediate checkmate (uchifuzume); a pawn-drop check the opponent can answer is fine.
- No pawn or lance may be dropped on the last rank, no knight on the last two (they could never move).
Winning and draws
- Checkmate wins. You may never make a move that leaves your own king in check. A player with no legal move at all (even without check) loses.
- Draw when the same position (hands included) occurs four times (sennichite), or after 512 moves.
Computer levels
| Easy | Looks one move ahead and takes hanging pieces, but often slips. Good for practice. |
|---|---|
| Medium | Looks about three moves ahead and knows how to use drops. |
| Hard | Searches deeply for its full time and goes for checkmate when it can. |
On this site, tap a piece and then its destination. To drop a piece, tap it in the "Your hand" row under the board, then tap an empty square (gold dots show where it may go; tap a square it may not go to and the site says why). Move list: piece, from→to · "drop" = dropped from hand · "promotes" = promoted on that move