Shogi Online — Japanese Chess
Shogi, Japanese chess, with all the rules: captured pieces return to play from your hand, promotion in the enemy zone and the nifu and uchifuzume bans.
Your turn
How to play shogi
All pieces are the same color: yours point up and your opponent’s point down. The goal is checkmate of the King (玉/王). Tap a piece to see the highlighted squares, then tap the destination. The King moves 1 square in any direction, the Rook (飛) and Bishop (角) move as in chess, the Gold General (金) moves 1 square sideways, forward and diagonally forward, the Silver General (銀) moves 1 square forward and to all 4 diagonals, the Knight (桂) jumps 2 squares forward and 1 to the side, the Lance (香) moves as many squares as you like, but only forward, and the Pawn (歩) moves 1 forward and captures the same way.
The last three rows on the opponent’s side are the promotion zone. When a piece enters, leaves or moves inside it, the piece can flip and gain strength (shown in red): the Pawn, Lance, Knight and Silver General then move like a Gold General, the Rook becomes a Dragon (龍) and the Bishop becomes a Dragon Horse (馬). If a piece would have no legal move left, promotion is mandatory. The game asks you when you have a choice.
The big difference from regular chess: a captured piece goes into your hand and, instead of moving, you can drop it on any empty square. Tap it beside the board and then the square. You cannot drop a Pawn in a file where you already have an unpromoted Pawn (nifu), nor drop a Pawn that delivers checkmate immediately (uchifuzume).
Frequently asked questions
What are nifu and uchifuzume?
Nifu means having two unpromoted Pawns of yours on the same file, which is forbidden when dropping a Pawn. Uchifuzume means delivering checkmate by dropping a Pawn, which is also forbidden; but a Pawn already on the board can advance and checkmate normally.
How does a shogi game end?
By checkmate (tsumi) or when the player to move has no legal move at all. If the same position occurs 4 times (sennichite), it is a draw, unless one side gave check on every move of the repetition: then the side giving the perpetual check loses.
I do not know the Japanese characters. Can I play?
Yes. Turn on the "Letters" button to see the Western letter for each piece: K = King, R = Rook, B = Bishop, G = Gold General, S = Silver General, N = Knight, L = Lance and P = Pawn; the + sign marks a promoted piece. Start on the Easy level to learn.