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MahjongSetGuide
Guide

How to play shogi: the pieces, the drop rule and your first game

Shogi is chess as Japan has played it for five centuries, with one rule that changes everything: a piece you capture becomes yours, and you can drop it back onto the board. Games never run out of material and the attack never stops. The rules below take an evening to learn; the kanji take about a week.

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The board and the pieces

Shogi is played on a 9Γ—9 board, in the squares. Each player has 20 pieces: a king, a rook, a bishop, two gold generals, two silver generals, two knights, two lances and nine pawns. Pieces are flat pentagons that point toward the opponent, which is how you tell whose they are, since both sides use the same colour.

Setup from your side: pawns on the third rank, bishop on the second rank at the left, rook on the second rank at the right, and on the first rank from the edge inward: lance, knight, silver, gold, king, gold, silver, knight, lance.

How each piece moves

  • King (ηŽ‹ / ηŽ‰): one square in any direction.
  • Rook (ι£›): any distance along a rank or file, like a chess rook.
  • Bishop (θ§’): any distance diagonally, like a chess bishop.
  • Gold general (金): one square in any direction except the two backward diagonals (six directions).
  • Silver general (ιŠ€): one square forward, or one square on any diagonal (five directions).
  • Knight (ζ‘‚): jumps two squares forward and one to the side, forward only. The only piece that jumps.
  • Lance (香): any distance straight forward.
  • Pawn (ζ­©): one square straight forward, and it captures the same way, straight ahead. There is no diagonal pawn capture and no two-square first move.

Promotion

The far three ranks are the promotion zone. A piece that moves into, out of or within the zone may be turned over to show its promoted face, usually in red. Promotion is optional except when the piece could never move again unpromoted, such as a pawn or lance on the last rank or a knight on the last two, in which case it must promote.

  • Silver, knight, lance and pawn all promote to a piece that moves like a gold general.
  • The rook promotes to a dragon (龍), which moves like a rook plus one square diagonally.
  • The bishop promotes to a horse (馬), which moves like a bishop plus one square orthogonally.
  • King and gold do not promote.

The drop rule

When you capture a piece, it goes to your hand, shown on the piece stand beside the board, unpromoted. On any later turn, instead of moving a piece on the board, you may drop a piece from your hand onto any empty square, pointing toward your opponent. The dropped piece is yours from then on.

Three restrictions: a piece may not be dropped where it could never move (a pawn or lance on the last rank, a knight on the last two); a pawn may not be dropped on a file where you already have an unpromoted pawn, which is called nifu and is the most common illegal move in beginner games; and a pawn may not be dropped to give immediate checkmate. Any other piece may mate by a drop.

Check, mate and how the game ends

As in chess, a king in check must get out of it, and a king with no escape is mated and loses. Because pieces come back, there is almost no such thing as a drawn endgame; the game ends when one king falls. Perpetual check is forbidden for the side giving it. Repetition of position four times without check is a draw and is replayed, and a rare impasse (both kings in the enemy camp) is settled by counting pieces.

Reading the pieces without Japanese

There are only eight characters to learn, and the shapes help: the pieces are graded in size by rank, so the king is the largest and the pawns the smallest. Beginner sets print small arrows on the pieces showing the moves, or use Western-style symbols, and either is fine to start with. Most players stop needing the arrows within a week or two and then prefer a plain set.

The two kings differ: one is marked ηŽ‹ (king) and the other ηŽ‰ (jewelled general). Traditionally the stronger or senior player takes ηŽ‹. It makes no difference to play.

Your first games

  • Open by advancing a pawn to free the rook or bishop, then build a castle: tuck the king into a corner behind two golds and a silver. The Mino castle and the Yagura are the two every beginner learns.
  • Pieces in hand are worth more than pieces on the board. Do not hurry to drop them; a timely drop decides most games.
  • Watch nifu. Two unpromoted pawns on one file loses the game instantly in tournament play.
  • Trade for golds and silvers when you can; they are the pieces that mate.
  • Play online at 81Dojo, Lishogi or Shogi Wars, all of which allow beginners and show legal moves.

The set you need

Any standard set: 40 pieces with promoted faces on the back and a 9Γ—9 board. Plastic pieces with printed kanji are what most Japanese players learned on and are fine; wooden pieces with carved kanji are the upgrade. Piece stands for captured pieces are worth having because so much of the game lives in your hand. Our go, xiangqi and shogi guide covers what to check in a listing.

Frequently asked questions

Is shogi harder than chess?

The rules take about as long to learn, but the drop rule makes shogi more tactical and its endgames far sharper. Most players who know both consider shogi the more demanding game to play well.

What does the drop rule in shogi mean?

A captured piece becomes yours and, on a later turn, may be placed on any empty square instead of moving a piece. It re-enters unpromoted and may promote later like any other piece.

Can a pawn checkmate in shogi?

A pawn may give checkmate by moving, but not by being dropped. Dropping a pawn to deliver immediate mate is illegal and loses the game.

Do I need to read kanji to play shogi?

No. Only eight characters appear, the pieces are graded in size by rank, and beginner sets print the moves on the pieces. Most players recognise them within a week.

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