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Shogi. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

David Paulowich wrote on 2005-03-09 UTC

Lionel Vidal posted the following to the Newsgroup fa.shogi, dated 2000/04/13 'I am not sure if this will clarify or confuse the issue, but here is a summary from an old post of George Fernandez:' ************************ The last version of 'The rules of shogi' I have was written in 1993 by Mr. K. Horiguchi 6 Dan[supplement to the January 1993 issue of Shogi Sekai]. The 96 page booklet, written in japanese, is the official rule book accepted by the Japanese Shogi Association. The following definitions were given which apply here: Checkmate: A checkmate is a position in which a King is in check and there are no legal moves to leave the check. Illegal moves: (1)A move is illegal to make a double pawn. (2)A move is illegal to make a deadlocked piece. (3)A move is illegal for a player if his King's square is attacked by an opponent piece after the move.[to remain in check, to move into check or to expose the king to check] (4)A move is illegal to make a repetition check move [Mr. Horiguchi wrote in an addendum the following clarification: '... In the event of perpetual check, if one player player does it FOUR TIMES(three times is permitted), he will lose his game'. (5)A move is illegal to make a dropping check move by a pawn which leads to a position in checkmate at once(dropped-pawn mate). Legal moves: A legal move for a player is a move to leave the check by moving pieces on the board or by dropping if his king is in check. Otherwise, a legal move by a piece on the board which can go[move] or a drop move, which is not illegal. Remark (condition of ending game): 1. The game is finished if the position is in a checkmate; The player to move loses the game. 2. The game is finished if one player makes an illegal move; This player loses the game. 3. The game is finished if one player has no legal moves; This player loses the game[contrary to chess rules, where a stalemate is considered a draw]. 4. The game is finished if one player resigns; This player loses the game. In an effort to put this issue behind us, and move on, I'm sharing with you a bizzare diagram from the 1993 rules book[page 93, digram #92]. ***ENDQUOTE*** I [David Paulowich] am unable to format the diagram for this text message. It shows a stalemate loss for the lone White King. But Black to move also has no legal moves, even though he has a huge army and a Pawn in hand (dropping that Pawn would be mate).