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Shogi. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Ayer wrote on Sun, Oct 30, 2005 02:26 AM UTC:
That the Japanese chess-king is a jade general rather than a jeweled
general is supported by the wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogi and this other website:
http://www.crockford.com/chess/shogi.html .  Murray seems to say that he
depended for his information on nineteenth-century German translations of
a few Japanese documents.  This is rather a shock; it has been 'jeweled
general' to us for so long!

Petri wrote on Fri, Nov 18, 2005 11:18 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
Dear Nate, John. Jewelled general is in my opinion the most correct traslation of shogi king. The upper symbol 'kanji' in shogi king means jewel or ball. What kind of jewel it is is defined by adding other symbols before it. here is a link where you can look by yourself:

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=7389

But what should shock you is that knight is not honorable horse but a 'cinnamon tree-horse' and lance is 'perfume-chariot'. names probably chosen by phonetic reasons rather than those of meaning


(zzo38) A. Black wrote on Sat, Nov 19, 2005 04:57 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
The name chosen for only phonetic reason should be written in kana!

Larry Smith wrote on Sat, Nov 19, 2005 07:29 AM UTC:
Another interpretation of the King with the `gyoku` kanji might be 
`handsome general`.  The one with the `oo` kanji could be `ruling 
general`. 

Of course, one way to avoid the problem of interpretation is to called the
pieces by their Japanese names.  So the King would be either `gyokushoo` or
`ooshoo`(these names depend upon the side of the field).  But we can still
end up arguing about the proper phonetic spelling.

I prefer that the terms Black and White should be `sente` and `gote`.

But the introduction of Shogi to western culture began a long while back,
and those individuals responsible for its early interpretation selected
terms which they believed would make its assimilation easier.  Right?
Wrong? Maybe just expedient.

Marek wrote on Mon, Nov 28, 2005 08:43 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Shogi can now also be played online at Kurnik Online Games (http://www.kurnik.org/) with both traditional and Westernized pieces.

Charles Gilman wrote on Sat, Jan 28, 2006 07:52 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
So 'Jade General' would require prefixing with a third character to specify that it was that kind of jewel, right? Thanks for that clarification, I'll mention it next time I update Generalised Generals.

Dane Rogers wrote on Sat, Feb 4, 2006 04:53 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
How about creating a shogi variant using all the shogi pieces from every game and every piece on the Chess variant pages?! It will probably be about 40 by 40 to 45 by 45 spaces big! Please use all versions of a piece. Please give me credit for the idea . By Dane Rogers. Age 11 and 3/4

David Paulowich wrote on Sat, Feb 4, 2006 08:57 PM UTC:
http://www.chessvariants.org/d.photo/taishogi/taipic.html

has some pictures of a (25x25) board and pieces for Tai Shogi. Dane, I think that is about the largest game anyone here will ever play.


Gary Gifford wrote on Sun, Feb 5, 2006 03:05 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Shogi, is of course, an excellent game. But here is what is interesting: In
relation to another CV comment, seemingly unrelated (i.e., Fergus's
comment to research a certain player to see he (Fergus) had no
double-identity).. Well, I did research that player and found out he was
in Tokyo and had a Shogi link which was quite interesting.  He also
mentioned a site where you could play Shogi in real-time.  So, I went to
http://www.kurnik.org and in minutes won my first 10 minute on-line speed
Shogi game... quite fun.  I was then crushing my opponent in a second game
when a most terrible thing happened.  I went to move the Rook, but then
realized I could drop a pawn instead and win a Lance for the pawn.  When I
clicked to drop the pawn, my Rook moved to that square instead... so,
instead of winning a Lance, I lost a Rook... oh what sorrow due to a
mechanical issue.  Anyway, it is fun to play real-time Shogi... and thanks
to the rating system double-idntity issue, a real-time Shogi site was
found.

Elijah Johnson wrote on Sun, Feb 5, 2006 04:31 PM UTC:
I think the closest thing to that would be Taiykoku Shogi, with a 36x36 Board and 100+ types of pieces. There's probaly someone around here who's finished a game of the flash version.

Dane Rogers wrote on Sat, Feb 18, 2006 02:25 PM UTC:
Thanks for the replies David and Elijah. If you want a game of taikyoku
shogi, you can find it in here.
http://taikyokushogi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/taikyoku.swf and thats the larger
version.
http://taikyokushogi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/taikyoku.html

Christine Bagley-Jones wrote on Sun, Jun 18, 2006 06:01 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
ahhhh shogi, love the drops

Jeremy Good wrote on Fri, Jul 7, 2006 08:51 PM UTC:

Shogi Champ plays in chess tournament.

Remarkable is the 38th place of FM Yoshiharu Habu (6/9). Why? Because Habu is not really a chess player, but the world's leading Shogi champion, who has taken a casual interest in chess.

Read the rest ...here


Roberto Lavieri wrote on Sat, Jul 8, 2006 04:13 PM UTC:
Yes, Mr. Habu is the best Shogi player right now, and he plays Chess 'as hobby'; he has said he has not time to study Chess theory more than the basic things, and he practices Chess very eventually. But he has obtained in the last Tournament his second 'Chess International Master norm'. One more and he is going to be IM, an IM that only plays the game once in a while, without dedication to it. Remarkable, but, undoubtedly, his Shogi experience helps a lot.

Anonymous wrote on Sun, Nov 4, 2007 10:37 AM UTC:
Perpetual check is forbidden, but how about other repeated situations?

Anonymous wrote on Mon, Nov 5, 2007 04:43 AM UTC:
No piece may be dropped to a square from which it will impossible to move forever, not only when dropped.

Brian Guo wrote on Sat, Apr 19, 2008 10:59 PM UTC:
The board layout is as follows:


   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | l | n | s | g | k | g | s | n | l |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   | r |   |   |   |   |   | b |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   | B |   |   |   |   |   | R |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | L | N | S | G | K | G | S | N | L |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

Anonymous wrote on Wed, Jul 16, 2008 03:38 PM UTC:
Does anyone know '¤K¤è®Û'(Eight directions of honorable hose)? 

One player must remove his or her four pieces: rook, bishop, and both
lances from the setup, and then his or her honorable horses called
'¤K¤è®Û' can move as free as knight in Chess. 

If this player's own honorable horse is captured by the other player, the
latter could't move it as knight. 

If the fomer captures the latter's horrable horse, it could move as
knight. 

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/tetsu/toybox/kapitan/kp016.htm

Charles Gilman wrote on Wed, Aug 6, 2008 07:34 AM UTC:
My computer cannot read '¤K¤è®Û'. What is the transliteration and
translation? This is of interest to me as an authentic Japanese name for
the Knight is something that I should add to my Bishogi page.

On the unequal-armies Shogi itself, my first instinct is that 2 Knights
are no match for 6 pieces includig a Bishop and a Rook. Or is a Knight
promoted to something really powerful?

Rich Hutnik wrote on Wed, Sep 10, 2008 11:14 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
Shogi is on the XBox 360!

I just saw this on XBox Live Arcade. Shotest Shogi has been released for the XBox 360, and able to be obtained through XBox Live. It contains both traditional and symbolic notation.

You can learn more on it here:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/shotestshogixboxlivearcade/
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1917/Shotest-Shogi/p1/

I rate it good, because finally a console gets Shogi.

Jose Carrillo wrote on Sat, Nov 7, 2009 08:59 PM UTC:
paper Shogi set:
http://www.hollandnumerics.demon.co.uk/pdf/SHOGI_SET.PDF

Vitya Makov wrote on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 09:50 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
My favourite shogi piece is Lance.

Anonymous wrote on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 11:55 AM UTC:
To Charles Gilman: Yes, I think this makes sense, because although I've not played many games of Shogi, I know that Shogi is very different from chess, where material advantage is important. In Shogi, without the possibility to exchange pieces off, the side with large material advantage doesn't have a easy win, while the normal chess Knight's forking power is an advantage that is not in any way small. In addition, the Knights don't afraid capture too much, as they are only Keima in the opponent's hand; while the opponent's Keima, which can be traped with a single Silver, will become a full Knight. So the game is roughly fair anyway.

🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Tue, Feb 2, 2010 03:27 AM UTC:

I have posted a couple videos on Shogi onto YouTube. The first one has a link to the second one at the end of the video. I have a couple more planned to complete the series. Here is the first one:


🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Feb 7, 2010 10:39 PM UTC:

I have now recorded and posted the third video in my 'Shogi for Chess Players' series on Youtube. This one uses Zillions of Games to explain and demonstrate how pieces move and promote. For this video, I used a microphone to narrate a screencast I made using the BB Flashback Express 2 Recorder.


🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 03:55 AM UTC:

I have now recorded and uploaded my fourth video in my Shogi for Chess Players series. This one completes my explanation of the rules of Shogi, covering the capturing and dropping of pieces.


Anonymous wrote on Wed, Jun 30, 2010 12:47 PM UTC:
Shogi is very clever, difficult and philosophical game. Looks like, it have much oriental wisdom in it!
Xiang-qi is more lively, simple, and, maybe, childish. Wstern players are better to start with Xiang-qi: it have simpllier rules and, plus, may be played with western chess equipment with some additions.

Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, Jul 4, 2010 06:18 AM UTC:
My instinct is that Xiang Qi is a tamer game, as all but four pieces aside are weaker than the FIDE Bishop and Knight, and once the four are captured they're gone forever. The success of Yang Qi and Ajax Xiang Qi reinforces this view. Shogi counters individual piece weakness partly with 25% more pieces and partly with constant return from capture. This latter element is what makes Shogi particularly interesting to people who already play FIDE Chess and want to go on to something more complex. The fact that it is a development of war without actual death into war without even metaphorical death also gives a sense of logical progression. On the other hand, I wouldn't deny that promoted forms of back-rank pieces would benefit from being a bit stronger.

Charles Gilman wrote on Mon, Jul 26, 2010 06:24 AM UTC:
While thinking about a future variant of my own, it occurred to me that the name Karagi ('empty board game') would suit a game starting with an empty Shogi board and a complete Shogi army in each player's Reserve. Each player's first move would be to place their King, their second to either move the King or place a second piece, and later moves the standard Shogi-midgame choice of moving a piece on the board or adding another from Reserve. Adding this deployment stage would be a more modest variant to Shogi, which already has a Reserve and placement of piece from it, than it has been to the European game.

Anonymous wrote on Mon, Jul 26, 2010 09:15 AM UTC:
Game, Charles Gilman just suggested, looks like unachess.

Charles Gilman wrote on Mon, Aug 2, 2010 06:47 AM UTC:
It's not surprising that the idea of Shogi with a deployment stage has appeared before. Interestring to note how Unachess has several options for a FIDE set and board but only one for a Shogi set and board. What Unashogi lacks is my proposal that Kings must be placed first, a rule that leads into a theoretically possible Shogi position (although in reality players would be unlikely to hold all there captives in Reserve for so long) so that thereafter Shogi rules can apply as standard.
	As I write a further thought has occurred to me. The Unachess principle could be used for deploying a set on a board for which it was not designed - a FIDE set on a Shogi board, a Carrera/Bird/Capablanca set on a Xiang Qi board, a Chaturanga set on a Diana/Haynie's Primary/Los Alamos board, et cetera. Of course deploying a Shogi set on a board with more or fewer than 9 ranks would require a definition of the promotion zone, likewise the River and Fortress for a Xiang Qi set.

Daniil Frolov wrote on Mon, Aug 2, 2010 08:28 AM UTC:
In response to Charles Gilman's comment.
What do you think about this game: in additional to normal game (FIDE chess or any other game) there is set with pieces of aproximately same value (the simpliest is set of different compounds of ferz, wazir, alfil, dababa: guard, alibaba, modern alfil, modern dababa, phoenix and kyryn, and, optonally, FIDE chess knight). Each player secretly choses 2 of these pieces (possible to chose 2 pieces of same kind) and can drop them during any turn, opponent don't know, wich pieces player choses until they are dropped.

🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Fri, Nov 19, 2010 11:38 PM UTC:

I'm interested in doing Tsumi problems, but the graphics typically used for them are a stumbling block for me. Not only do they use Japanese characters, but don't include the Shogi piece outlines whose orientation would indicate which side each piece belongs to. Also, the Japanese characters are sometimes small and hard to discern. So that I can more easily do them without straining my eyes, and so that I can actually move the pieces instead of trying to do them in my head, I will begin here to transcribe Shogi Tsumi into Game Courier format and post links here, eventually planning to compile them into their own page. I will begin with the problems in Fat Bold Cyclop's collection of 300 Tsumi problems.

FBC Tsumi #1

[Edit:] I have fixed the Tsumi to give White all remaining pieces in hand. This was not visible in the diagram, but it is understood as part of a Tsumi that White has all remaining pieces in hand.


H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 10:24 AM UTC:

I always use the WinBoard GUI for that purpose. It supports a completely westernized (Chess like) representation of the Shogi board. I can simply set up the position in Edit-Position mode, by clicking the squares and selecting a piece to go on it from the context menu that then appears. If the tsume problems would have been given in FEN format, you could of course have directly copy-pasted them into WinBoard. But alas, Shogi people seem to hate standardization, and hardly ever use FEN.

It would be very useful if the web pages you are building would contain the problem in FEN (or EPD) format, so that all standard Shogi software could process it.

And WinBoard supports both its own native WB protocol, as well as USI protocol, so there are many engines (from the weak GNU Shogi to the extremely strong Bonanza) that you could use to analyze positions.


M Winther wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 02:03 PM UTC:
Can you do the same with your Xiangqi program?
/Mats

🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 04:49 PM UTC:
I'm currently working on a Shogi Tsumi Editor for Game Courier. The problems will be in Game Courier's own FEN format. Working on this has given me ideas for a general purpose problem composition mode for all variants, but I'll get this working first, as a prototype for how it should work. While Game Courier can't analyze positions, the advantage of using Game Courier for problems will be the ease of making problems available on the web in a form that uses better graphics and is more interactive than the newspaper format so many Tsumi resources on the web are currently imitating. Since this is the web, not a newspaper, I want to do better.

H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 05:51 PM UTC:

> Can you do the same with your Xiangqi program? <\p>

Of course. WinBoard also supports Xiangqi. You can use the menus to switch from one varant to the other, be it orthoChess, Xiangqi, Shogi, Makruk, Capablanca, Knightmate. They all draw on a built-in set of bitmaps for 2x22 different piece types, but the user can define his own graphicrepresentation of the pieces, if he want. (E.g. to implement a high-quality oriental-style display.) All features are available from all variants.

For all variants there are engines available. E.g. the WinBoard binary download currently at http://hgm.nubati.net/WinBoard-4.5.beta.zip contains a Shogi engine, 3 Xiangqi engines, a strong orthoChess engine, and Fairy-Max, wich plays some 10 other variants.


M Winther wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 06:49 PM UTC:
How nice. I am surprised at the scarcity of good Xiangqi programs, in view of the fact that it's the most popular game in the world. I downloaded Stoneman, but it could not take back moves, due to some bug. I tested a cheaper version, but it played the same theoretical moves all the time. It seems the only good alternative is XieXie, but it has no analysis window. I tested my own Zillions implementation against freeware QianHong, but Zillions won. I also tested the freeware HiddenLynx, but Zillions won easily. I'll have a look at WinBoard. 
/Mats

M Winther wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 07:02 PM UTC:
I get 'Variant Xiangqi not supported by Fairy-Max 4.8P'
/Mats

M Winther wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 07:12 PM UTC:
Ok, I downloaded version 4.4 instead, then it works.
/Mats

M Winther wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 07:20 PM UTC:
I noted that Seirawan Chess is implemented in the latest version. If it's patented then it could mean trouble.
/Mats

H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Nov 20, 2010 10:56 PM UTC:
Xiangqi is so different from any other variant (because of the board zoning and King-facing rule) that I made a dedicated derivative of Fairy-Max for it, called MaxQi. The additions required to implement it were not generally useful. (Similarly, there is a dedicated version for Shatranj applying the baring rule, ShaMax, although that is so similar to the original Fairy-Max that it is generated from the same source code, using a compiler switch.)

So in the 4.5.beta package you should not select Fairy-Max but MaxQi from the startup dialog engine combobox if you want to play Xiangqi. (And HaQiKi D or Elephant Eye if you want a tougher opponent, or do analysis. MaxQi is derived from an older version of Fairy-Max that did not print a full PV yet.) The 4.4 install does use MaxQi.

Qianhong is an extremely weak (non-searching) AI. There are Qianhong plugins that are tougher. VSCCP is the next weakest, and might stil lose to Zillions too. But Elephant Eye is also available as a Qianhong Plugin.(Or rather, there exists a UCCI2QH adapter, from which I actually derived the UCCI2WB adapter.) For an overview of Xiangqi engines that you could run under WinBoard, see http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/XQ.html and links therein.

I asked on the Seirawan website if it was patented, or if it was allowed to support it in WinBoard. Bruce Harper answered me 'Go ahead, the more exposure we get, the better'.

🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Nov 21, 2010 12:23 AM UTC:

Here's the second Tsumi from Fat Bold Cyclop's collection: FBC Tsumi #2


M Winther wrote on Sun, Nov 21, 2010 07:09 AM UTC:
WinBoard for Xiangqi doesn't allow analysis mode, and I cannot retract moves and make another move, so this software is largely useless as it stands now.
/Mats

M Winther wrote on Sun, Nov 21, 2010 12:47 PM UTC:
WinBoard-4.5.beta.zip: In Seirawan Chess I can introduce an external piece to an empty square, which is against the rules.

Another bug: I cannot introduce an external piece to the corner square at castling.

I played a 3 game match between Fairy-Max and Zillions in Seirawan Chess (approx. 10 sec. per move). Zillions is vastly better and won by 2½-½. In game 2 and 3 Fairy-Max blundered away a piece. This must be a bug in the algorithm. Below is game 3. Notice Zillions's remarkable rook sacrifice at the end.

[Event 'Computer Chess Game']
[Site 'DELL-7B4236477D']
[Date '2010.11.21']
[Round '-']
[White 'Fairy-Max 4.8P']
[Black 'Zillions']
[Result '0-1']
[TimeControl '30/600']
[Variant 'seirawan']
[Annotator '1. +0.24']

1. c3 {+0.24/9 53} c5 2. Nf3/H {+0.28/9 17} d6 3. d4 {+0.23/9 16} cxd4 4.
Nxd4 {-0.10/8 17} f5 5. f4 {+0.01/8 14} Nf6 6. Hf3 {+0.13/7 34} e5 7. fxe5
{+0.83/10 15} dxe5 8. Hxe5 {+0.82/9 15} Ng4 9. Bg5 {+0.87/9 44} Qxg5/H 10.
Hf3 {-2.60/10 14} Qf4 11. g3 {-2.33/8 14} Qh6 12. Na3/E {-2.38/8 19} Ne3
13. Qc1 {-2.42/8 27} Nc6 14. Nac2 {-2.37/9 17} Nxc2+ 15. Nxc2 {-2.43/10 15}
Qd6 16. Hh5+ {-2.24/7 14} g6 17. Hf4 {-2.18/9 14} Ne5 18. Bg2 {-2.14/8 24}
Bg7 19. O-O {-2.03/8 28} O-O/E 20. Rd1 {-2.17/7 15} Hb6+ 21. Ne3
{-2.14/7 16} Nf3+ 22. Bxf3 {-2.27/10 21} Qxf4 23. gxf4 {-2.30/10 15} Hxe3+
24. Qxe3 {-2.27/10 16} Exe3 25. Kf2 {-2.15/9 14} Re8 26. h4 {-2.22/8 15}
Bf6 27. h5 {-2.23/8 14} gxh5 28. a3 {-2.96/8 28} h4 29. Rd6 {-2.82/9 14}
Bg7 30. a4 {-2.88/9 13} Kh8 31. Ed2 {-3.03/10 14} Bf8 32. Rd5 {-3.04/10 15}
Bh6 33. Rd4 {-2.94/10 13} h3 34. Rh1 {-2.42/10 14} Bg7 35. Rd8
{-2.38/10 14} Bf6 36. Rxe8+ {-2.25/12 14} Exe8 37. Rxh3 {-2.25/10 15} Eg7
38. e3 {-2.22/8 14} Be6 39. c4 {-2.16/8 17} Rd8 40. Ec2 {-2.30/9 15} Ec7
41. b3 {-2.31/8 15} Ec5 42. Eb4 {-2.33/8 14} a5 43. Ec2 {-3.55/10 15} Exb3
44. Bd5 {-3.56/9 15} Ed3+ 45. Kf3 {-3.55/10 15} Bxd5+ 46. cxd5
{-3.60/10 16} Exd5 47. Eg2 {-3.74/10 14} Rg8 48. Eh2 {-3.77/10 14} Rg7 49.
Ef2 {-3.82/10 15} Ec3 50. Rh5 {-3.77/10 14} Bd4 51. Ee2 {-3.76/11 14} Rg3+
52. Exg3 {-13.29/13 16} Exe3+ 53. Kf2 {-13.36/13 26} Ee4+ 54. Kg2
{-13.38/13 17} Exf4+ 55. Kh2 {-13.99/13 15} Ef2+ 56. Kg1 {-14.00/12 14}
Ee2+ 57. Kf1 {-14.59/13 15} Exg3+ 58. Ke1 {-18.00/12 17} Exh5 59. Kd2
{-79.95/13 14} Ef4 60. Kc2 {-79.95/13 13} Ef2+ 61. Kb1 {-79.96/19 9} Ed2+
62. Kc1 {-79.97/28 6} Ea2+ 63. Kd1 {-79.98/28 4} Be3 64. Ke1 {-79.99/28 5}
Ec1#
{Xboard adjudication: Checkmate} 0-1

/Mats

🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Nov 21, 2010 07:04 PM UTC:

We, the editors, need a way to move off-topic comments to a different page. The comments here should be about Shogi, not how Winboard plays Xiangqi and and other non-Shogi games. If you want to discuss H. G. Muller's version of Winboard, the Fairy-Max page is a more appropriate place for it.


M Winther wrote on Sun, Nov 21, 2010 08:05 PM UTC:
Sometimes discussions can deviate in another direction. Suggestion: when replying to a person within a category, one could, by notching an alternative, place the comment in an off-topic, or general, category. However, visually, it is placed immediately after the previous comment.
/Mats

🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Nov 21, 2010 08:52 PM UTC:
When a discussion goes off-topic, you can post a link to a page where it is on-topic and continue the discussion there, perhaps with a link and a mention there of the original context.

🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Wed, Nov 24, 2010 02:38 AM UTC:

I've already posted this Tsumi, but this time I'm posting it as a form with the solution included as one of the fields. I'll now work on adding an option to view the solution.


Jeremy Good wrote on Sat, Mar 14, 2015 11:05 PM UTC:
"First of all, my credentials. I am the only person in the world to have earned a 2400 rating in both chess and shogi, being an International Master in the former and an Amateur 5 Dan in the latter. I was once thought to be the strongest non-oriental player in the U.S. of Shang-chi (Chinese chess)..." GM Larry Kaufman on Shogi

🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Sat, Jun 18, 2016 07:05 PM UTC:

The game of Shogi frequently appears in the Japanese anime Ranma ½. Here are a couple images from the first episode featuring Shogi. First, a closeup of the board.

This scene shows the two characters who normally play Shogi together. They are the fathers of the two main characters, Ranma and Akane. The panda is Ranma's father, and Ranma can be seen in the foreground running from Akane's sisters, who want to make him wear girls clothing while there is no hot water to turn him back into a boy.

The following images come from an episode that focused on Shogi:

Finally, here is a shot of the two main characters, Ranma and Akane.


Wyatt Van Dyke wrote on Wed, Jun 22, 2016 04:56 PM UTC:

It's appeared in Naruto, too. I don't know too much about it's involvement beyond Shikamaru Nara being really good at it.


🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Fri, Jul 22, 2016 05:27 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Shogi is an excellent game. Like Chinese Chess and western Chess, it probably evolved from the Indian Chaturanga. Despite being very different from Chinese Chess and from western Chess, it has too many similarities to them to be coincidence. The main evidence for the direction of evolution is that (1) it is a huge improvement over Chaturanga, and (2) its main differences from Chaturanga are not seen in other regional Chess variants. One of its main differences from other regional variants is its drop rule, which allows players to drop captured pieces back on the board as their own. Despite still having some slow-moving pieces like Chaturanga has, this rule greatly speeds up the game. because a captured piece can (with some restrictions) be placed on any empty space on the board. It also makes the game more dynamic. Instead the game being decided by a single-Pawn difference early in the game, there is a greater chance of material shifting between players, and the outcome depends more on the quality of play throughout the game. Shogi remains superior to Chess variants, such as Chessgi or Crazyhouse, that have added a similar drop rule to Chess. The reason for this is that its piece set is better-designed to work with the drop rule. In general, the drop rule works better with weaker pieces than are found in Chess. For example, the Chess Knight can be a formidable piece to drop, possibly forking several pieces, but the Shogi Knight can move in only two directions. Although it does include one Rook in the game, it has replaced the two corner Rooks with Lances, which move forward only. Also, unlike Chessgi and Crazyhouse, the Rook is the most powerful piece that may be dropped. In those games, you can drop a captured Queen. Shogi is also superior to Shatranji, my own attempt to apply the drop rule to the weaker piece set found in Shatranj. Besides the regular Chess Knight, Shatranji has a Ferz and some Elephants, which are both short-range diagonal moving pieces, instead of the Gold and Silver Generals. The two Generals, while being weaker than the King, both have the ability to change color. Also, like the Lance and Shogi Knight, they are more powerful going forward than backward. Having greater power for forward movement improves the offensive ability of pieces while weakening their defensive capabilities. Giving greater power to several pieces that reach the back three ranks also favors offense over defense. This favoring of offense over defense helps make Shogi more decisive and less drawish. Overall, Shogi is a fun, dynamic, and decisive game that can hold interest throughout the game, it is a huge improvement over Chaturanga, and among regional variants, it is my favorite.


Kevin Pacey wrote on Mon, Sep 19, 2016 01:59 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Once each side has a little development completed, Shogi games are action-packed as a rule.

A simplified valuation scheme, as given by Grimbergen (see Shogi wiki entry) is: P=1; L&N=3; S&G=5; B=8; R=9; PB=12; PR=13.


Evert Jan Karman wrote on Sat, May 6, 2017 11:21 AM UTC:Good ★★★★

I'm facing a problem: I want to open a game in which it is my move. Immediately I get an error saying I can't drop a pawn on a file where I already have a pawn.

Yes, I do already know that I can't drop a pawn on a file where I already have a pawn. Especially when I haven't even made any move.


🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Sat, May 6, 2017 03:08 PM UTC:

Okay, that's fixed. But there does seem to be a display problem with your game. Since the problem seems isolated to the CSS rendering method, you can fix it by changing the rendering method to GIF, PNG, or JPG. I'll look into the problem with the CSS method.


🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Tue, Mar 27, 2018 06:41 PM UTC:

I just started watching a new anime about Shogi called The Ryuo's Work is Never Done! If this anime is to be believed, Shogi is much more popular among cute girls than I ever realized


Aurelian Florea wrote on Wed, Mar 28, 2018 09:15 AM UTC:

I guess all anime are like that :)!


🕸📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Wed, Jun 27, 2018 05:43 PM UTC:

While looking at the Japanese Chinese* Wikipedia article on Shogi, I came across this line:

4. 步兵打入時不能立刻將死對方,這一種犯規稱為打步詰;反之若不會立刻將死則不犯規,此稱為打步將

Google translates this as:

4. Infantry can not be killed immediately when the player enters , this type of foul is called a stumbling ; if not, if he does not immediately die without fouling, this is called a stride .

This appears in the section called "Eat and Enter," which is about restrictions on drops. Despite the bad translations, the first three appear to be 1. You cannot promote a piece while dropping it. 2. You may not drop a piece where it would have no possible legal move. 3. A Pawn may not be dropped on the same file as another Pawn of the same side.

By process of elimination, the 4th might be the rule against checkmating the King with a Pawn drop, but the translation seems to be saying that a Pawn may not be captured immediately after being dropped.

Also, the translation of the 3rd seems to describe a different rule. It says, "Infantry can not be entered in the way of existing (not upgraded) infantry. This kind of foul is called two steps ." Since it would be in the way only if placed in front, this seems to allow the option of dropping a Pawn behind another Pawn in the same file. Maybe it is just a bad translation. The original says, "步兵不能打入於已有己方(未升級的)步兵的一路,這一種犯規稱為同筋二步"

* I just noticed the zh in the URL. That means Chinese.


A. M. DeWitt wrote on Fri, Jul 3, 2020 07:00 PM UTC:

I have one question about the rules regarding check. A few sources (i.e. the English Wikipedia page on Shogi) mention a rule against perpetual check, namely making perpetual check four times, or something similar. Yet most of the sources I found do not mention such a rule. So is this supposed rule against perpetual check really a thing?


dax00 wrote on Fri, Jul 3, 2020 08:54 PM UTC:

Indeed, there is a rule against perpetual checking, as an extension of the repetition rule. The repetition rule states that if a position is reached for a 4th time, with same pieces in hand and same player to move, the game is no contest, whereafter colors are reversed and a new game is started. Players get to keep whatever remaining time they had, with a minimum time normally granted.

However, if such 4-fold repetition is a result of consecutive checks, with no single non-checking move, then that attacking player is at fault and loses. A player could potentially give dozens of consecutive checks, before the repetition becomes illegal.

Repetition is already rare enough, especially at the amateur level. Very few instances of perpetual check repetition occur. Most people who see it as a possibility deviate the 2nd or 3rd time around, or avoid it altogether. I found only a couple actually pertinent videos on Youtube under the search 連続王手の千日手


H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Jul 4, 2020 10:15 AM UTC:

I still have some doubts with regard to the application of this rule. In particular, when a (checking) position occurs from which it is possible to deliver perpetual checking, but instead of continuing the checking you play something else. And then later, that position occurs a second time. Now you do continue the checking, and the opponent has no way to escape it, so you get a 3rd and 4th repetition of the position.

Does this now count as perpetual checking? Not all moves since the first occurrence of the position were checks. But all moves since the 2nd and 3rd occurrence are. In my engines I would only consider the moves since the previous occurrence. (Especially because it already terminates the line at the 2nd occurrence; if it cannot break from the loop the first time it goes through it, nothing will change by trying it the second time, except that you have less search depth left, which will degrade the accuracy of the evaluation.)

I would think that only considering the moves since the previous occurrence would be more in line with the spirit of the rule; you try to force a repetition by perpetual checking, and this should not be allowed. It is just that you started the checking a bit late, but now that you are at it, and can keep it up perpetually, why should that matter? When I asked it to a Japanese in connection with mini-Shogi, however, he told me this would not be considered perpetual checking, and thus produce a sente loss. (Which is a special mini-Shogi rule; in regular Shogi that would be a draw.)


Lukas wrote on Sat, Jan 9, 2021 08:53 PM UTC:

Never heard of Shogi, gotta give it a try sometime.


Aurelian Florea wrote on Sun, Jan 10, 2021 08:40 AM UTC in reply to Lukas from Sat Jan 9 08:53 PM:

Please do, it is a wonderfull game!


JoeyJoeyJoey SmithSmithSmith wrote on Fri, Mar 12, 2021 08:25 PM UTC:
This page should be updated. There's better, modern options for playing shogi, with a computer and other people. 
lishogi.org/
syougi.qinoa.com/ja/game/

I'd also strongly recommend the piyo app, which has many different difficulty levels.

A. M. DeWitt wrote on Sat, Jun 10, 2023 03:56 PM UTC:

It should be noted that stalemate is a win for the stalemating player. It's extremely rare due to the drops, but it is possible.


A. M. DeWitt wrote on Sat, Sep 23, 2023 02:54 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Shogi is perhaps one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. It's drop rule lets players come back much more easily, while the forward bias negates the advantage to defense such a rule would normall imbue. However, it is not without it's problems. The biggest one is easily the fact that the vast of the pieces promote to a Gold equivalent. Although this is a very rare situation, when a lot of Gold/Gold equivalents appear on thee board, it can easily turn Shogi into a very drawish Checkers game, and if an impasse occurs, this amplifies the problem even more.

Seireigi fixes the aforementioned problem to an extent by making all promotions unique. This also helps mitigate impasse situations, as more pieces are capable of stopping a King from reaching the opponent's camp. However, this comes at the cost of having more moves to remember (14 in total).

 


Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Sep 23, 2023 03:18 PM UTC in reply to A. M. DeWitt from 02:54 PM:

However, this comes at the cost of having more moves to remember (14 in total).

This is precisely the reason that I love the Mnemonic images so much. I'd love to have them for Short Sliders, if I ever get around to making an ID for it.


A. M. DeWitt wrote on Sun, Sep 24, 2023 05:22 PM UTC in reply to Bob Greenwade from Sat Sep 23 03:18 PM:

In H. G. Muller's system, a range 2 slider just has an empty bulge. for sliders with range 3 or more, this is typically denoted by a plus sign or a shortened radial line, with the plus getting closer to the center the longer the range gets if that option is used. If you wanted a better system, you could have line perpendicular to the bulge for every square after the second square in that direction.


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