How to play Shogi (Japanese Chess)

Shogi also known as Japanese chess .

How to play .

The object of the game is to capture your opponent's king , lay out the board .

Each player sets out their pieces .

So the pointed ends face towards their opponent .

All pieces start with the black side up and are arranged in the following order .

Ponds are placed across the third row on the second row .

Place the bishop on the second space in from the left and the rook on the second space in from the right on the bottom row , going from left to right .

The order is lance knight , silver , general gold general king , gold , general silver , general knight , lance , the opposing king will have an extra mark , differentiating it .

Pick a player to go first , then turns alternate on your turn .

You must move one piece or drop one piece .

The king can move one space in any direction .

The gold general can move one space in any direction except diagonally backwards .

The silver general can move one space diagonally in any direction or one space forward .

The knight can jump one space forward then one space diagonally forward .

The knight is the only piece allowed to jump over other pieces in its path .

The lance can move any number of free spaces forward .

The bishop can move any number of free spaces in any diagonal direction .

The rook can move any number of free spaces forward , backwards , left or right .

A pa can only move one space forward .

Each player has a promotion zone on the farthest third of the board , the three rows that their opponents pieces started on .

If a piece moves into out of or within the promotion zone , the player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn .

Promotion is indicated by turning the piece over after a move showing its promoted value .

Typically the red side , the promoted silver general , promoted knight promoted lance and the promoted pond can move as a gold general one space in any direction except diagonally backwards .

The promoted bishop can move any number of free spaces in any diagonal direction or one space forward , backwards , left or right .

The promoted rook can move any number of free spaces forward , backwards , left or right or one space in any diagonal direction .

If a piece reaches the far side of the board , so that it would no longer have a legal move on future turns .

It must be promoted .

Pieces remain promoted until they are captured .

Your pieces may not share a space with another piece but instead capture the first opponent's piece , they move into captured pieces are removed from the board and placed on the capture's side of the table .

In plain view of both players on your turn .

Instead of moving a piece , you may choose to add one of the pieces you have captured onto any vacant space on the board .

This is called dropping a piece .

The piece is always dropped with its unp promoted value face up , you may not drop a pawn onto a column which already contains one of your unp promoted ponds .

But you are allowed to .

If that pond was promoted , a pond may not be dropped to give immediate checkmate .

However , other pieces may be dropped to give immediate checkmate .

No piece may be dropped into a space from which it will have no possible future moves .

If you drop a piece on the promotion zone , your piece does not get promoted until it moves on a future turn .

When your king is able to be captured during your opponent's next turn , it is called being in check .

When your king is in check , you must protect it and get it out of check .

If it is impossible to save the king , then it is called checkmate .

The first player to checkmate their opponent's king wins .

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