shogi

/shoh"gee/, n.

the Japanese version of chess.

[1880-85; < Japn shogi < MChin, equiv. to Chin jiang commander + qí chess]

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Strategic board game for two players that evolved in Japan from the 8th to the 12th century.

Although often called Japanese chess in the West, shogi is played with a board (9 × 9), pieces (flat, wedge-shaped tiles, all of one colour, with rank given by text on each side), and rules that are completely unlike those of chess. Its most unique feature is known as the drop, whereby a captured piece can be placed on an empty square, subject to certain restrictions. Most pieces are promoted to another piece, indicated by flipping its tile, after reaching particular regions of the board. Ownership of each piece is indicated by the direction of the wedge.

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▪ game

Japanese  Shōgi,  

      Japanese form of chess, the history of which is obscure. Traditionally it is thought to have originated in India and to have been transmitted to Japan via China and Korea.

      Shogi, like chess, is played on a squared board with pieces of varying powers, and the object is checkmate of the opposing king. The board has 81 squares, 9 by 9. Two distinctive features, however, differentiate shogi from European chess: (1) captured men are not dead but may be pointed in the opposite direction and replayed as part of the captor's forces, and (2) pawns capture in their normal move, one square straight ahead.

      Each player has 20 men, which oppose each other on a board composed of nine horizontal and nine vertical rows. There are nine pawns ( fu), a rook (hisha), a bishop (kaku), one king (ōshō), two gold generals (kinshō), two silver generals (ginshō), two knights (keima), and two spearmen (kyōsha). The pieces vary in power of movement, roughly corresponding to those of Western chess. Bishop and rook oppose each other diagonally, the rest on the same file. The pieces are flat, blunt, and taper slightly toward the front. Each bears identifying characters.

      All men except the king and gold generals may be promoted on entering the last three rows of enemy territory. The promoted rank of each piece is marked on its reverse; most become gold generals.

      Captive men are held at reserve bases until they are needed on the field again; they retain their original rank and may be reentered on any unoccupied square. If entered within the opponent's territory, they qualify for promotion on making their first move. Two books on shogi are Eiroku Ohara's Japanese Chess: The Game of Shogi (1958) and Trevor Leggett's Shogi, Japan's Game of Strategy (1966).

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