From: karttu@mits.mdata.fi (Antti Karttunen)
Subject: Shogi (Japanese chess) and its rules.
Organization: MITS, Helsinki, Finland
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 00:06:00 GMT

In article <lgl1iiINNgll@grit.cs.utexas.edu> mjensen@cs.utexas.edu (Marc S. Jensen) writes:
>Greetings...
>
>This seems like the best newsgroup to ask this in...
>
>Does anyone out there play Shogi (Japanese Chess)?  I have heard vague rumors
>that there's a Shogi server "in someplace like Finland", but haven't been 
>able to get details.  Anyone know?

Hmm, I have to probably blame myself for these rumours... Yes, I have
written kind of Shogi Server in C, but it currently runs only in our local
bbs (MITS). It would take some effort to convert the code to use IP sockets,
like e.g. LpMuds, ICS (Internet Chess Server) and IGS (Internet Go Server) do.
If anybody is interested about this kind of task, I could send my sources
to him. Or maybe I could set up some special shogi player id here,
but I'm not sure about that yet. The problem is that our connection to
internet is only 14.4Kbps, and it's already heavily loaded. So ICS/IGS-like
real-time playing with many players on-line at the same time is currently
out of question. What I had mind when I wrote my server was slower,
mail-like, maybe move or two per day playing.

>
>If you haven't tried Shogi, and if you're the type who likes to do really 
>twisted things to chess, you ought to try it.  Requires a *lot* more careful
>thought than chess.

It's also much more aggressive and dynamic than (western) chess. It's
also kind of race game as you are in hurry to mate your opponent
before (s)he mates you! And there are virtually no draws (less
than 2% in professional games, even less in amateur games).

>There is a SHOGI-L mailing list at LISTSER@TECHNION.BITNET
>which has details like rules, board setup, etc.
>

There's a typo there! The address is LISTSERV@TECHNION.BITNET
and you should send message with line SUB SHOGI-L your name
as first line of it if you want to subscribe.

>Later,
>		-Marc

Here are the files SHOGI BOARD and SHOGI RULES from that listserver:


N O T A T I O N  A N D  I N I T I A L  S E T U P
================================================


NOTATION
--------

Moves are represented by the abbreviation of a piece, followed by the
indication of the square where the piece goes to. Abbreviations are:
K = King, R = Rook, B = Bishop, G = Gold, S = Silver, N = kNight,
L = Lance, P = Pawn. If the representation is ambiguous then the starting
square is given too (e.g. G4a-5b). Captures are indicated by an x
(e.g. Px5e). Drops are indicated by ' or * (e.g. P'8f or P*8f). Since an
asterisk can easily be mistaken for an "x", the preferred notation for
drops is an apostrophe (e.g. P'8f). Promotion is indicated by a + behind
the move (e.g. B7g+). A promoted piece is represented by a + followed by
the abbreviation of the unpromoted piece (e.g. +S3d). Sometimes not
promoting a piece that could have promoted is indicated by = behind the
move (e.g. S3c=).


INITIAL SETUP
-------------

The representation of the board with the initial setup (which has become
the de facto standard in electronic correspondence Shogi) is given below.
The w and b in front of the abbreviations indicate white and black
respectively. When a piece promotes, it will be shown on the e-mail board
with a preceding "+", as in "+bL".
Captured pieces are kept in the boxes at the right side of the board.
When sending games back and forth between players, the moves are listed
above the board. This works well, as you can see the latest moves and the
board as well at the bottom of the file.

   9    8    7    6    5    4    3    2    1
+--------------------------------------------+       White in hand:
| wL | wN | wS | wG | wK | wG | wS | wN | wL |  a   +------------------+
+--------------------------------------------+      |                  |
|    | wR |    |    |    |    |    | wB |    |  b   |                  |
+--------------------------------------------+      +------------------+
| wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP | wP |  c
+--------------------------------------------
|    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |  d
+--------------------------------------------+
|    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |  e
+--------------------------------------------+
|    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |  f
+--------------------------------------------+
| bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP | bP |  g
+--------------------------------------------+      Black in hand:
|    | bB |    |    |    |    |    | bR |    |  h   +------------------+
+--------------------------------------------+      |                  |
| bL | bN | bS | bG | bK | bG | bS | bN | bL |  i   |                  |
+--------------------------------------------+      +------------------+

The rules of Shogi can be found in the file SHOGI RULES.

Chris Sterritt and Pieter Stouten, 13-th June 1990.
Last revision 1-st July 1990 - Preferred notation for drops.


S H O G I  R U L E S
====================


Shogi is a Japanese board game played by two players.
The object of the game is to capture the opponent's King.
Shogi is played on a nine-by-nine board. The vertical rows are called files,
the horizontal ones ranks or just rows. Each player has twenty pieces:
one King, two Gold Generals, two Silver Generals, two kNights,
two Lances, one Rook, one Bishop and nine Pawns.
The player moving up the board and making the first move is referred to as
black and his opponent white, although in Shogi sets all pieces have the
same colour. They are differentiated only in direction: pieces pointing
away from a player are his. The pieces lie flat on the board and have
their Japanese name written on them.
The notation system and the inital setup in ASCII representation can be
found in the file SHOGI.BOARD.


THE MOVES
---------

King:           one step in any direction per move
Gold General:   one step per move any way except diagnoally backward
                (as a king but not diagonally backward)
Silver General: one step per move forwards or diagonally
                (as a king but not sideways or vertically backward)
Knight:         one step to left or right, and two steps forward
                (the only piece which may jump over other pieces)
Rook:           moves vertically or horizontally any distance
Bishop:         moves diagonally any distance
Lance:          moves forward any distance
Pawn:           one step forward

Apart from the King and the Gold General all pieces can promote.
After promotion their moves are as follows:
+ Promoted Silver, promoted kNight, promoted Lance and promoted Pawn all
  move as a Gold.
+ The promoted Rook in addition to the moves of the unpromoted Rook can
  move one step in the diagonal directions. It either moves like a Rook
  or like a King.
+ The promoted Bishop in addition to the moves of the unpromoted Bishop
  can move one step horizontally or vertically. It either moves like a
  Bishop or like a King.


PROMOTION
---------

The three rows furthest away from a player are called the promotion zone. Apart
from the King and the Gold, any piece can be promoted to a more powerful piece
when it makes a move completely or partly in the promotion zone. So, when a
piece moves into, out of or fully inside the promotion zone it may be promoted
upon completion of its move. Promotion is optional, provided that the piece
still can make a legal move in case it is not promoted: if a Pawn or a Lance
move to the last row, or a Knight moves to either of the last two rows, it must
be promoted. In Shogi sets promoting a piece is done by turning this piece
upside down. Its promoted name is written on its other side.


CAPTURING AND DROPPING PIECES
-----------------------------

When one piece moves onto the same square as an opponent's piece, the
opponent's piece is captured. All pieces capture in the same way that they
move. Captured pieces become part of the capturer's force. In a later move,
instead of moving a piece on the board, a player may put a piece that he
has captured from his opponent back onto the board, in an empty square.
This is called dropping a piece. Pieces are always dropped unpromoted: if
a promoted piece is captured, it reverts to its unpromoted rank.
Pieces may be dropped on any empty square on the board with only three
restrictions:
 1) After dropping a piece it must be able to make a legal move. This applies
    to Pawns, Knights or Lances. They may not be dropped onto a square from
    which they will never be able to move.
 2) Attacking the King by dropping a Pawn on the square in front of him is not
    allowed if the King cannot prevent being captured on the following move.
    To use the Chess expression: checkmating the King with a Pawn drop is
    prohibited.
 3) A pawn may only be dropped on a file (vertical row) if there is no other
    unpromoted pawn of the same player on that file.


DRAWS
-----

The game of Shogi has very few draws (roughly 1 percent), mainly because of
the possibility to drop pieces. Draws cannot be offered and can arise from
two situations:
 1) A position (including the pieces in hand) occurs 4 times with the same
    player to move ("Sennichite"). However, if this is caused by consecutive
    checks (direct attacks on the King, threatening to capture it on the next
    move) by one side, the player giving these checks loses the game.
 2) Both players have moved their King into the the promotion zone (or they
    cannot be prevented to do so) and the Kings cannot be checkmated. In
    that case the players may decide to count their pieces where the King does
    not count, the Rook and Bishop count as 5 points, and all other pieces as
    one point. Promotion is disregarded. If both players have at least 24
    points the game is a draw ("Jishogi"). If a player has less, he loses the
    game.
    Of course, a player can refuse to count pieces when he still has mating
    chances or chances to gain material which would affect the outcome of the
    counting. There is no strict rule about what to do if this is not the case,
    but nonetheless a player refuses to count up (e.g. because he does not have
    enough points for a draw). It has been generally accepted that in such a
    case the game ends and the pieces are counted after one player has managed
    to get all his pieces protected in the promotion zone.

Chris Sterritt and Pieter Stouten, 12-th June 1990.
Last revision 9-th October 1991 - Draws (Jishogi rule).

--
Antti Karttunen / karttu@mits.mdata.fi / $B%"%s%C%F%#!!%+%k%C%H%%%M%s(J