Kyoto shogi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Shogi variants |
|---|
| Standard shogi (9×9, drops) |
| Small variants |
| Microshogi (4×5) |
| Minishogi (5×5) |
| Kyoto shogi (5×5) |
| Judkins shogi (6×6) |
| Whale shogi (6×6) |
| Tori shogi (7×7) |
| Yari shogi (7×9) |
| Heian shogi (8×8 or 9×8, 12th c.) |
| Standard-size variants |
| Sho shogi (9×9, 16th c.) |
| Cannon shogi (9×9) |
| Hasami shogi (9×9, 9 or 18 pc.) |
| Hand shogi (9×9, 19 pc., 10 in hand) |
| Annan shogi (9×9, neighbors influence movement) |
| Unashogi (9×9, all drops) |
| Large variants |
| Wa shogi (11×11) |
| Chu shogi (12×12) |
| Heian dai shogi (13×13) |
| Dai shogi (15×15) |
| Tenjiku shogi (16×16) |
| Dai-dai shōgi (17×17) |
| Maka dai-dai shōgi (19×19) |
| Kō shōgi (19×19) |
| Tai shogi (25×25) |
| Taikyoku shogi (36×36) |
| Three- and four-player variants |
| Sannin shogi (7×7×7 hexagonal board, three-person) |
| Yonin shogi (9×9, four-person) |
Kyoto shogi (京都将棋 kyōto shōgi "Kyoto chess") is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess). It was invented by Tamiya Katsuya c. 1976.
Kyoto shogi is played like standard shogi, but with a reduced number of pieces on a 5×5 board. However, the pieces alternately promote and depromote with every move, and the promotion values are entirely different from standard shogi.
Contents |
[edit] Rules of the game
[edit] Game equipment
Two players play on a board ruled into a grid of 5 ranks (rows) by 5 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color.
Each player has a set of 5 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are:
- 1 king
- 1 gold general
- 1 silver general
- 1 tokin
- 1 pawn
| Piece | Kanji | Rōmaji |
|---|---|---|
| White king | 王将 | ōshō |
| Black king | 玉将 | gyokushō |
| Rook/pawn | 飛歩 | hifu |
| Silver-general/bishop | 銀角 | ginkaku |
| Gold-general/knight | 金桂 | kinkei |
| Lance/tokin | 香と | kyōto |
The names of the pieces combine their promoted and unpromoted values, and are puns in Japanese for words with the same pronunciations but different kanji. For example, the lance/tokin is homonymous with the name of the city 京都 Kyoto, and provides the name of the game.
[edit] Setup
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Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent.
- In the rank nearest the player:
- The king (K) is placed in the center file.
- The gold general (G) is placed in the adjacent files to the right of the king.
- The silver general (S) is placed in the adjacent files to the left of the king.
- The tokin (T) is placed in the left corner.
- The pawn (P) is placed in the right corner.
That is, the first rank is |T|S|K|G|P|.
[edit] Promotion
There is no promotion zone in Kyoto shogi. Every time a piece makes a move it alternately promotes and reverts to its unpromoted state. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank; depromotion is effected by turning the piece back.
The promotion rules and values are reminiscent of microshogi and entirely different from standard shogi:
- A king cannot promote: K
- A tokin (T) promotes to a lance and vice versa: T ↔ L
- A silver general promotes to a bishop and vice versa: S ↔ B
- A gold general promotes to a knight and vice versa: G ↔ N
- A pawn promotes to a rook and vice versa: P ↔ R
[edit] Movement and capture
A piece is allowed to move, capture or be dropped in a manner that will prevent it from moving on a subsequent turn, which is illegal in standard shogi. For example, a rook can move onto the furthest rank, becoming a pawn and unable to move further. Such pieces may be captured as any other.
[edit] Drops
A captured piece may be dropped with either side facing up.
