Shogi rules

Shogi is played by two players on a 9 × 9 board, with twenty pieces each. Pieces point towards the opponent: their direction shows who owns them. The goal is to checkmate the opposing king.

Moves

King: one square in any direction. Rook: in a straight line, as far as the way is clear. Bishop: the same, diagonally. Gold general: one square, except diagonally backwards. Silver general: one square diagonally or straight ahead. Knight: two squares forward then one to the side, jumping. Lance: straight ahead, as far as the way is clear. Pawn: one square straight ahead, and it captures the same way.

Promotion

In the three ranks of the opponent's camp, a piece may turn over to its red side. The rook becomes a dragon and the bishop a horse: each gains one step in the other directions. The silver, knight, lance and pawn then move like a gold general. The king and the gold do not promote.

Drops

A captured piece changes sides. It waits on its captor's stand, and can be placed back on any empty square instead of a move. A player may not have two unpromoted pawns on the same file, and a dropped pawn may not give checkmate.

End of the game

A king in check must get out of it; if it cannot, it is checkmated and the game is lost. If the same position comes up four times (sennichite), the game is drawn, unless one player gave check on every move: perpetual check is forbidden, and that player loses. You can also resign.

Against the AI

You play sente (at the bottom, you move first), the AI plays gote. Easy: it looks one move ahead, with some chance. Normal: two moves. Strong: it searches as deep as time allows. The squares the selected piece can reach are marked with a golden dot.