How to Play Shogi

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Shogi is a two-player abstract strategy game played on a 9-by-9 square board with 20 pieces per side. Often called Japanese chess, it is distinct from its Western cousin in one crucial way: captured pieces change allegiance and can be returned to the board by the capturing player, which keeps material roughly balanced and generates a depth of tactical possibility that rewards serious study.

The game is enormously popular in Japan, where professional leagues, televised title matches, and dedicated playing clubs attract millions of followers. Casual play takes place at kitchen tables, community centres, and online, and the game travels well because the rules, once learned, are consistent worldwide.

A little history

Shogi's precise origins are unclear. Board games related to the Indian game Chaturanga spread across Asia from roughly the 6th century CE, and a form of the game was documented in Japan by the Heian period (794 to 1185). The distinctive drop rule, which defines modern Shogi, appears to have been established by the late 16th century, and the game's rules were formalised under the Tokugawa shogunate, which granted official patronage to professional Shogi families. The standardised modern ruleset has remained stable for several centuries.

Setting up

1. Place the board so each player faces their own side. Pieces point toward the opponent.
2. Back rank (row 1 from each player's perspective), left to right: Lance, Knight, Silver General, Gold General, King, Gold General, Silver General, Knight, Lance.
3. Row 2: place the Bishop on the second square from the left (your left) and the Rook on the second square from the right.
4. Row 3: fill all nine squares with Pawns.
5. One player takes the darker set (or the pieces marked as second player); the other takes the lighter set. Traditionally the player with the darker pieces moves first, but agreement between players is acceptable for casual games.
6. All pieces start unpromoted. No pieces are in hand at the start.

How to play

1. Players alternate turns. On your turn you must either move one piece on the board or drop a piece from your hand onto the board. You cannot pass.
2. PAWN: moves one square straight forward only. Captures the same way.
3. LANCE: moves any number of squares straight forward, cannot move sideways or backward.
4. KNIGHT: jumps to a square two forward and one to either side, leaping over intervening pieces. It is the only piece that can jump. It cannot move sideways or backward.
5. SILVER GENERAL: moves one square in any of the four diagonal directions or one square straight forward. It cannot move straight sideways or straight backward.
6. GOLD GENERAL: moves one square in any of the four orthogonal directions or one square diagonally forward. It cannot move diagonally backward.
7. BISHOP: moves any number of squares diagonally in any direction, like the chess bishop.
8. ROOK: moves any number of squares orthogonally in any direction, like the chess rook.
9. KING: moves one square in any direction. The King may not move into check.
10. CAPTURE: move your piece onto a square occupied by an enemy piece. The captured piece is removed from the board and placed in your hand. It is now yours to use.
11. PROMOTION: when one of your pieces moves into, out of, or within the opponent's promotion zone (the three rows furthest from you), you may choose to promote it at the end of that move. Promotion is optional unless the piece would otherwise have no legal move on future turns, in which case it must promote.
12. PROMOTED PIECES: a promoted Pawn, Lance, Knight, or Silver General moves like a Gold General. A promoted Bishop (Dragon Horse) keeps its diagonal moves and also gains one-square orthogonal movement. A promoted Rook (Dragon King) keeps its orthogonal moves and also gains one-square diagonal movement. Gold Generals and the King cannot promote.
13. DROP RULES: on your turn you may place any piece from your hand onto any vacant square, and it enters the game unpromoted regardless of where it lands. Drops are subject to three restrictions: (1) you may not drop a Pawn into a column where you already have an unpromoted Pawn (two unpromoted Pawns in the same column is forbidden); (2) you may not drop a piece onto a square from which it would have no legal move on any future turn (no Pawn, Lance, or Knight on the last rank; no Knight on the second-to-last rank); (3) you may not drop a Pawn onto a square that immediately delivers checkmate.
14. CHECK: if your move threatens the opponent's King, you have given check. Announcing check is courteous but not mandatory under standard rules.
15. RESPONDING TO CHECK: the player in check must resolve it on their next move by moving the King, blocking the attack with another piece, or capturing the attacking piece. A drop can be used to block.
16. CHECKMATE: if the player in check has no legal move that removes the King from danger, it is checkmate and the game ends immediately.

Winning and scoring

The game is won by delivering checkmate: the opponent's King is in check and there is no legal move available to remove it from danger. Unlike chess, resignation before checkmate is standard practice at all levels of play once the outcome is clear, and a resigned game counts as a loss for the resigning player. There is no draw by stalemate because a player in stalemate would simply drop or move another piece; deadlocked positions instead fall under the repetition and impasse rules described in Fine Points.

The fine points

Repetition (sennichite) occurs when the same board position, with the same pieces in hand, appears four times with the same player to move. If neither player is giving perpetual check, the game is declared a draw and replayed. If one player is the sole cause of repetition through consecutive checks, that player loses. Impasse (jishogi) applies when both Kings have advanced into the opponent's territory and neither side can make progress. The standard resolution counts the pieces each player has on the board and in hand: Rooks and Bishops score five points each; all other pieces except the King score one point each. A player with 24 or more points wins; if both reach 24 the game is a draw. Some tournament rules use a 27-point threshold, so confirm the local standard before play.

The drop-pawn-checkmate prohibition (uchifu-zume) is the rule most commonly misapplied. It forbids only an immediate checkmate delivered by dropping a Pawn. You may freely drop a Pawn that puts the King in check if the King has an escape or can be blocked; only an inescapable mating drop is illegal. A player who makes an illegal move in a formal setting loses the game immediately.

How to win more often

• Castle your King early. The standard castles (Yagura, Mino, and Anaguma) move your King behind a wall of Gold and Silver Generals, providing a stable base from which to attack.
• Think in two currencies. Pieces on the board and pieces in hand are equally important. A piece captured is not lost; it is waiting to strike. Never dismiss an exchange as neutral.
• Pawns are weapons. Advancing a Pawn to pressure the opponent's Pawn creates drop squares and can open files. A dropped Pawn behind enemy lines to cut off a Gold or Rook is a core tactic.
• Coordinate your Rook and Bishop. The Rook works best along open files; the Bishop along open diagonals. Early play often centres on wrestling for control of these lines and deciding when to promote them.
• Plan your attack before your opponent castles. An uncastled King in the middle of the board is vulnerable. If your opponent delays castling, a swift attack with your Rook file open can decide the game before defences consolidate.

Variations

Minishogi

Played on a 5x5 board with five pieces per side: King, Gold General, Silver General, Bishop, and Rook, plus a single Pawn. Drop rules apply as in standard Shogi. The reduced board makes the game much shorter (typically under 15 minutes) and is widely used to introduce new players to the drop mechanic without the complexity of the full piece set.

Chu Shogi

A larger historical variant played on a 12x12 board with 46 pieces per side and a far wider variety of piece types, including the Lion, which may move or capture twice in a single turn. Chu Shogi does not use the drop rule. It predates the modern game and was the dominant form of competitive Shogi in medieval Japan before the 9x9 game with drops took precedence.

Handicap Shogi

When players are of unequal strength, the stronger player (designated Black) removes one or more of their own pieces before the game begins. The weakest standard handicap is Lance odds (removing the left-hand Lance); stronger handicaps remove the Bishop, Rook, or both. The weaker player still moves first under handicap conventions. This system is the traditional way to make a game competitive and is still used in professional teaching games in Japan.

Kyoto Shogi

A very short variant played on a 5x5 board where every piece alternates between two identities each time it moves: a Pawn becomes a Tokin (promoted Pawn) and back again on the next move, and so on for each piece type. There are no drops. Games last only a few minutes and the constant piece-identity flipping creates a puzzle-like tactical character quite unlike standard Shogi.

Shogi: frequently asked questions