The pieces · 駒
Eight pieces. Six of them change.
Forty pieces start on the board, in eight kinds, and they are all the same wood: a piece points at the side it fights for, and when you capture one it turns round and fights for you. Six kinds promote when they reach the far three ranks. Here is every one of them, with the squares it can reach.
King玉将 · 王将 gyokushō · ōshō
One step any way, like the king in chess. Lose it and the game is over, so everything else on this page is in its service. The two kings wear different characters, 玉 and 王; by custom the senior player takes 王, and in the app your opponent’s king reads 王 so the two are never confused.
Rook飛車 hisha
The strongest piece on the board, with the bishop. It runs the whole length of a file or a rank until something is in the way. Each side starts with one, on the right of its second rank. Where it goes shapes the whole game: most openings are named for whether the rook stays home or swings to the other wing.
The rook’s lines, plus one step diagonally. Keeps the rook’s lines and gains one step to each diagonal, so it reaches every square around it. Promote whenever you can; there is no reason to wait.
Bishop角行 kakugyō
Any distance along a diagonal, until something is in the way. One per side, on the left of the second rank, so the two bishops start facing each other across the board on the same long diagonal. Open that diagonal and you can trade them on move three; whole opening systems are about whether to allow it.
The bishop’s diagonals, plus one step straight. Keeps the diagonals and gains one step forward, back and to each side. A horse standing next to your own king is one of the best defenders in the game.
Gold金将 kinshō
One step to six squares: forward, both forward diagonals, both sides, and straight back. Never diagonally back. Two per side, next to the king. Learn this shape first: every minor piece that promotes turns into a gold, so you will see it far more often than the two starting golds suggest.
Does not promote.
Silver銀将 ginshō
One step to five squares: forward, both forward diagonals, both back diagonals. Not sideways, not straight back. The gold’s mirror image, in a sense: where the gold is a wall, the silver is a knife that gets forward and can slip back out. Two per side, outside the golds.
Moves as a gold. Promotion is a choice, and a silver is often left as it is: its diagonal retreat is worth more than a gold’s sideways step in many attacks.
Knight桂馬 keima
Two squares forward and one to the side, jumping over anything in between. Only forward: a shogi knight has two moves, not eight, and can never come back. That makes it a piece for attacking, and one that is easy to lose if it lands where it cannot be defended.
Moves as a gold. A knight reaching the last two ranks must promote: unpromoted it would have no move left.
Lance香車 kyōsha
Straight forward as far as it likes, never back and never sideways. One in each corner. A lance sitting behind a pawn is a spear waiting for the file to open; a lance that has gone forward is spent unless it promotes.
Moves as a gold. A lance reaching the last rank must promote.
Pawn歩兵 fuhyō
One step forward, and it captures straight ahead too, not diagonally. Nine per side, one on every file. Pawns are what you trade to get pieces in hand, and a pawn in hand is what makes most attacks work. Two rules are the pawn’s alone: you may not drop a pawn onto a file where you already have an unpromoted pawn, and you may not give checkmate by dropping a pawn.
Moves as a gold. The most common promotion in the game, and a famous bargain: it moves like a gold, but if captured the opponent only gets a pawn back. A pawn reaching the last rank must promote.
Which way is up
Your pieces point away from you, the opponent’s point at you; both sides use identical wood and the pointed end is the only marker. A captured piece goes into your hand and comes back onto the board pointing your way.
Promotion 成り
The far three ranks are the promotion zone. A move that starts, ends or passes inside it may finish by turning the piece over. Promoted faces are written in red. A promoted piece stays promoted until it is captured; dropped back onto the board, it starts over as its plain self.
Drops 打つ
Instead of moving, you may place a piece from your hand on any empty square, unpromoted. Not where it could never move again (a pawn or lance on the last rank, a knight on the last two), and never a second unpromoted pawn on a file, and never a pawn that gives checkmate.
See them move.
The app teaches every piece at the board, with a lesson for each and Guide faces that draw the moves on the piece itself. Then a bot with twelve levels to try them against. Android closed test now, invites by email; iOS after Android.