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Rules of Chu Shogi
King |
The King may move one space in any direction, including into check. The object is to capture the King (and the Prince, if there is one). | ||
Lion |
The Lion moves twice in a row to an adjacent square, maybe capturing on one or both of these moves, or leaps directly over pieces as a Knight, an Alfil or a Dabbabah. There are special rules relating to the capture of a Lion. | ||
Queen |
The Queen moves as a Chess Queen. | ||
Dragon King |
The Dragon King moves as a Chess Rook or one space diagonally. It promotes to a Soaring Eagle. | 
Soaring Eagle |
The Soaring Eagle moves as a Chess Queen orthogonally or diagonally backward, or diagonally forward as the Lion. |
Dragon Horse |
The Dragon Horse moves as a Chess Bishop or one space orthogonally. It promotes to a Hornet Falcon. | 
Horned Falcon |
The Horned Falcon moves as a Chess Queen diagonally or orthogonally backward or sideways, or orthogonally forward as the Lion. |
Rook |
The Rook moves as a Chess Rook. It promotes to a Dragon King. | 
Dragon King (after promotion) |
The Dragon King moves as the Rook or one space diagonally. |
Bishop |
The Bishop moves as a Chess Bishop. It promotes to a Dragon Horse. | 
Dragon Horse (after promotion) |
The Dragon Horse moves as the Bishop or one space orthogonally. |
Vertical Mover |
The Vertical Mover moves one square orthogonally sideways or any number of squares orthogonally forwards or backwards. It promotes to a Flying Ox. | 
Flying Ox |
The Flying Ox moves any number of squares diagonally or orthogonally forwards or backwards. |
Side Mover |
The Side Mover moves one square orthogonally forwards or backwards or any number of squares orthogonally sideways. It promotes to a Free Boar. | 
Free Boar |
The Free Boar moves any number of squares diagonally or orthogonally sideways. |
Kirin |
The Kirin moves as the Firz or the Dabbabah. It promotes to a Lion. | 
Lion (after promotion) |
The Lion moves twice in a row to an adjacent square, maybe capturing on one or both of these moves, or leaps directly over pieces as a Knight, an Alfil or a Dabbabah. There are special rules relating to the capture of a Lion. |
Phoenix |
The Phoenix moves as the Wazir or the Alfil. It promotes to a Queen. | 
Queen (after promotion) |
The Queen moves as a Chess Queen. |
Drunk Elephant |
The Drunk Elephant moves one space in any direction, except orthogonally backwards. It promotes to a Prince. | 
Prince |
The Prince may move one space in any direction, including into check. The object is to capture the Prince (and the King, if there is one). |
Blind Tiger |
The Blind Tiger moves one space in any direction, except orthogonally forwards. It promotes to a Flying Stag. | 
Flying Stag |
The Flying Stag moves any number of squares orthogonally forwards or backwards or one square in the other directions. |
Gold General |
The Gold General moves one space in any forward or orthogonal direction. It promotes to a Rook. | 
Rook (after promotion) |
The Rook moves as a Chess Rook. |
Ferocious Leopard |
The Ferocious Leopard moves one square in any of the forward or backwards directions. It promotes to a Bishop. | 
Bishop (after promotion) |
The Bishop moves as a Chess Bishop. |
Silver General |
The Silver General moves one space in any forward direction or diagonally backwards. It promotes to a Vertical Mover. | 
Vertical Mover (after promotion) |
The Vertical Mover moves one square orthogonally sideways or any number of squares orthogonally forwards or backwards. |
Copper General |
The Copper general moves one space in any forward direction or orthogonal backwards. It promotes to a Side Mover. | 
Side mover (after promotion) |
The Side Mover moves one square orthogonally forwards or backwards or any number of squares orthogonally sideways. |
Reverse Chariot |
The Reverse Chariot moves any number of spaces vertically (forwards or backwards). It promotes to a Whale. | 
Whale |
The Whale moves any number of squares backwards or orthogonally forwards. |
Lance |
The Lance moves any number of spaces vertically forwards. It promotes to a White Horse. | 
White Horse |
The White Horse moves any number of squares forwards or orthogonally backwards. |
Go-Between |
The Go-Between moves one space vertically (forwards or backwards). It promotes to a Drunk Elephant. | 
Drunk Elephant (after promotion) |
The Drunk Elephant moves one space in any direction, except orthogonally backwards. |
Pawn |
The Pawn moves one space vertically forward. It promotes to a Tokin. | 
Tokin |
The Tokin moves as a Gold General. |
Promotions
The promotion zone consists of the farthest 4 ranks of the board. A piece may promote if:
- It enters the promotion zone (starts outside, ends within).
- It starts within the promotion zone and captures something.
However, if a Pawn reaches the last rank, it may promote even on a non-capture.
Special rules for Lion captures
A Lion may capture a Lion only if one of the three following conditions is met:
- The two Lions stand initially on adjacent squares.
- The captured Lion is undefended.
- The capturing Lion first captures a piece other than a Pawn or a Go-Between.
A non-Lion cannot capture a Lion when on the previous turn a Lion was captured by a non-Lion on another square. The stipulation 'another square' means that if a Kirin captures a Lion, it may always be recaptured, even if it had simultaneously promoted to a Lion.
These rules do not differentiate between Lions and promoted Kirins. In the case of multiple Lions, these rules are not applied recursively.
Miscellaneous
The object of the game is to capture the opponent's King (and Prince, if you're opponent has one). Unlike Chess, Black moves first.
How to Move Pieces
Full Algebraic Notation
Algebraic notation identifies each space by a coordinate that begins with its file label and ends with its rank label. On the Chess board, files go up and down from one player to the other, and ranks go from left to right. In most games, files are represented by letters, and ranks are represented by numbers, but there is no fixed rule requiring this for all games, and some games, such as Shogi, reverse this convention. If you look at the diagram, you will usually see the file labels going from left to right and the file labels going up and down. And if you hover your mouse over a space, you will normally see the name of the coordinate appear in a tooltip.
It is not uncommon to see algebraic notation being used for Chess, but it is often in an abbreviated format that requires you to know both the rules of the game and the current position to know exactly which piece moves where. For example, the notation "Ne6" indicates that a Knight is moving to e6, but it doesn't indicate which Knight, and it doesn't specify where the Knight is coming from. To figure this out, you need to know how a Knight moves and which Knight on the board can make a legal move to e6.
Although rules may be programmed for individual games, Game Courier itself does not know the rules of any game, and it is unable to parse abbreviated algebraic notation. Therefore, it relies on full algebraic notation, which completely specifies the move without requiring any knowledge of the game's rules or the current position. The most usual type of full algebraic notation indicates the piece that is moving by its label, the space it is moving from, and the space it moving to. In Chess, a typical first move might be written as "P e2-e4". When you hover your mouse over a piece, you will normally see the piece label followed by the coordinate for the space, and when you hover it over an empty space, you will normally see the coordinate label. Including the piece label in your notation allows Game Courier to check that the piece you're moving is the right one, and it makes game notation easier to follow, but it is not mandatory.
You may promote a piece by including a promotion move after your regular move. A promotion move has a piece go directly to a coordinate. Here is an example: "p e7-e8; q-e8".
You may remove a piece from a space by adding an @ to the space or by omitting the destination coordinate. For example, both "@-e4" and "e4-" would remove the piece on "e4". This is useful for en passant when you are playing a game that does not handle this automatically. For example, "P d5-e6; e5-" removes the Pawn on e5 after a Pawn moves from d5 to e6.
You will not need to remove spaces for most games, but if you should need to, you can do this by omitting the first coordinate in a move. For example, "-e4" would remove e4 from the board. To add or return a space to the board, you may add an @ or any other piece to it.
Available Pieces
Pieces are represented by labels, usually using uppercase letters for White and lowercase letter for Black. When you enter a move or specify the starting position for a game, you should remember that piece labels are case-sensitive. Many piece sets are available for use with Game Courier, and this table shows you which pieces belong to the piece set you are currently using.
The inclusion of a piece does not indicate that it is used in the game you are playing. But if your game uses pieces not included here, you should choose a different piece set.
Credits
This preset uses the chu settings file for Chu Shogi, which was made by A. M. DeWitt.
Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier, Copyright © Fergus Duniho, 2001-2017
WWW Page Created: 15 August 2001
Kibbitzing Etiquette
Kibbitzing is the practice of commenting on a game you are not playing. In commenting on a game, please follow these rules of etiquette.
(1) If you notice that someone has made an illegal move, please mention it. Some Game Courier presets cannot enforce rules, but Game Courier does enable players to take back any previous move. Details on how to take back a move are provided in the User's Guide, linked to above the board.
(2) Unless otherwise specifically asked to, do not offer hints or suggestions to players on what moves they should make. In general, avoid coaching comments.
(3) Once a game is over, it should be alright to offer your analysis of the game and your specific comments on what moves players should have made. If some players don't want this, they may mention it in the Kibbitzing section, and you should honor this request by not commenting on the game.
(4) Be polite. At the appropriate time, offer any criticism you have in a constructive manner. Avoid heckling players for bad moves.
(5) Don't spam this space with irrelevant comments. If you have a comment about Game Courier, rather than about the specific game you're viewing, please post it on Game Courier's Index page to give it.