A Game Courier Preset for Impassable Kings Shogi
How Pieces Move in Impassable Kings Shogi
Since no separate description of the rules has been provided, these details on piece movement have been pulled from the descriptions of pieces used in this game.
The Dragon King may move like a Rook or one space diagonally. When captured, it demotes back into a Rook.
The Rook may move any number of spaces in any vertical or horizontal direction until it reaches an occupied space. A captured Rook may be dropped on any empty space. When moving to, from, or within the last three ranks, it may promote to a Dragon King.
The Dragon Horse may move along diagonals as a Bishop or move one space orthogonally as a Wazir.
The Bishop may move any number of spaces in any diagonal direction until it reaches an occupied space. A captured Bishop may be dropped on any empty space. When moving to, from, or within the last three ranks, it may promote to a Dragon Horse.
The King moves one space in any direction except that it may not move into check, and it may not move to the same rank as the other King, which also technically counts as check. The object is to checkmate the King.
The Promoted Knight moves as a Gold General. When captured, it demotes back to a Knight.
The Promoted Silver General moves as a Gold General. When captured, it demotes back to a Silver General.
The Tokin moves as a Gold General. When captured, it demotes back to a Pawn.
The Promoted Lance moves as a Gold General. When captured, it demotes back to a Lance.
The Gold General may move one space in any vertical, horizontal, or diagonally forward direction. It does not promote or demote.
The Lance may move any number of spaces straight forward until it reaches an occupied space. A captured lance may be dropped on any empty space on the first eight ranks. It may not be dropped on the last rank. When moving to, from, or within the last three ranks, it may promote to a Promoted Lance.
The Silver General may move one space in any diagonal direction or one space vertically forward. A captured Silver General may be dropped on any empty space. When moving to, from, or within the last three ranks, it may promote to a Promoted Silver General.
The Knight may leap to either space that is two spaces ahead in an adjacent file. A captured Knight may be dropped on any empty space on the first seven ranks. It may not be dropped on the last two ranks. When moving to, from, or within the last three ranks, it may promote to a Promoted Knight.
The Pawn may move one space vertically forward. A captured Pawn may be dropped on any empty space unless (1) the same player has another Pawn in the same file, (2) the space is on the last rank, or (3) the drop would checkmate the opponent's King.
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.
These pieces were designed by Fergus Duniho, based mainly on his Abstract pieces. The Silver General is represented by a crescent moon ☽, the alchemical symbol for silver. The Gold General is represented by a circle with a dot in the center ☉, the alchemical symbol for gold (and also the astrological symbol for the sun). Think of the silvery moon and the golden sun. Additionally, the Copper General, which is used in some Shogi variants, is represented by the alchemical symbol for copper ♀, which is also the symbol of Venus and the symbol meaning female.
Credits
This preset uses the default settings file for Impassable Kings Shogi, which was made by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier, Copyright © Fergus Duniho, 2001-2017
WWW Page Created: 15 August 2001