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A Game Courier Preset for Mitsugumi Shogi

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Mitsugumi Shogi

Rules enforced. Legal moves displayed.

Welcome to Game Courier, where you can play Mitsugumi Shogi and many other Chess variants through online correspondence.


Rules of Mitsugumi Shogi

Piece Promoted Piece

King
The King moves one space in any direction. The object of the game is to capture the enemy King.

The King can move into check at any time, although this is almost always a blunder.

The King does not promote.

Fire Demon

The Fire Demon can slide sideways or diagonally, or make an 'area move' - up to 3 King steps in independently chosen directions, stopping at the first capture. This includes skipping a turn. In addition, it has the power to "burn"; wherever the Fire Demon stops, it can optionally capture up to two adjacent pieces without moving. Or it can simply capture up to two adjacent pieces without moving (double igui).

It cannot burn another Fire Demon.

The Fire Demon does not promote.

Vice General

The Vice General moves as a Bishop but can jump up to two pieces along the line of attack when taking. Each piece it jumps over can be either captured or ignored. In addition, it can make an 'area move' - up to 3 King steps in independently chosen directions, stopping at the first capture. It can skip a turn, but it does not have the lion power of igui.

It cannot jump a King, Great General, or another Vice General.

The Vice General does not promote.

Water Buffalo
The Water Buffalo can slide sideways or diagonally. In addition, it can slide one or two squares vertically.
Fire Demon

The Fire Demon can slide sideways or diagonally, or make an 'area move' - up to 3 King steps in independently chosen directions, stopping at the first capture. This includes skipping a turn. In addition, it has the power to "burn"; wherever the Fire Demon stops, it can optionally capture up to two adjacent pieces without moving. Or it can simply capture up to two adjacent pieces without moving (double igui).

It cannot burn another Fire Demon.


Chariot Soldier

The Chariot Soldier can slide vertically or diagonally. In addition, it can slide one or two squares sideways.


Heavenly Tetrarch

The Heavenly Tetrarch can slide diagonally or vertically, or it can move two or three squares orthogonally sideways. It may also capture up to two adjacent pieces without moving (double igui). In addition, it has the power to "freeze"; all adjacent enemy pieces except Heavenly Tetrarches are immobilized, and cannot move at all until it moves away or is captured.

It cannot move to any adjacent square, and is not blocked from moving by pieces on those squares. However, it cannot jump a piece anywhere else in its path.


Rook General

The Rook General moves as a Rook but can jump up to two pieces along the line of attack when taking. Each piece it jumps over can be either captured or ignored.

It cannot jump a King or another range capturing piece (Great General, Vice General, Rook General, or Bishop General).


Great General

The Great General moves as a Queen but can jump up to two pieces along the line of attack when taking. Each piece it jumps over can be either captured or ignored.

It cannot jump a King or another Great General.


Bishop General

The Bishop General moves as a Bishop but can jump up to two pieces along the line of attack when taking. Each piece it jumps over can be either captured or ignored.

It cannot jump a King or another range capturing piece (Great General, Vice General, Rook General, or Bishop General).


Vice General

The Vice General moves as a Bishop but can jump up to two pieces along the line of attack when taking. Each piece it jumps over can be either captured or ignored. In addition, it can make an 'area move' - up to 3 King steps in independently chosen directions, stopping at the first capture. It can skip a turn, but it does not have the lion power of igui.

It cannot jump a King, Great General, or another Vice General.


Queen

The Queen moves as it does in Chess - it slides orthogonally or diagonally.


Free Eagle

The Free Eagle moves as a Queen. In addition, it can move one square in any diagonal direction twice. This power includes jumping, igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"). So it can:

  • Jump directly to any square in the second square in any direction,
  • Capture any diagonally adjacent piece without moving (igui),
  • Capture a piece on a diagonally adjacent square, and then continue to any of the squares diagonally adjacent to that square, capturing up to two pieces (this is equivalent to 2 turns for a Ferz),
  • Stay in place without capturing anything if at least one diagonally adjacent square is empty, effectively passing a turn

In other words, the Free Eagle is a Queen enhanced by the diagonal moves of the Lion.


Lion

The Lion has a special movement ability commonly called a 'lion move' or 'lion power'. It can make up to 2 King steps per turn, changing direction between them, even when this returns it to its starting square. It can make the first step as a jump, when it chooses to do so. So it can:

  • Jump directly to any square in the 5x5 area surrounding it,
  • Capture any adjacent piece without moving (igui),
  • Capture a piece on an adjacent square, and then continue to any of the squares adjacent to that square, capturing up to two pieces (this is equivalent to 2 turns for a King),
  • Stay in place without capturing anything if at least one adjacent square is empty, effectively passing a turn

Lion Hawk

The Lion Hawk moves either as a Bishop or as a Lion. This power includes jumping, igui and skipping a turn.

In other words, the Lion Hawk is a Lion enhanced by the diagonal moves of the Queen.


Soaring Eagle

The Soaring Eagle can slide orthogonally, or diagonally backward. In addition, It can step twice, or jump two squares, diagonally forward, capturing up to two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn, but not moving off the diagonal (see "Lion").


Rook General

The Rook General moves as a Rook but can jump up to two pieces along the line of attack when taking. Each piece it jumps over can be either captured or ignored.

It cannot jump a King or another range capturing piece (Great General, Vice General, Rook General, or Bishop General).


Horned Falcon

The Horned Falcon can slide diagonally, sideways, or directly backward. In addition, It can step twice, or jump two squares, directly forward, capturing up to two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn, but not moving off the orthogonal (see "Lion").


Bishop General

The Bishop General moves as a Bishop but can jump up to two pieces along the line of attack when taking. Each piece it jumps over can be either captured or ignored.

It cannot jump a King or another range capturing piece (Great General, Vice General, Rook General, or Bishop General).


Dragon King

The Dragon King moves as it does in Shogi - it can move as a Rook or as a King.


Soaring Eagle

The Soaring Eagle can slide orthogonally or diagonally backward. In addition, It can step twice, or jump two squares, diagonally forward, capturing up to two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn, but not moving off the diagonal (see "Lion").


Dragon Horse

The Dragon Horse moves as it does in Shogi - it can move as a Bishop or as a King.


Horned Falcon

The Horned Falcon can slide diagonally, sideways, or directly backward. In addition, It can step twice, or jump two squares, directly forward, capturing up to two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn, but not moving off the orthogonal (see "Lion").


Rook

The Rook moves as it does in Chess - it slides orthogonally.


Dragon King

The Dragon King moves as it does in Shogi - it can move as a Rook or as a King.


Bishop

The Bishop moves as it does in Chess - it slides diagonally.


Dragon Horse

The Dragon Horse moves as it does in Shogi - it can move as a Bishop or as a King.


Side Soldier

The Side Soldier can slide sideways or move one square directly backward. In addition, it can slide one or two squares directly forward.


Water Buffalo

The Water Buffalo can slide sideways or diagonally. In addition, it can slide one or two squares vertically.


Vertical Mover

The Vertical Mover can slide vertically or move one square sideways.


Flying Ox

The Flying Ox can slide vertically or diagonally.


Lance

The Lance slides directly forward. In addition, it can slide one or two squares directly backward.


White Horse

The White Horse can slide vertically or diagonally forward.


Phoenix

The Phoenix can move one square orthogonally or jump two squares diagonally.


Queen

The Queen moves as it does in Chess - it slides orthogonally or diagonally.


Kirin

The Kirin can move one square diagonally or jump two squares orthogonally.


Lion

The Lion has a special movement ability commonly called a 'lion move' or 'lion power'. It can make up to 2 King steps per turn, changing direction between them, even when this returns it to its starting square. It can make the first step as a jump, when it chooses to do so. So it can:

  • Jump directly to any square in the 5x5 area surrounding it,
  • Capture any adjacent piece without moving (igui),
  • Capture a piece on an adjacent square, and then continue to any of the squares adjacent to that square, capturing up to two pieces (this is equivalent to 2 turns for a King),
  • Stay in place without capturing anything if at least one adjacent square is empty, effectively passing a turn

Knight

The Knight moves as it does in Chess - it jumps two squares vertically and one square sideways, or two squares sideways and one square vertically.


Side Soldier

The Side Soldier can slide sideways or move one square directly backward. In addition, it can slide one or two squares directly forward.


Blind Tiger

The Blind Tiger moves as a King except directly forward.


Flying Stag

The Flying Stag moves as a King or slides vertically.


Gold General

The Gold General moves as it does in Shogi - it moves one square orthogonally, or diagonally forward.


Rook

The Rook moves as it does in Chess - it slides orthogonally.


Ferocious Leopard

The Ferocious Leopard moves one square diagonally or vertically.


Bishop

The Bishop moves as it does in Chess - it slides diagonally.


Silver General

The Silver General moves as it does in Shogi - it moves one square diagonally, or directly forward.


Vertical Mover

The Vertical Mover can slide vertically or move one square sideways.


Dog

The Dog moves one square orthogonally forward or diagonally backward.


Multi General

The Multi General slides orthogonally forward or diagonally backward.


Pawn

The Pawn moves as it does in Shogi - one square orthogonally forward.


Tokin

The Tokin moves as it does in Shogi - it moves one square orthogonally, or diagonally forward.

Fire Demon

The Fire Demon cannot burn another Fire Demon. That is, it cannot move to another square and then capture another Fire Demon without moving. Fire Demons can still capture each other via direct capture or double igui (capturing an adjacent Fire Demon without moving, possibly together with another piece).

Range capturing pieces

The Great General, Vice General, Rook General, and Bishop General can only jump pieces of lower rank. The ranking, in descending order, is as follows.

  1. King
  2. Great General
  3. Vice General
  4. Rook General, Bishop General
  5. All other pieces

These pieces can capture each other regardless of rank.

Frozen pieces

If a piece other than a Heavenly Tetrarch is adjacent to an enemy Heavenly Tetrarch, that piece is frozen until the Heavenly Tetrarch moves away or is captured. A piece that is frozen cannot move at all, even if such a move would return it to its starting square without changing anything.

Skipping a turn

It is illegal for a player to skip two consecutive turns.

Promoting a piece without moving does not count as skipping a turn.

Promotion

The promotion zone consists of the farthest 4 ranks of the board. A piece may promote if starts and/or ends its move within the zone.

Because promotion doesn't happen until the end of the turn, multi-capturing pieces that promote have a chance to make a multi-capture before doing so.

The King, Fire Demon, and Vice General do not promote, nor can already promoted pieces promote further.

End of the Game

A player who captures the opponent's King wins the game.

Draw

If the same game position occurs four times with the same player to move, then the game ends in a draw.

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.

flip/BishopP.gif
+B
flip/BishopGeneralP.gif
+BG
flip/BlindTigerP.gif
+BT
flip/CopperGeneralP.gif
+C
flip/ChariotSoldierP.gif
+CS
flip/DogP.gif
+D
flip/DrunkenElephantP.gif
+DE
flip/DragonHorseP.gif
+DH
flip/DragonKingP.gif
+DK
flip/FerociousLeopardP.gif
+FL
flip/GoldGeneralP.gif
+G
flip/HornedFalconP.gif
+HF
flip/IronGeneralP.gif
+I
flip/KyrinP.gif
+KY
flip/LanceP.gif
+L
flip/LionP.gif
+LN
flip/KnightP.gif
+N
flip/PawnP.gif
+P
flip/PhoenixP.gif
+PH
flip/FreeKingP.gif
+Q
flip/RookP.gif
+R
flip/RookGeneralP.gif
+RG
flip/ReverseChariotP.gif
+RV
flip/SilverGeneralP.gif
+S
flip/SoaringEagleP.gif
+SE
flip/SideMoverP.gif
+SM
flip/SideSoldierP.gif
+SS
flip/VerticalMoverP.gif
+VM
flip/VerticalSoldierP.gif
+VS
flip/WaterBuffaloP.gif
+WB
BishopP.gif
+b
BishopGeneralP.gif
+bg
BlindTigerP.gif
+bt
CopperGeneralP.gif
+c
ChariotSoldierP.gif
+cs
DogP.gif
+d
DrunkenElephantP.gif
+de
DragonHorseP.gif
+dh
DragonKingP.gif
+dk
FerociousLeopardP.gif
+fl
GoldGeneralP.gif
+g
HornedFalconP.gif
+hf
IronGeneralP.gif
+i
KyrinP.gif
+ky
LanceP.gif
+l
LionP.gif
+ln
KnightP.gif
+n
PawnP.gif
+p
PhoenixP.gif
+ph
FreeKingP.gif
+q
RookP.gif
+r
RookGeneralP.gif
+rg
ReverseChariotP.gif
+rv
SilverGeneralP.gif
+s
SoaringEagleP.gif
+se
SideMoverP.gif
+sm
SideSoldierP.gif
+ss
VerticalMoverP.gif
+vm
VerticalSoldierP.gif
+vs
WaterBuffaloP.gif
+wb
flip/Bishop.gif
B
flip/BishopGeneral.gif
BG
flip/BlindTiger.gif
BT
flip/CopperGeneral.gif
C
flip/ChariotSoldier.gif
CS
flip/Dog.gif
D
flip/DrunkenElephant.gif
DE
flip/DragonHorse.gif
DH
flip/DragonKing.gif
DK
flip/FireDemon.gif
FD
flip/FreeEagle.gif
FE
flip/FerociousLeopard.gif
FL
flip/GoldGeneral.gif
G
flip/GreatGeneral.gif
GG
flip/HornedFalcon.gif
HF
flip/IronGeneral.gif
I
flip/WhiteKing.gif
K
flip/Kyrin.gif
KY
flip/Lance.gif
L
flip/LionHawk.gif
LH
flip/Lion.gif
LN
flip/Knight.gif
N
flip/Pawn.gif
P
flip/Phoenix.gif
PH
flip/FreeKing.gif
Q
flip/Rook.gif
R
flip/RookGeneral.gif
RG
flip/ReverseChariot.gif
RV
flip/SilverGeneral.gif
S
flip/SoaringEagle.gif
SE
flip/SideMover.gif
SM
flip/SideSoldier.gif
SS
flip/ViceGeneral.gif
VG
flip/VerticalMover.gif
VM
flip/VerticalSoldier.gif
VS
flip/WaterBuffalo.gif
WB
Bishop.gif
b
BishopGeneral.gif
bg
BlindTiger.gif
bt
CopperGeneral.gif
c
ChariotSoldier.gif
cs
Dog.gif
d
DrunkenElephant.gif
de
DragonHorse.gif
dh
DragonKing.gif
dk
FireDemon.gif
fd
FreeEagle.gif
fe
FerociousLeopard.gif
fl
GoldGeneral.gif
g
GreatGeneral.gif
gg
HornedFalcon.gif
hf
IronGeneral.gif
i
BlackKing.gif
k
Kyrin.gif
ky
Lance.gif
l
LionHawk.gif
lh
Lion.gif
ln
Knight.gif
n
Pawn.gif
p
Phoenix.gif
ph
FreeKing.gif
q
Rook.gif
r
RookGeneral.gif
rg
ReverseChariot.gif
rv
SilverGeneral.gif
s
SoaringEagle.gif
se
SideMover.gif
sm
SideSoldier.gif
ss
ViceGeneral.gif
vg
VerticalMover.gif
vm
VerticalSoldier.gif
vs
WaterBuffalo.gif
wb

Credits

This preset uses the mitsugumi settings file for Mitsugumi 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