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Rules of Pocket Shogi Copper'
The Pocket: The pocket is an extra area that any of your pieces may move to, except for the King. To Move into the pocket, you must have a valid move on the board. A pocket move into the promotion zone and then back into the pocket will NOT promote the piece. A promoted piece can move into the pocket and it is OK. There is no demotion. Note: the asymetrical start. Black has a Copper General in the pocket, and White has the Copper General in Reserve. This was designed to compensate the advantage that black has by going first. |
King | King may move one space in any direction, but not into check. The object is to checkmate the King. A king moving to Square IR6 or AR6 will win the game. (Capture the Flag - type game) | The King may not move into the pocket. If the king moves into the square occupied by the opponent King, the game is one. This square is ir6 or ar6. | |
Gold General | Gold General moves one space in any forward or orthogonal direction. It may not move diagonally backwards. A gold general will promote to a Platinium General. | Platinium General | Platinium General moves almost like a king. It can not move directly backwards. A captured Platinium General demotes into a Gold General. |
Rook | Rook moves any number of spaces horizontally or vertically. It may not leap over pieces. When entering, exiting, or moving within the promotion zone, it may promote to a Dragon King. | Dragon King | Dragon King moves as the Rook or one space diagonally. A captured Dragon King demotes into a Rook. |
Bishop | Bishop moves any number of spaces diagonally. It may not leap over pieces. When entering, exiting, or moving within the promotion zone, it may promote to a Dragon Horse. | Dragon Horse | Dragon Horse moves as the Bishop or one space orthogonally. A captured Dragon Horse demotes into a Bishop. |
Silver General | Silver General moves one space in any forward or diagonal direction. When it enters, exits, or moves within the promotion zone, it may promote. | Promoted Silver General | Promoted Silver General moves as a Gold General. When captured, it demotes to a Silver General. |
Lance | Lance moves any number of spaces vertically forward. It may not leap over pieces. When it moves into or within the promotion zone, it may promote. When it reaches the last rank, it must promote. | Side Mover | Side Mover moves from side to side like a horizontal rook, and the ability to move vertical 1 space. The Side Mover when captured, it demotes to a Lance. |
Knight | Knight leaps to either of the two spaces it could reach by moving two spaces forward, followed by one more space left or right. When it enters the promotion zone, it may promote. When it reaches either of the last two ranks, it must promote. | Promoted Knight | Promoted Knight Has 1 forward movent diagonal or orthogonal, 2 side movements left and right, and 2 rear knight movements. When captured, it demotes to a Knight. |
Pawn | Pawn moves one space vertically forward. When it moves into or within the promotion zone, it may promote to a Tokin. When it reaches the last rank, it must promote to a Tokin. | Tokin | Tokin moves as a Gold General. When captured, it demotes to a Pawn. |
Copper General | Copper General moves one space in the forward direction diagonally, forward direction orthogonal, or directly backwards. When it moves into or within the promotion zone, it may promote to a Silver General. When it reaches the last rank, it must promote to a Silver General. | Promoted Copper General | Promoted Copper General moves one space in any forward or diagonal direction. When captured, it demotes to a Copper General. |
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 Pocket Shogi Copper', which was made by .
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.