damned_bulletin | (no subject)

Chess and shogi do have some similarities, similar pieces with similar movement patterns, for example, but also some large difference, such as the 'drop rule' in shogi. I could explain the game here, but I'm not sure how much interest you have in the topic and if it's something more interesting to learn face to face.

Well, it's not really for me. I've played shogi before, but really, I asked for someone I know who's also trapped here. I'm friends with his teacher, and the man used shogi to help train him, in a way. I think he could find chess useful in a similar way, if he knew the differences.

I'll point him in the direction of this bulletin so he can decide for himself. If he does decide to learn, I can promise you'll have all the challenge you could want in an opponent.

If you like, he's welcome to try playing against me some time. I wouldn't be so confident in him offering me much of a challenge however.

Ha ha. Well, we'll just have to wait and see, I guess. But analytical and strategic skills are his strengths. The same is true of a few others I know here, but he's the only one that actively plays shogi, that I'm aware of. I think the others think of it as an old man's game.

Edited 2009-08-11 12:44 (UTC)

That'd be me. I've never played chess, or any kind of game through notation, but I'll give it a shot. It's been way too long since doing something like this.

I think I picked up the differences between the two games by reading the matches up there, but correct me if I'm wrong:

- no promoting or dropping
- some crazy Q thing that's like a B and R combined
- 2 R's and 2 B's rather than 1 each
- Kts can make their usual move, but in any direction
- no Lance, Gold General, or Silver General
- P's capture at an angle instead of head-on
- Board is 8x8 and made of alternating white and black squares, pieces start out like this [a drawing of a very rough chess board with letters for pieces.

I don't understand this castling thing though, and I'm not sure about the Q. Can it move like a Kt too?

Personally, it seems risky to give so much power to one piece, but then, I guess we come from different worlds. Seems easier to come up with a plan, but harder to recover from a mistake.

Is there anything I missed?

[We'll just pretend that the language laws cover this junk too, even with different names and rules for a few pieces.]

The queen piece (Q) can't move like the knight (Kt), no. And castling is a manoeuvre that helps move the king (K) to a potentially safer part of the board while allowing the rook (R) to access more of the centre. The move can only be used if neither piece has been moved from their original positions, there are no pieces in the intervening squares, and none of the squares are under threat by an opponent's piece. Castling short is used for when the move is performed on the kingside; the king moves two spaces to be next to the rook, which then moves onto the opposite side of the king. Castling long is performed on the queenside, but the king moves the exact same number of spaces (rather than the three you might assume) and the rook again moves to the opposite side.

Promotion can occur in chess when a pawn (P) reaches the opponent's side of the board, in which case it can become any piece other than the king. Pawns may also move two spaces in their first move and, should an opponent use this to move a pawn that would normally be under threat by another pawn had they only moved one square, they are capable of capturing that piece by moving diagonally to the square behind the other pawn, provided this occurs in the next turn.

Okay, I've got it. You move first.

Seems like lot of people know this game. Where's it from?