Shogi

Japanese chess and several smaller Shogi variants.

Shogi is a chess-family game with drops: captured pieces can return to the board as your own pieces. Little Golem supports standard Shogi and several smaller variants.

Common rules

Sente moves first. Players alternate one move at a time.

On a turn you either:

  • move one of your pieces on the board
  • drop one captured piece from your hand onto an empty square

Pieces cannot move onto a square occupied by a friendly piece. A move may capture an opponent piece on the destination square. Captured pieces are added to the capturing player’s hand in their unpromoted form.

The usual goal is to checkmate the opponent’s royal piece. Fourfold repetition is a draw.

Forward always means toward the opponent’s side of the board.

Drops

Captured pieces in hand may be dropped onto empty squares, with these restrictions:

  • A drop must not leave your own king in check.
  • A pawn, lance, or Tori Shogi swallow may not be dropped on the last rank, where it would have no forward move.
  • A knight may not be dropped on either of the last two ranks.
  • In standard-piece variants, except Shogi 3x4, you may not drop an unpromoted pawn on a file where you already have an unpromoted pawn.
  • A pawn drop that gives immediate checkmate is illegal in standard-piece variants, except Shogi 3x4.
  • In Tori Shogi, a swallow drop that gives immediate checkmate is illegal.
  • In Tori Shogi, a swallow may be dropped on a file only if you have fewer than two unpromoted swallows on that file before the drop.

Promotion

A piece may promote when a move starts or ends in the promotion zone. Promotion is optional unless the piece would otherwise have no legal move on a later turn.

Promotion is forced for:

  • pawn, lance, and Tori Shogi swallow on the last rank
  • knight on either of the last two ranks

Promotion zones on Little Golem:

Variant Board Promotion zone
Shogi 9x9 last 3 ranks
Mini Shogi 5x5 5x5 last rank
Tori Shogi 7x7 last 2 ranks
Shogi 3x4 3x4 last rank
Shogi 5x6 5x6 last 2 ranks
Shogi 5x6+ 5x6 last 2 ranks

Supported variants

Variant Board Initial material per player Notes
Shogi 9x9 King, rook, bishop, 2 golds, 2 silvers, 2 knights, 2 lances, 9 pawns Standard Shogi.
Mini Shogi 5x5 5x5 King, gold, silver, bishop, rook, pawn Standard piece moves on a small board.
Tori Shogi 7x7 Phoenix, 2 quails, falcon, 2 cranes, 8 swallows, 2 pheasants Bird-themed Shogi variant.
Shogi 3x4 3x4 Lion, giraffe, elephant, chick Also known as Dobutsu or Animal Shogi.
Shogi 5x6 5x6 King, 2 golds, 2 silvers, 3 pawns Compact Shogi using standard Shogi movement.
Shogi 5x6+ 5x6 Same as Shogi 5x6, plus a lance and knight in hand at the start Extra opening drops from the first move.

Standard Shogi pieces

These pieces are used in Shogi, Mini Shogi, Shogi 5x6, and Shogi 5x6+.

Piece Symbol Kanji Movement Promoted kanji Promoted movement
King K 王 One step in any direction. - Does not promote.
Rook R 飛 Any number of squares orthogonally. 龍 Dragon king: rook movement plus one step diagonally.
Bishop B 角 Any number of squares diagonally. 馬 Dragon horse: bishop movement plus one step orthogonally.
Gold general G 金 One step forward, sideways, straight backward, or diagonally forward. - Does not promote.
Silver general S 銀 One step forward, diagonally forward, or diagonally backward. 全 Moves as a gold general.
Knight N 桂 Jumps two squares forward and one square sideways. 圭 Moves as a gold general.
Lance L 香 Any number of squares straight forward. 杏 Moves as a gold general.
Pawn P 歩 One step straight forward. と Moves as a gold general.

Shogi 3x4 pieces

Shogi 3x4 uses animal pieces. The Little Golem move notation also uses the small symbols shown below.

Piece Symbol App label Movement Promoted label Promoted movement
Lion K 🦁 One step in any direction. - Does not promote.
Giraffe r 🦒 One step orthogonally. - Does not promote.
Elephant b 🐘 One step diagonally. - Does not promote.
Chick P 🐥 One step straight forward. 🐔 Hen: moves as a gold general.

Shogi 3x4 also has a campmate rule: a lion wins by legally reaching the opponent’s back rank.

Tori Shogi pieces

Piece Symbol Kanji Movement Promoted kanji Promoted movement
Phoenix K 鵬 One step in any direction. - Does not promote.
Left quail Ql 鶉 Slides straight forward and on one backward diagonal; steps one square on the other backward diagonal. - Does not promote.
Right quail Qr 鶉 Mirror image of the left quail. - Does not promote.
Falcon Fa 鷹 One step forward, sideways, or diagonally. It has no straight-back step. 鵰 Eagle.
Eagle +Fa 鵰 Falcon movement plus extra long moves: slides straight backward, and can continue along a forward diagonal when the adjacent diagonal square is empty. It can also move two squares backward diagonally when the adjacent diagonal square is empty. - Already promoted.
Crane Cr 鶴 One step straight or diagonally forward, and one step straight or diagonally backward. It has no sideways move. - Does not promote.
Swallow Sw 燕 One step straight forward. 鴈 Goose.
Goose +Sw 鴈 Jumps two squares diagonally forward or two squares straight backward. - Already promoted.
Pheasant Pt 雉 Jumps two squares straight forward, or steps one square diagonally backward. - Does not promote.

Last modified July 9, 2026: add shogi piece labels (8519895)