Japanese chess

Shogi (将棋, shōgi) (/ˈʃoʊɡiː/, ), also known as Japanese chess or the Game of Generals, is a two-player strategy board game native to Japan. In the same family as chess, makruk, shatranj, janggi and xiangqi, it is the most popular chess variant in Japan. Shōgi means general's (shō 将) board game (gi 棋). The world's first chess variant, chaturanga arose in India in approximately the seventh century AD. From there it migrated both westward and northward, mutating along the way. The western branch became shatranj in Arabia and Orthodox Chess in Europe. The northern branch became xiangqi in China and janggi in Korea. Sometime in the 10th to 12th centuries, 'chess' crossed the channel to Japan where it spawned a number of interesting variants. One of these was called 'Small Shogi'. Eventually, Small Shogi (though it went through many forms) won out over the larger variants and is now referred to simply as 'Shogi'. It is certain that Shogi in its present form was played in Japan as early as the 16th century. Shogi (将棋, shōgi) (/ˈʃoʊɡiː/, ), also known as Japanese chess or the Game of Generals, is a two-player strategy board game native to Japan. In the same family as chess, makruk, shatranj, janggi and xiangqi, it is the most popular chess variant in Japan. Shōgi means general's (shō 将) board game (gi 棋). Shogi was the earliest chess variant to allow captured pieces to be returned to the board by the capturing player. This drop rule is speculated to have been invented in the 15th century and possibly connected to the practice of 15th century mercenaries switching loyalties when captured instead of being killed. The earliest predecessor of the game, chaturanga, originated in India in the 6th century. Shogi in its present form was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the drop rule was recorded from 1210 in a historical document Nichūreki, which is an edited copy of Shōchūreki and Kaichūreki from the late Heian period (c. 1120). Two players face each other across a board composed of rectangles in a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns) yielding an 81 square board. In Japanese they are called Sente 先手 (first player) and Gote 後手 (second player), but in English are conventionally referred to as Black and White, with Black the first player.The board is nearly always rectangular, and the rectangles are undifferentiated by marking or color. Pairs of dots mark the players' promotion zones. Each player has a set of 20 flat wedge-shaped pentagonal pieces of slightly different sizes. Except for the kings, opposing pieces are undifferentiated by marking or color. Pieces face forward by having the pointed side of each piece oriented toward the opponent's side – this shows who controls the piece during play. The pieces from largest (most important) to smallest (least important) are: