Shinji, Fukamatsu. "AI beats top shogi player in first match of tournament final：The Asahi Shimbun". The Asahi Shimbun . Retrieved 17 May 2016. If you’re planning to take your game to your friends’ place or on vacation, then you’ll need it to be portable. Shogi boards come in a variety of styles and sizes. Here is an overview of the most common types. Shogi Boards With Legs (脚付将棋盤)

There are three types of kaya trees: "Hyuga Kaya" which is grown and harvested in a mountainous area in the southern part of Kyushu, Japan, "Japanese-grown honkaya" which is grown in other areas of Japan, and "Chinese-grown honkaya" which is mainly grown in Yunnan Province, China. Generally, Japanese-grown honkaya is said to be better than Chinese honkaya in terms of quality. If a piece occupies a legal destination for an opposing piece, it may be captured by removing it from the board and replacing it with the opposing piece. The capturing piece may not continue beyond that square on that turn. Shogi pieces capture the same as they move. Shogi players are expected to follow etiquette in addition to rules explicitly described. Commonly accepted etiquette include the following: The player must always make a move when it is his or her turn. In other words, he or she cannot choose not to make a move. In the very rare circumstance where no legal move is possible, the player who cannot move loses the game. The main difference between Japanese and Chinese kaya is the wood quality, caused by the natural environment where the tree was grown. Japanese kaya is usually lighter and more yellowish in color and has a unique wood aroma. Depending on your preference, Japanese kaya is generally more highly valued than Chinese kaya, and the value and price of Japanese kaya tends to be higher due to the rarity of the wood.

Shin Kaya Table Shogi Board - 2.9cm thick

The pieces are flat counters, all the same hue but with a point. Pieces are laid so that they point towards the opponent. Considering all of those factors, the question of which Shogi set to spend your hard-earned money on all comes down to a combination of practicality and personal taste. Go became so popular that there were even professional players who earned a living by playing the game.

The Japanese Chess Classical Honkaku Shogi Game Set by Hanayama is a great solution to that problem. A full-size plastic board with plastic Shogi pieces, this one may not boast the kind of immaculate quality and durability that you’d get with a traditional wooden set, but neither will it impact your wallet in the same way. Players take turns to move a piece that belongs to them. Each piece is moved according to different rules but no two pieces can occupy the same square. If a piece moves so that its final position is a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is "captured" or "taken" and is removed from the board. Captured pieces should be placed face up within easy view of both players. It is not compulsory to capture. That's for the board, now I need for the individual pieces as follows, of course we're talking about if the piece was "standing up" in front of us: X HeightIf a piece other than the Gold General or King makes a move that ends within the promotion zone (the last three rows), then the player can choose to promote that piece. The piece is turned over to reveal the symbol of the promoted piece. If a Pawn or Lance reaches the final row or the Knight reaches the penultimate row, then that piece MUST be promoted. A promoted piece moves as follows: Exception: There are a number of rules concerning how pawns may be dropped, and how pieces may be dropped close to the farthest edge of the board from where they start.

Yebisu, Miles (2016). Comprehensive shogi guide in English: How to play Japanese chess. Laboratory Publishing. Hands down the coolest portable shogi board available are these unique cloth "furoshiki" shogi board sets, produced by professional shogi player Akiko Nakakura. Her concept for the sets was to provide affordable yet high-quality shogi sets for children to learn and develop a love for the game. The "furoshiki" cloths are hand-dyed in Kyoto in a traditional process, and feature a perfectly-sized shogi board that can also be tied into a pouch to hold the box of included shogi pieces. The quality wooden pieces are made in Yamagata Prefecture, the prefecture that produces the most shogi pieces in all of Japan. As a bonus, the set also comes with a hand-painted folding fan (an item often used by pros during their games) and a beginner's book on how to play shogi. A pawn may not be dropped in any square on a file that already contains an unpromoted pawn of that player.Three pawns: White moves first and forfeits all of his pieces except for his king, and he also starts with three pawns in hand the only piece which may jump over other pieces) Rook moves vertically or horizontally any distance Bishop moves diagonally any distance Lance moves forward any distance Pawn one step forward