by Steve Evans
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Dai
Dai Shogi Rules by Steve Evans |
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| INTRODUCTION The first recorded mention of Dai-Dai Shogi (Great Great Shogi) dates from the late sixteenth century, and the oldest surviving record of the moves of the pieces is in Nishizawa Teijin's SHO SHOGI ZUSHIKI, published in 1694. Dai-Dai Shogi boasts no less than 64 different types of piece and has an asymmetrical starting set-up. The 'promotion by capture' rules and the presence of the very powerful 'Hook Movers' make Dai-Dai Shogi a very different game from the smaller variants. Nevertheless, careful and deliberate development of the pieces is still as important in Dai-Dai Shogi as it is in games such as Chu or Dai. As in the other larger variants, there is no provision for returning captured pieces into play in Dai-Dai Shogi. THE GAME Dai-Dai Shogi is played on a board of 17 x 17 squares and each player has 96 pieces (including 17 pawns). As in all Shogi games, the pieces are flat and wedge-shaped and are not distinguished by colour. Although the pieces are of uniform colour the first player is still conventionally referred to as 'Black' and the second player as 'White'. Ownership of the pieces is indicated by the direction in which they face, with a player's pieces always pointing towards the opponent. The players make alternate moves, with the object being to capture the opposing 'King'. On each turn a player can move one piece according to its power of movement to a vacant square on the board, or to a square occupied by an enemy piece (in which case the enemy piece is captured and removed from the game). In the case of the 'Lion' and pieces with 'Lion' power a second move can sometimes be made in the same turn. JUMPING PIECES The 'Kylin','Phoenix' and 'Poisonous Snake'(and those pieces with 'Lion' powers) have the power to jump over occupied squares. As indicated by red circles on the Piece Help screens, the 'Kylin' can jump to the second square in any orthogonal direction, the 'Phoenix' may jump to the second square when moving diagonally, and the 'Poisonous Snake' can jump to the 2nd square directly forwards or in the reverse diagonal directions. The pieces shown on the 'Piece Help Screen' as having moves of 2, 3 or 5 squares can only move more than one square in the directions indicated if the intervening squares are unoccupied (ie: they can not jump). THE LION The 'Lion' has a very unusual and powerful move. If the 8 squares immediately adjacent to the 'Lion' are called the 'A' squares (shown as Dark Blue Circles on the Piece Help diagram), and the 16 squares two away from the piece are called the 'B' squares (represented as Light Blue Circles), then the 'Lion' may do anyone of the following things in a single turn: - Move directly to any 'A' or 'B' square, jumping an intervening square if necessary; - Capture a piece on an 'A' square and continue moving one more square in any direction from the point of capture, making another capture if the 2nd square is also occupied by an enemy piece. - Capture a piece on any 'A' square without moving (this is known as 'igui' and counts as a turn). - Move to an adjacent square and return to the starting square (effectively passing the turn). In Dai-Dai Shogi there are no restrictions on the capture of Lions (as there are in Chu Shogi). On promoting to 'Furious Fiend' the 'Lion' gains the power of the 'Lion Dog' (ie: it can move up to 3 squares in any orthogonal or diagonal direction). The 'Furious Fiend' can move as either a 'Lion' or 'Lion Dog' on any one turn (it can not combine the two powers in the same move). HOOK MOVERS The most powerful pieces in Dai-Dai Shogi are the hook movers. The 'Hook Mover' itself has a Double Rook move, being able to move any number of squares in any orthogonal direction, immediately followed by a further move at right angles to the first. The two legs of the 'Hook Mover' move do not have to be of the same length, and it is not compulsory that it make the 2nd Rook move. To give some idea of the power of this move it is worth noting that the 'Hook Mover' on an empty board would be able to reach any square in one turn! The 'Hook Mover' is not a jumping piece, and must end its move on making a capture. The 'Long-Nosed Goblin' has hook moving powers in the diagonal directions (ie: it is effectively a Double Bishop), and in addition has the power to move one square orthogonally. PROMOTION The promotion rules in Dai-Dai Shogi (and its larger cousins) are very different from those in the smaller variants. In Dai-Dai there are no Promotion Zones. A piece is promoted when it captures of an enemy piece. If a piece has a promoted rank and makes a capture, promotion is compulsory. A piece that reaches the last rank of the board and does not have the power to retreat is left in play on the last rank until captured. As in all the games in the Shogi family, in Dai-Dai Shogi sets the promoted rank is shown on the reverse side of the piece, and the piece is turned over on promotion to reveal the new rank. CAPTURES Unlike in Shogi, captured pieces in Dai-Dai can not be 'dropped' back into play. A captured piece is removed from play and takes no further part in the game. Note: The above movement diagrams and rules were copied from Steve Evans "Shogi Variants" |
| Variations or conflicts in the movement rules English language (Western) sources show the movements given on the left hand side of each pair. The "en.Wikipedia" rules are given on the right hand side of each pair with explanations where needed.
Note: In English-language sources, the lion dog is
described as having a 3-square limited-range move in any direction. However,
this seems to be an error, as it makes the traditional description of the
teaching king tautologous. - en.wikipedia |
