How Shogi Pieces Move: What to Learn First and How to Remember It

Each shogi player has 20 pieces, 40 in all. There are eight kinds: king, rook, bishop, gold general, silver general, knight, lance and pawn. Six of them can promote when they enter the enemy camp, and then they move differently. I think the piece moves are the first wall anyone meets when starting shogi, and for many learners outside Japan the kanji on the pieces make that wall a little higher.

This post lists the moves in the order I find easiest to learn. For each piece I give the English name, the kanji written on the piece, and its Japanese reading. For the moves I used the “how pieces move” section of the Japan Shogi Association’s rules of play.

Every piece faces the opponent’s side, and “forward” always means toward the opponent. The direction the characters point tells you whose piece it is.

1. King and pawn: the two simplest

King (王将 ōshō / 玉将 gyokushō): moves one square in any of the eight directions. There are two ways of writing it, but both move the same way. If your king is mated you lose, so learn this one first.

Pawn (歩兵 fuhyō, usually called 歩 fu): moves one square straight forward only. It cannot move backward or sideways. Each player has nine, more than any other piece.

Unlike a chess pawn, a shogi pawn captures the piece directly in front of it. It cannot capture diagonally. People who already know chess get this wrong most often.

2. Rook and bishop: straight lines and diagonals

Next come the two long-range pieces. Their moves are simple, and once you know them the game starts to feel like a real game.

Rook (飛車 hisha): moves any number of squares vertically or horizontally. It stops when another piece is in the way.

Bishop (角行 kakugyō, usually called 角 kaku): moves any number of squares along the four diagonals.

I think the quickest way to remember them is by shape: the rook is a plus sign, the bishop an X. Neither can jump over pieces. Both move exactly like the chess rook and bishop.

3. Lance: a rook that only goes forward

Lance (香車 kyōsha): moves any number of squares straight forward. It cannot move backward or sideways.

If you already know the rook, you can learn it in one go as “a rook that can only go forward”. Once it has advanced, it can never come back.

4. Gold and silver: the easiest pair to confuse

The gold and silver generals both move one square at a time and look alike, so I think they are the pair beginners mix up most.

Gold general (金将 kinshō, usually called 金 kin): moves to six squares: straight forward, the two diagonals forward, the two squares to the side, and straight back. It cannot go to the two diagonals backward.

Silver general (銀将 ginshō, usually called 銀 gin): moves to five squares: straight forward and the four diagonals. It cannot go sideways or straight back.

The way I recommend is to remember the gaps. Gold: “no diagonal back”. Silver: “no sideways, no straight back”. Remembering the holes is shorter than counting the squares.

Another clue comes from promotion. As explained below, the silver, knight, lance and pawn all move like a gold once promoted. If you know the gold exactly, you know four promoted pieces at once, so the gold is especially worth learning well.

5. Knight: the piece that jumps

Knight (桂馬 keima): jumps to one of the two squares two forward and one to the side. Those are its only two destinations. It is the only shogi piece that can jump over other pieces. It cannot move backward or sideways.

It resembles the chess knight, but the chess knight can jump in eight directions, and the shogi knight only to the two squares in front. I think it is best learned last, when its difference from the other pieces stands out clearly.

Moves after promotion

When your piece moves into the enemy camp (the opponent’s three nearest ranks), moves within it, or moves out of it, you may turn it over and promote it. Promotion is optional, except when the piece could never move again without it: a pawn or lance on the last rank, or a knight on the last two ranks, must promote. The king and gold never promote.

Promoted pieces fall into two groups.

The rook and bishop gain one-square moves.

• Dragon (竜王 ryūō, or 竜 ryū): the rook’s moves plus one square diagonally
• Horse (竜馬 ryūma, or 馬 uma): the bishop’s moves plus one square vertically or horizontally

The silver, knight, lance and pawn all move like a gold.

• Promoted silver (成銀 narigin), promoted knight (成桂 narikei), promoted lance (成香 narikyō), and tokin (と金 tokin, the promoted pawn)

When a promoted piece is captured, it turns back into its original piece and goes into the opponent’s hand. Capture a tokin, and what the opponent gains is just a pawn.

Teaching children

When teaching children, I think it goes better if you do not set out all the pieces at once. This is the order I would suggest.

1. Play with only kings and pawns. Just walking pawns toward the other king gives a feel for capturing and being captured.
2. Add the rook and bishop. Their large moves make it easy to see what is happening on the board.
3. Add the lance, gold, silver and knight, in that order.
4. Once all the pieces are in, teach promotion.

Each time you add a piece, put only that piece on the board and ask “where can it go?”, and let the child point. You can tell at once whether it has stuck.

If a 9×9 board feels like too much at first, you can start with Dobutsu Shogi (どうぶつしょうぎ, “animal shogi”). According to the Japanese Wikipedia, the women’s professional Madoka Kitao devised the rules and Maiko Fujita designed the pieces, and it was presented in 2008. It uses a 3×4 board with four kinds of pieces: the lion (moves like a king), the giraffe (one square vertically or horizontally), the elephant (one square diagonally) and the chick (one square forward). A chick that reaches the far rank becomes a hen, which moves like a tokin. Captured pieces can be used again, just as in shogi, so I think it works well as a bridge to the full game.

Learning by moving the pieces in Mindsports

StudyX Mindsports is an app with 12 strategy games, including shogi, go and chess. The shogi beginner lessons teach the rules through tap-to-answer quizzes and then let you practise in real game positions. The lessons are available in 15 languages.

After the lessons you can play the CPU from Lv.1 to Lv.50. It goes up one level when you win and down one when you lose, so the opponent adjusts to your results without you choosing a strength. You can take moves back, so if you move a piece the wrong way you can undo it and check. The games and beginner lessons are free, with ads. Each game’s first advanced lesson is free too, and a one-time purchase opens the rest and removes the ads.

How shogi differs from go and chess is in Shogi, Go and Chess: The Differences, and how to use Mindsports is in Getting Started with Mindsports. Once you know the moves and want to practise the endgame with mating puzzles, there is also Shogi365.