Shogi
Captured pieces return to fight for you.
- Board
- 9 × 9
- Pieces
- 20
- Signature
- Drops · Promotion
Meet the game
Shogi's defining rule is the drop: captured enemy pieces may be placed back on the board as your own. Material never simply drains away, so the endgame grows sharper rather than quieter.
Pieces are pentagonal wooden tiles marked with kanji; entering the enemy camp lets them flip and promote.
Beginner questions
Learn Japanese chess on a 9×9 board: piece moves, promotion, captured-piece drops and illegal pawn drops. Follow illustrated lessons and practice shogi online.
Why can captured pieces return to the board?
Captured pieces revert to their unpromoted state and become pieces in hand. A turn may be used to drop one on a legal empty square, subject to drop and illegal-move rules.
What does the two-pawn rule mean?
You cannot drop a pawn on a file containing another of your unpromoted pawns. A promoted pawn does not count for this restriction. A pawn drop that immediately delivers mate is also prohibited.
Rules and methods: 日本将棋連盟 — 将棋の反則
Tutorials
All tutorials →Shogi Lesson 1: Direction, Pieces and Turns
Learn the eight basic piece movements once, with coordinates, direction and king safety. Full rules for pieces in hand, drops and promotion follow in Lesson 2.
First steps · 6 steps · 35 min
Shogi Lesson 2: Pieces in Hand, Drops, Promotion and Mate
Build on Lesson 1 with pieces in hand, legal drops and promotion, then analyze mate in one and repetition.
Beginner · 7 steps · 35 min
Sections
Puzzles
Shogi puzzles: read the goal, play your answer, then see why with a step-by-step replay. New puzzles daily, plus rule questions.
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Glossary
Every common Shogi term on one page, each with a plain explanation and an example, linked back to the beginner lessons.
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History
How Shogi began and how its rules changed, in a short timeline — then try it yourself in the lessons and practice pages.
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Play
Three engine levels, or two players on one screen. Rules are adjudicated by Fairy-Stockfish, running in your browser.
Play →Loading board…
This browser can't run the engine in-page (SharedArrayBuffer needed). Two-player mode still works.