Movement Shogi

the king

a king (玉/王) moves 1 square in direction, orthogonal or diagonal.

a rook (飛) moves number of squares in orthogonal direction.

a bishop (角) moves number of squares in diagonal direction. because cannot move orthogonally, players unpromoted bishops can reach half squares of board, unless 1 captured , dropped.

a gold general (金) moves 1 square orthogonally, or 1 square diagonally forward, giving 6 possible destinations. cannot move diagonally backwards.

a silver general (銀) moves 1 square diagonally, or 1 square straight forward, giving 5 possible destinations. because unpromoted silver can retreat more promoted one, common leave silver unpromoted @ far side of board. (see promotion).

a knight (桂) jumps @ angle intermediate orthogonal , diagonal, amounting 1 square straight forward plus 1 square diagonally forward, in single move. knight has 2 possible forward destinations. knight cannot move sides or in backwards direction. knight piece ignores intervening pieces on way destination. not blocked moving if square in front of occupied, neither can capture piece on square. useful leave knight unpromoted @ far side of board. knight must promote, however, if reaches either of 2 furthest ranks. (see promotion.)

a lance (香) moves number of squares directly forward. cannot move backwards or sides. useful leave lance unpromoted @ far side of board. lance must promote, however, if reaches furthest rank. (see promotion.)

a pawn (歩) moves 1 square straight forward. cannot retreat. unlike international chess pawns, shogi pawns capture same move. pawn must promote if arrives @ furthest rank. (see promotion.) in practice, however, pawn promoted whenever possible. there 2 restrictions on pawn may dropped. (see drops.)

all pieces knight move either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. these directions cannot combined in single move; 1 direction must chosen.

every piece blocks movement of other non-jumping pieces through square occupies.

if piece occupies legal destination opposing piece, may captured removing board , replacing opposing piece. capturing piece may not continue beyond square on turn. shogi pieces capture same move.

normally when moving piece, player snaps board ends of fingers of same hand. makes sudden sound effect, bringing piece attention of opponent. true capturing , dropping pieces. on traditional shogi-ban, pitch of snap deeper, delivering subtler effect.