Since this is a Shogi variant the differences with orthodox chess are numerous. The most striking differences between chess and shogi are the Pawn move, and the fact that pieces other than Pawns can promote too, even before they reach last rank.
Minjiku Shogi is played on a 10x10 board, with 4 additional squares that disappear when no longer occupied. Unlike in modern shogi, captured pieces cannot be dropped, but remain out of play forever. Of the orthodox shogi pieces only the King, Pawn, Rook and Bishop participate, but Queen, Kirin and Phoenix are known from many of the larger shogi variants, and the jumping sliders are known from the historic shogi variant variant tenjiku shogi. Most other piece are novelties, especially conceived for this game. Even most of the orthodox Shogi pieces have different promotions than usual.
In Minjiku Shogi there are several types of special moves. For one, there are 'flying' pieces that can jump over arbitrary many other pieces to capture. But they cannot always jump over each other. Then there is an 'area move', which consists of one or two King steps, not necessarily in the same direction. The second step can only be made if the first went to an empty square. Some pieces have the ability to capture an adjacent piece without moving themselves: the adjacent piece is simply taken off the board ('rifle capture'). Finally there is a capture mode called 'burning', which removes every enemy diagonally adjacent to the square where the move ends.
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The Fire Dragon: moves and captures like Queen, and has an 'area move' (see below for Lion). But it also automatically captures ('burns') all enemies diagonally adjacent to a square it ends its move on. |
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The Jumping General (aka Great General): moves and captures like a Queen, but for capturing it can jump over arbitrary many pieces (friend or foe). The jumped-over pieces are not affected. It cannot jump over another Jumping General or King, though. |
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The Area Jumper: moves and captures like a Bishop, but for capturing it can jump over arbitrary many pieces (friend or foe). The jumped-over pieces are not affected. It cannot jump over a Jumping General, King or other Area Jumper, though. In addition it has an 'area move' (see below for Lion). |
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The Orthogonal Jumper (aka Rook General): moves and captures like a Rook, but for capturing it can jump over arbitrary many pieces (friend or foe). The jumped-over pieces are not affected. It cannot jump over a Jumping General, Area Jumper, Diagonal Jumper, King or other Orthogonal Jumper, though. |
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The Lion: moves or captures as a King, but if the square thus reached is empty it can optionally move on or capture to a square adjacent to that ('area move'). It cannot return to where it came from, though. |
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The Samurai: moves and captures like an orthodox Knight, and can capture adjacent enemies in all 8 directions without moving. |
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The Ninja: moves and captures sideways like a Rook, but skips the adjacent square (whether empty or occupied) when doing so. Can also move or capture to diagonally adjacent squares, or capture orthogonally adjacent enemies without moving. |
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The Queen: moves and captures like an orthodox Queen. |
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The Diagonal Jumper (aka Bishop General): moves and captures like a Bishop, but for capturing it can jump over arbitrary many pieces (friend or foe). The jumped-over pieces are not affected. It cannot jump over a Jumping General, Area Jumper, Orthogonal Jumper, King or other Diagonal Jumper, though. |
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The Cobra: moves and captures like a Rook, and can capture diagonally adjacent enemies without moving. |
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The Viper: moves and captures like a Bishop, and can capture orthogonally adjacent enemies without moving. |
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The Rook: moves and captures like an orthodox Rook. |
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The Bishop: moves and captures like an orthodox Bishop. |
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The Lateral Mover: moves and captures by sliding sideways like a Rook, or to orthogonally adjacent squares. If it has not moved yet it can also move and capture by sliding 2 squares forward (non-jumping!). |
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The Phoenix: moves and captures to orthogonally adjacent squares, or by jumping to the second square diagonally. |
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The Kirin: moves and captures to diagonally adjacent squares, or by jumping to the second square orthogonally. |
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The Minister: moves and captures like an orthodox King. The square the Minister starts on disappears as soon as it gets evacuated. |
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The Gold General: moves and captures to adjacent squares in any orthogonal or the forward diagonal direction. |
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The Silver General: moves and captures to adjacent squares in any diagonal or the forward orthogonal direction. |
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The Pawn: moves and captures to the square directly in front of it. |
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The King: moves and captures to any of the eight adjacent squares. The square the King starts on disappears as soon as it gets evacuated. |
Each player starts with:
Castling: no.
Double move for Pawns (start): no.
"En passant" capture: no.
Piece drops: no.
Promotion: most pieces can promote, to a dedicated promoted type, when they enter the promotion zone consisting of the last three ranks, or capture a piece in it. This is optional. Once promoted the pieces cannot promote again, even if an identically moving piece in the initial setup could.
Please see below for orthodox Chess rules.
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Chess is a game played by two people on a chessboard, with sixteen pieces (of six types) for each player. Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The goal of the game is to checkmate, i.e. to threaten the opponent's king with inevitable capture. In addition, there are several ways that a game can end in a draw.
Chess is played on a chessboard, a square board divided into 64 squares (eight-by-eight) of alternating color, which is similar to that used in draughts (checkers). No matter what the actual colors of the board, the lighter-colored squares are called "light" or "white", and the darker-colored squares are called "dark" or "black". Sixteen "white" and sixteen "black" pieces are placed on the board at the beginning of the game. The board is placed so that a white square is in each player's near-right corner.
Each player controls sixteen pieces:
| Name | Number | White Symbols | Black Symbols |
| King | 1 |  |
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| Queen | 1 |  |
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| Rook | 2 |  |
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| Bishop | 2 |  |
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| Knight | 2 |  |
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| Pawn | 8 |  |
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At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged as shown in the diagram. The second row from the player contains the eight pawns; the row nearest the player contains the remaining pieces. Popular phrases used to remember the setup, often heard in beginners' clubs, are "queen on her own color" and "white on right". The latter refers to setting up the board so that the square closest to each player's right is white.
The player controlling the white army is named "White"; the player controlling the black pieces is named "Black". White moves first, then players alternate moves. Making a move is required; it is not legal to skip a move, even when having to move is detrimental. Play continues until a king is checkmated, a player resigns, or a draw is declared, as explained below. In addition, if the game is being played under a time control players who exceed their time limit lose the game.
Each chess piece has its own method of movement. Moves are made to vacant squares except when capturing an opponent's piece.
With the exception of any movement of the knight and the occasional castling maneuver, pieces cannot jump over each other. When a piece is captured (or taken), the attacking piece replaces the enemy piece on its square (en passant being the only exception). The captured piece is thus removed from the game and may not be returned to play for the remainder of the game. The king can be put in check but cannot be captured (see below).
The king can move exactly one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Only once per player, per game, is a king allowed to make a special move known as castling (see below).
The rook moves any number of vacant squares vertically or horizontally. It also is moved while castling.
The bishop moves any number of vacant squares in any diagonal direction.
The queen can move any number of vacant squares diagonally, horizontally, or vertically.
The knight moves to the nearest square not on the same rank, file, or diagonal. In other words, the knight moves two squares horizontally then one square vertically, or one square horizontally then two squares vertically. Its move is not blocked by other pieces: it jumps to the new location.
Pawns have the most complex rules of movement:
The pawn is also involved in the two special moves en passant and promotion.
Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook, then placing the rook on the other side of the king, adjacent to it. Castling is only permissible if all of the following conditions hold:
If player A's pawn moves forward two squares and player B has a pawn on its fifth rank on an adjacent file, B's pawn can capture A's pawn as if A's pawn had only moved one square. This capture can only be made on the immediately subsequent move. In this example, if the white pawn moves from a2 to a4, the black pawn on b4 can capture it en passant, ending up on a3.
If a pawn advances to its eighth rank, it is then promoted (converted) to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color, the choice being at the discretion of its player (a queen is usually chosen). The choice is not limited to previously captured pieces. Hence it is theoretically possible for a player to have up to nine queens or up to ten rooks, bishops, or knights if all of their pawns are promoted. If the desired piece is not available, the player should call the arbiter to provide the piece.
A king is in check when it is under attack by one or more enemy pieces. A piece unable to move because it would place its own king in check (it is pinned against its own king) may still deliver check to the opposing player.
A player may not make any move which places or leaves his king in check. The possible ways to get out of check are:
If a player's king is placed in check and there is no legal move that player can make to escape check, then the king is said to be checkmated, the game ends, and that player loses. Unlike other pieces, the king is never actually captured or removed from the board because checkmate ends the game.
The diagram shows a typical checkmate position. The white king is threatened by the black queen; every square to which the king could move is also threatened; it cannot capture the queen, because it would then be threatened by the rook.
The game ends in a draw if any of these conditions occur:
The game is immediately drawn when there is no possibility of checkmate for either side with any series of legal moves. This draw is often due to insufficient material, including the endgames
The player having the move may claim a draw by declaring that one of the following conditions exists, or by declaring an intention to make a move which will bring about one of these conditions:
If the claim is proven true, the game is drawn.
At one time, if a player was able to check the opposing king continually (perpetual check) and the player indicated their intention to do so, the game was drawn. This rule is no longer in effect; however, players will usually agree to a draw in such a situation, since either the rule on threefold repetition or the fifty-move rule will eventually be applicable.