Paul DeStefano
United States
Long Island
New York
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Most people know chess, so I will use that as a benchmark.
Shogi is available in many different sets, like chess. However, they break easily into two major categories.
Japanese sets use Japanese characters to distinguish pieces, Symbolic sets use graphic representations of the movement path of the pieces. Beginners like Symbolics, purists like the Japanese.
The board is larger and less distraction than chess (no colors). Pieces are all identical in shape, vary slightly in size, and show team by which way they point.
Pieces are generally less mobile than in chess, and have odd movement abilities - moving in any diagonal or straight forward, in the case of a Silver General, for example.
This creates a game of careful tactical maneuvering. Usually play is quite tight, with most pieces having limited movement. It feels more like a duel than chess, probing for a tiny opening in a net of protected spaces.
Pieces promote at a point on the board, but each piece to its 'enhanced' (dragon) version, not all to the same thing. One truly odd piece is the Lance, which can move as far as it wants - but only straight.
The real heart of the game is the capture. After capture, a piece s set aside, and may be REINTRODUCED to the board by the capturer. So, in losing a piece, not only do you lose the power of that piece, but the opponent gains the potential to drop it on the board as one of their own. Hence, the reason for both sides having pieces identical except for facing.
It is indeed one of many many chess variants.
In this reviewers opinion, it is the superior by far.
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