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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Microshogi (五分摩訶将棋 gofun maka shōgi "5-minute (scarlet) poppy chess") is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess), with very different rules for promotion, and demotion. Kerry Handscomb of NOST[note 1] gave it this English name. Although not confirmed, he credits its invention to the late Oyama Yasuharu, one of the most famous professional shogi players in history. In the mid-1980s, Handscomb was gifted a set custom made by a Japanese craftsman. Therefore, the game must have been invented before this time.
Two players play on a board ruled into a grid of 5 ranks (rows) by 4 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color.
Each player has a set of 5 wedge-shaped pieces. The pieces are of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (or most to least powerful) they are:
The king is blank on the opposite side, the silver has a lance on the opposite side, the gold a rook, the bishop a tokin, and the pawn a knight.
The pieces all move like their shogi equivalents.
The game is identical to standard shogi with the following exceptions.
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Each side places his pieces in the following positions, pointing toward the opponent. For more information see the ChessVariants.com page on micro shogi.
That is, the first rank is |S|G|B|K|.
Unlike standard shogi, microshogi has no promotion zone. Instead, a piece promotes when it captures, and promotion is mandatory. When a piece captures, it is flipped over to show the value on the other side.
Promotion values are entirely different from standard shogi:
Likewise, when a lance, tokin, rook, or knight makes a capture, it flips back to its former state.
A piece can flip back and forth during the game as it makes captures.
A knight which reaches one of the two far ranks is trapped, as is a pawn which captures and thus promotes there. Likewise, a pawn that reaches the far rank is trapped, as is a knight which captures there. A lance is also trapped at the far rank, but can escape if it captures there and thus promotes to a silver. A silver which captures in the far rank and therefore promotes to a lance is trapped.
Any trapped piece may be captured and returned to play as part of the opposing army.
A tokin moves the same way as a golden general.
Drops are similar to standard shogi, except that:
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