The King's Game

Game Components

Ōgi pits two players against each other, seated facing one another around an 8×8 board, totaling 64 squares. In the tradition of Japanese board games, the players are called 先手(Sente), the player who moves first, and 後手(Gote), the player who moves second.

In the West, Sente and Gote are often referred to as Black and White, with Black making the first move.

Each player starts the game with 18 pieces. These pieces are flat, irregularly pentagon-shaped, and resemble an arrowhead. They come in slightly different sizes. The pieces of both players are identical in appearance: only the pointed end, oriented toward the opponent's camp, indicates ownership. The pieces range from most important (largest) to least important (smallest) as follows:

• 1 King
• 1 Princess
• 1 Rook
• 1 Bishop
• 2 Silver Generals
• 2 Knights
• 2 Lances
• 8 Pawns

Each piece bears its name in kanji, drawn in black ink. With the exception of the King, a second character is inscribed on the reverse side, corresponding to its promoted state. When a piece is flipped to this side during the game, it means it has been promoted and now possesses different movement abilities.

Example with the Rook:

Unpromoted side (front)

Promoted side (back)

The King can be represented by two characters, 王 and 玉: however, they are the same piece (same rules and same movements), only the representation differs. In practice, 王 is generally associated with the higher-ranked player (or the reigning champion), while 玉 is associated with the lower-ranked player (or the challenger). This choice therefore depends on the relative status of the players. Traditionally, in handicap games, the lower-ranked player (下手(shitate)) takes 玉 and plays first (Sente), while the higher-ranked player (上手(uwate)) takes 王 and plays second (Gote). In games between players of equal level, this distinction is often ignored or assigned arbitrarily.

Below is the list of pieces and, for each one, its name, the Japanese character used on the piece, as well as its notation abbreviation (with, when applicable, the promoted form prefixed by +). The images show the two available representation styles.

Pieces

Name	Unpromoted				Promoted
	Abbr.	Kanji	Image (Eastern)	Image (Western)	Abbr.	Kanji	Image (Eastern)	Image (Western)
King	K^	王			—	—	—	—
Jeweled King	K^'	玉			—	—	—	—
Princess	I	姫			+I	神
Rook	R	飛			+R	龍
Bishop	B	角			+B	馬
Silver General	S	銀			+S	全
Knight	N	桂			+N	圭
Lance	L	香			+L	杏
Pawn	P	歩			+P	と

Rules of the Game

Objective

The goal of the game is to win by capturing the opponent's King, or by achieving another end-of-game condition provided by the rules (for example, the opponent's resignation).

Checkmate occurs when a position makes the capture of the King inevitable, regardless of any defense.

Setup

At the start of the game, both players place their pieces on the board, each oriented toward the opponent's camp.

The starting position is as follows:

Initial position of an Ōgi game.

Unless otherwise indicated, board diagrams are presented from Sente's point of view, positioned at the bottom of the diagram. Columns are labeled from a to h from left to right, and ranks from 1 to 8 from bottom to top (from Sente's perspective). In movement diagrams, highlighted squares indicate the possible destinations of the illustrated piece (movement, or capture if an opponent's piece occupies that square).

First player's camp (Sente)

• Rank 1: Lance, Knight, Silver General, Princess, King, Silver General, Knight, Lance.
• Rank 2: a Bishop and a Rook; the other squares are empty.
• Rank 3: a Pawn on each square.

Second player's camp (Gote)

• Rank 8: Lance, Knight, Silver General, Princess, King, Silver General, Knight, Lance.
• Rank 7: a Rook and a Bishop; the other squares are empty.
• Rank 6: a Pawn on each square.

Handicap Game

A handicap game is a game where the stronger player concedes a material advantage to their opponent from the outset in order to balance the chances of victory.

The Handicap

In Ōgi, this advantage typically takes the form of promoting one or more pieces before the start of the game.

Example

In the example below, Gote (the stronger player) has conceded an advantage to Sente (the weaker player) by allowing them to start with their Rook and Bishop already promoted.

Sente starts the game with their Bishop and Rook promoted.

Piece Movements

On each turn, a player may either move a piece already on the board (this move may result in a promotion, a capture, or both), or drop a previously captured piece back onto the board. Players take turns alternately: as soon as a move is made, it is the other player's turn.

King

King movements

The King (玉/王) moves one square per turn, in any direction (forward, backward, left, right, or diagonally), and captures in the same manner.

Princess

Princess movements

The Princess (姫) moves like a Bishop or like a Knight. However, unlike the game's Knight (limited to forward jumps), the Princess can jump in all eight directions. She can therefore either slide diagonally any number of squares (without being able to jump over a piece), or jump in an "L" shape (two squares then one perpendicular), in any direction, and captures in the same manner.

Promoted Princess

Promoted Princess movements

The Promoted Princess (神) retains all the movements of the Princess (Bishop's diagonal slides and Knight's jumps) and additionally gains the ability to move one square orthogonally, forward, backward, left, or right, and captures in the same manner.

Rook

Rook movements

A Rook (飛) moves any number of squares in a straight line, along the same rank or file, without ever jumping over a piece. It captures by ending its movement on the opponent's piece.

Promoted Rook

Promoted Rook movements

A Promoted Rook (龍) retains all the movements of a Rook and additionally gains the ability to move one square diagonally, in any direction, and captures in the same manner.

Bishop

Bishop movements

A Bishop (角) moves diagonally any number of squares, without jumping over pieces, and captures by landing on the opponent's piece.

Promoted Bishop

Promoted Bishop movements

A Promoted Bishop (馬) retains all the movements of the Bishop and additionally gains the ability to move one square in a straight line, along a rank or file. It captures in the same manner.

Silver General

Silver General movements

A Silver General (銀) moves one square diagonally (forward or backward) or one square straight forward, for a total of five possible destinations. It cannot move horizontally or retreat in a straight line.

Promoted Silver General

Promoted Silver General movements

A Promoted Silver General (全) moves one square orthogonally in any direction, or one square diagonally forward, for a total of six possible destinations. It cannot move diagonally backward.

Knight

Knight movements

A Knight (桂) moves by jumping: it advances two squares forward, then one square to the left or right, in a single movement. It can only move forward and therefore has at most two destination squares. Unlike the Knight in Western chess, it cannot move sideways or backward. Along with the Princess, it is the only piece that ignores intervening pieces: it is not blocked by a piece in front of it, but it cannot capture that piece either.

Promoted Knight

Promoted Knight movements

A Promoted Knight (圭) moves exactly like a Promoted Silver General. Unlike the unpromoted Knight, it no longer jumps over pieces.

Lance

Lance movements

A Lance (香) moves any number of squares in a straight line, only forward, along its file. It cannot move backward or sideways, and never jumps over a piece. It captures by ending its movement on the opponent's piece.

Promoted Lance

Promoted Lance movements

The movements of a Promoted Lance (杏) are exactly the same as those of a Promoted Silver General.

Pawn

Pawn movements

A Pawn (歩) moves one single square straight forward, along the same file, and can never move backward. It captures in the same manner: by advancing one square onto an opponent's piece.

Promoted Pawn

Promoted Pawn movements

A Promoted Pawn (と) moves in the same manner as a Promoted Silver General (全): one square forward, backward, left, or right, or diagonally forward, but never diagonally backward.

Promotion

A player's promotion zone consists of the last three ranks of the opponent's camp, that is, the ranks where the opponent's pieces are placed at the start of the game. When a piece enters this zone, moves within it, or exits it during a move (but not when it is dropped), it may be promoted at the end of that move. Promotion is indicated by flipping the piece to reveal the character on its promoted side.

In some cases, however, promotion becomes mandatory: if a piece reaches a square from which it could no longer make any legal move on a subsequent turn without being promoted, it must then be promoted.

Sente's promotion zone (in yellow)

Captures and pieces in hand

When a piece is captured, it does not permanently leave the game: it is removed from the board and placed in the reserve of the player who captured it. It is then said to be held in hand. In Japanese, these pieces are called 持ち駒(mochigoma) or 手駒(tegoma).

As a general rule, a captured piece reverts to its unpromoted state at the moment it is taken. Thus, a captured promoted piece is immediately demoted in the player's hand (for example, a Promoted Silver General becomes an unpromoted Silver General).

Exception: the King's privilege. When it is the King that captures a promoted piece, the player may choose: either to demote it as usual, or to exercise the King's privilege and keep it promoted in hand.

Instead of moving a piece already on the board, a player may, on their turn, drop a piece they hold in hand: they place it on an empty square, and the piece then joins their active pieces. A drop preserves the exact state of the piece in hand at the moment it is placed (promoted or unpromoted). Each drop counts as a full move.

A drop does not allow capturing an opponent's piece (the destination square must be empty), nor does it allow immediate promotion of the piece, even if it is dropped into the promotion zone. Dropping an unpromoted piece in hand into the promotion zone does not trigger promotion; however, a piece already promoted in hand is dropped while remaining promoted. From that moment on, the piece can capture and be promoted on its subsequent moves, like any other piece in play.

Restrictions on drops

Certain pieces cannot be dropped just anywhere on the board. The following restrictions apply:

• Pieces with no possible move (行き所のない駒(ikidokorononaikoma)): unpromoted Lances and unpromoted Knights cannot be dropped on the last rank (8th for Sente, 1st for Gote), and unpromoted Knights also cannot be dropped on the second-to-last rank (7th for Sente, 2nd for Gote). In these positions, their exclusively forward-oriented movement would leave them with no legal move on a subsequent turn.
• Unpromoted Pawns: unpromoted Pawns can never be dropped. A captured unpromoted Pawn therefore remains in hand, but is unusable (it cannot re-enter the board). However, if the King captures a Promoted Pawn and the player chooses, via the King's privilege, to keep it in its promoted form in hand, then that Promoted Pawn can subsequently be dropped.

Check

A King is in check (王手(ōte)) when it could be captured on the following move if the player does not react. In Ōgi, check is game information: it does not have to be announced, and it is not illegal to put, or even leave, one's King in check.

Thus, if a player does not notice that their King is threatened, the opponent can capture it on the following move and immediately win the game. This is called checkmate (王手詰め(ōte-zume)) when, regardless of the defense, the capture of the King is inevitable.

End of the game

Most Ōgi games end with the capture of the King (often following a checkmate situation) or with the resignation of the player in a losing position. Since captured pieces remain available in hand and can be dropped, it is common to have enough material to prepare a decisive attack.

A game can also end if a player makes an illegal move: the game stops immediately and the offending player loses the game.

The following is considered an illegal move—any action that violates the rules below (exhaustive list with respect to the rules on this page):

• Playing anything other than a move or a drop.
• Moving a piece off the board, or to a square that is not an allowed destination for its type and state (promoted/unpromoted).
• For long-range pieces (Rook, Bishop, Lance), passing through a piece: the path must be clear up to the destination square.
• Moving a piece to a square occupied by a piece of the same side.
• Dropping a piece on a non-empty square (a drop does not capture).
• Dropping a piece on a square where that drop is prohibited:
  • Unpromoted Lances and unpromoted Knights on the last rank (8th for Sente, 1st for Gote),
  • Unpromoted Knights on the second-to-last rank (7th for Sente, 2nd for Gote),
  • Unpromoted Pawns (anywhere on the board).
• Applying a promotion when it is not permitted (for example during a drop).
• Failing to apply a promotion when it is mandatory, that is, when a piece would reach a square from which it would have no legal move on a subsequent turn without being promoted (typically: Pawn or Lance on the last rank, Knight on the last two ranks).
• Playing a move that violates the repetition rule described below.

Repetitions are prohibited. A move is illegal if it exactly reproduces a move already played in the game —that is, if it involves the same piece (or, in the case of a drop, a piece of the same type and state), the same origin square, the same destination square, and the same promotion choice— and the resulting position is identical to one obtained previously. By position, we mean all the pieces present on the board and their state (promoted or not), the pieces held in hand by each player (and their state), as well as the side to move. The player who commits such a repetition loses the game immediately.

Finally, if 50 moves by each player (i.e., 100 half-moves) are played without any capture and without any unpromoted pawn move, the game may be declared a draw.

Cultural narrative and urban legend

Ōgi preserves the fundamental principles of Shōgi, but distinguishes itself through a contemporary narrative rather than documented historical origins. The game was formalized and named by the French author Cyril Veltin, who recounts having discovered it while observing, one summer evening, a strange game being played in a park in Ōsaka.

At the heart of this cultural narrative lies an urban legend involving a yōkai named Komayō, who is said to sometimes invite players to a game of Ōgi under the moon.

Some players claim to have seen her. Others do not believe.