Minishogi is a modern variant

Shogi variant

Many variants of shogi have been developed over the centuries, ranging from some of the largest chess-type games ever played to some of the smallest...

 of shogi

Shogi

, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...

 (Japanese chess). Shigenobu Kusumoto of Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, invented or rediscovered the game c. 1970. The rules are identical to those of standard shogi, except that it is played with a reduced number of pieces on a 5x5 board, and each player's promotion zone consists only of the rank farthest from the player.

Game equipment

Two players play on a board ruled into a grid of 5 ranks (rows) by 5 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color.

Each player has a set of 6 wedge-shaped pieces. The pieces are of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (or most to least powerful) they are:

• 1 king
• 1 rook
• 1 bishop
• 1 gold general
• 1 silver general
• 1 pawn

These are identical to the standard pieces of the same names.

Setup

Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, from the perspective of Black, pointing toward the opponent.

In the rank nearest the player:

• The king is placed in the left corner file.
• The gold general is placed in the adjacent file to the king.
• The silver general is placed adjacent to the gold general.
• The bishop is placed adjacent to the silver general.
• The rook is placed in the right corner, adjacent to the bishop.

That is, the first rank is |K|G|S|B|R|.

• In the second rank, each player places the pawn in the same file as the king.

Promotion and drops

These are as in standard shogi, except that the promotion zone is the farthest rank away from you. Pieces promote as they do in shogi. You can drop like you do in shogi as well.

See also

• Shogi variant
  Shogi variant
  Many variants of shogi have been developed over the centuries, ranging from some of the largest chess-type games ever played to some of the smallest...
  
  
• Tori shogi
  Tori shogi
  Tori shōgi is a variant of shogi attributed to Ōhashi Sōei in the late 18th century. The game is played on a 7×7 board and uses the drop rule; it's the only Japanese variant to do so...
  
  
• Microshogi
  Microshogi
  Microshogi is a modern variant of shogi , with very different rules for promotion, and depromotion. Kerry Handscomb of NOST gave it this English name. Although not confirmed, he credits its invention to the late Oyama Yasuharu, a top level shogi player...
  
  
• Judkins shogi
  Judkins shogi
  Judkins shogi is a modern variant of shogi , however it is not Japanese. Credit for its invention has been given to Paul Judkins of Norwich, UK, prior to April 1998.- Game equipment :...
  
  
• Kyoto shogi
  Kyoto shogi
  Kyoto shogi is a modern variant of shogi . It was invented by Tamiya Katsuya c. 1976.Kyoto shogi is played like standard shogi, but with a reduced number of pieces on a 5×5 board...
  
  
• Cannon shogi
  Cannon shogi
  Cannon shogi is a modern variant of shogi . It was invented by Peter Michaelsen in February 1998.- Game equipment :Two players, Black and White , play on a board ruled into a grid of 9 ranks by 9 files...
  
  
• Yari shogi
  Yari shogi
  Yari shogi is a modern variant of shogi , however it is not Japanese. It was invented in 1981 by Christian Freeling of the Netherlands...
  
  

External links

• Minishogi at chessvariants.com
• Website of the Japanese Minishogi Association (in Japanese, but contains game records which can be understood without knowing Japanese)
• Mini Shogi 6x5 Mini Shogi iPhone software