Yonin shogi
Encyclopedia
Yonin shōgi, is a four-person variant
of shogi
(Japanese chess). It may be played with a dedicated yonin shogi set or with two sets of standard shogi pieces, and is played on a standard sized shogi board.
The four outside files are left empty.
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Note: some common sets feature a black board with white pieces.
Movement and capture are identical to standard shogi, except for check and checkmate. Each player has a full three-rank promotion zone as in standard shogi. Repetition, perpetual check, and illegal moves are also dealt with as in standard shogi.
, due to the complications of having four players. In yonin shogi, it is checkmate rather than forcing resignation that ends a player's game. These are not equivalent as they are in standard shogi: In yonin shogi a third player might capture the mating piece before the defeated player has a chance to resign; this is avoided by ending a player's game immediately upon checkmate.
In team play, check and checkmate do not count against the other member of one's team. They are simply ignored.
One player may inadvertently place a second player in check due to the movement of a third player’s piece. This is a special form of discovered check
unique to multiplayer chess variants. Similarly, if one player places a second player in check, a move of a third player may result in checkmate for the second player without the third player attacking directly. In yonin shogi, it is the player who makes the move that results in checkmate that gets credit for the checkmate, not the player who makes the initial check.
Once a king is in check, the threatened player immediately takes the next turn in defense and play continues clockwise from there. If two or three kings are placed in check simultaneously, the first player in the clockwise direction to defend takes the next turn.
In some descriptions of the game, the winner is the first player to checkmate twice, or to checkmate a player who has already checkmated another. In others, the winner is the last player standing. In the latter case, the first player to be checkmated is ranked fourth, the next is ranked third, and the player losing at the end is ranked second.
Because of the dead kings left as obstacles, it is possible for a player to be unable to make a legal move. This also counts as a loss.
It is possible to check or checkmate two or three players with a single move.
A bare king
may remain on the board in opposition to the other players in an effort to increase its ranking. In a timed game, a bare king can move faster than its opponent, therefore it may attempt to win the game by forcing its opponent to run out of time. Note that some league tournaments may disallow this.
(present day Izumo
) in Shimane Prefecture
. It is a recognized variant and plastic play sets are available for as little as ¥300 (≈US$2.50). Yonin shogi sets were sold at the stand of the shogi hall. Some elementary schools even hold tournaments.
It is likely that four-person shogi has been played for many decades with rules made up as players went along. A fully complete and playable set of rules first appeared in a weekly children’s magazine in February 1991. The primary differences between this and the current rules are in the pieces used (nearly a complete standard shogi set for each player) and the initial setup, which is also closer to standard shogi. In the diagram below, pieces are color coded as to the player they belong to.
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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). It may be played with a dedicated yonin shogi set or with two sets of standard shogi pieces, and is played on a standard sized shogi board.
Objective
The objective of the game is to capture your opponents’ kings as an individual or with the option of teaming up with one or two fellow players. Fast matches are common.Game equipment
Four players play on a standard 9×9 shogi board, which is commonly colored black in dedicated yonin shogi sets. Each player has a 9-piece subset of the standard shogi pieces:- 1 king
- 1 rook
- 2 gold generals
- 2 silver generals
- 3 pawns
Setup
Each side places his pieces in a triangular arrangement, facing toward the player opposite him, as shown below.- In the rank nearest the player,
- The king is placed in the center file;
- The two gold generals are placed on either side of the king;
- The two silver generals are placed next to the gold generals.
The four outside files are left empty.
- In the second rank,
- The rook is placed in the same file as the king;
- A pawn is placed on either side of the rook, in front of the gold generals.
- In the third rank, a pawn is placed in the same file as the king and rook.
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| 9 | | 8 | | 7 | | 6 | | 5 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 銀 | 金 | 王 | 金 | 銀 | 一 | ||||
| 歩 | 飛 | 歩 | 二 | ||||||
| 銀 | 歩 | 銀 | 三 | ||||||
| 金 | 歩 | 歩 | 金 | 四 | |||||
| 王 | 飛 | 歩 | 歩 | 飛 | 王 | 五 | |||
| 金 | 歩 | 歩 | 金 | 六 | |||||
| 銀 | 歩 | 銀 | 七 | ||||||
| 歩 | 飛 | 歩 | 八 | ||||||
| 銀 | 金 | 王 | 金 | 銀 | 九 |
Note: some common sets feature a black board with white pieces.
Game play
The order of play may be decided by flipping four pawns and counting the number that land promoted-side up. Turns proceed clockwise from the first player.Movement and capture are identical to standard shogi, except for check and checkmate. Each player has a full three-rank promotion zone as in standard shogi. Repetition, perpetual check, and illegal moves are also dealt with as in standard shogi.
Check and mate
Yonin shogi departs from standard shogi in its rules for check and checkmateCheckmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
, due to the complications of having four players. In yonin shogi, it is checkmate rather than forcing resignation that ends a player's game. These are not equivalent as they are in standard shogi: In yonin shogi a third player might capture the mating piece before the defeated player has a chance to resign; this is avoided by ending a player's game immediately upon checkmate.
In team play, check and checkmate do not count against the other member of one's team. They are simply ignored.
One player may inadvertently place a second player in check due to the movement of a third player’s piece. This is a special form of discovered check
Discovered attack
In chess, a discovered attack is an attack revealed when one piece moves out of the way of another. Discovered attacks can be extremely powerful, as the piece moved can make a threat independently of the piece it reveals. Like many chess tactics, they succeed because the opponent is unable to meet...
unique to multiplayer chess variants. Similarly, if one player places a second player in check, a move of a third player may result in checkmate for the second player without the third player attacking directly. In yonin shogi, it is the player who makes the move that results in checkmate that gets credit for the checkmate, not the player who makes the initial check.
Once a king is in check, the threatened player immediately takes the next turn in defense and play continues clockwise from there. If two or three kings are placed in check simultaneously, the first player in the clockwise direction to defend takes the next turn.
Game end
When a player is mated, all remaining pieces except the king are left on the board and placed under the control of the mating player. Their original direction of movement is maintained. Any pieces held in hand are given to the mating player, but can only be dropped in the original direction of the mating player. The defeated king is turned upside-down and left as an obstacle for the remaining players. It cannot be captured or removed from the board.In some descriptions of the game, the winner is the first player to checkmate twice, or to checkmate a player who has already checkmated another. In others, the winner is the last player standing. In the latter case, the first player to be checkmated is ranked fourth, the next is ranked third, and the player losing at the end is ranked second.
Because of the dead kings left as obstacles, it is possible for a player to be unable to make a legal move. This also counts as a loss.
It is possible to check or checkmate two or three players with a single move.
A bare king
Bare king
In chess and related games, a bare king is a situation in which one player has only the king left on the board, while that player's fifteen other pieces have been captured....
may remain on the board in opposition to the other players in an effort to increase its ranking. In a timed game, a bare king can move faster than its opponent, therefore it may attempt to win the game by forcing its opponent to run out of time. Note that some league tournaments may disallow this.
Game notation
Yonin game notation is the same as that of shogi, except that there are four columns instead of two.History
This version of Yonin shogi was devised in 1993 by Ota Mitsuyasu, former mayor of HirataHirata, Shimane
was a city located in Shimane, Japan.On March 22, 2005 Hirata, along with the towns of Koryō, Sada, Taisha and Taki, all from Hikawa District, was merged into the expanded city of Izumo....
(present day Izumo
Izumo, Shimane
is a city located in Shimane, Japan. Izumo is known for Izumo soba noodles and the Izumo Taisha Shinto shrine.-Demographics:The modern city was founded on November 3, 1941....
) in Shimane Prefecture
Shimane Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is Matsue. It is the second least populous prefecture in Japan, after its eastern neighbor Tottori. The prefecture has an area elongated from east to west facing the Chūgoku Mountain Range on the south side and to...
. It is a recognized variant and plastic play sets are available for as little as ¥300 (≈US$2.50). Yonin shogi sets were sold at the stand of the shogi hall. Some elementary schools even hold tournaments.
It is likely that four-person shogi has been played for many decades with rules made up as players went along. A fully complete and playable set of rules first appeared in a weekly children’s magazine in February 1991. The primary differences between this and the current rules are in the pieces used (nearly a complete standard shogi set for each player) and the initial setup, which is also closer to standard shogi. In the diagram below, pieces are color coded as to the player they belong to.
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| 9 | | 8 | | 7 | | 6 | | 5 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 香 | 桂 | 銀 | 金 | 王 | 金 | 銀 | 桂 | 香 | 一 |
| 桂 | 角 | 飛 | 歩 | 角 | 桂 | 二 | |||
| 銀 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 飛 | 銀 | 三 |
| 金 | 歩 | 歩 | 金 | 四 | |||||
| 王 | 歩 | 歩 | 王 | 五 | |||||
| 金 | 歩 | 歩 | 金 | 六 | |||||
| 銀 | 飛 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 歩 | 銀 | 七 |
| 桂 | 角 | 歩 | 飛 | 角 | 桂 | 八 | |||
| 香 | 桂 | 銀 | 金 | 王 | 金 | 銀 | 桂 | 香 | 九 |
Yonin shogi products
Besides game sets, there are a few other products available:- 4 Nin Shōgi4 Nin Shōgiis a video game, published by Pow , which was released exclusively in Japan in 1995.- External links :* at superfamicom.org* at super-famicom.jp - See also :* Yonin shogi* List of shogi video games...
, a video game for the Super FamicomSuper Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short... - The book Yonin shogi introduction to which rule and strategy et cetera of Yonin shogi have been recorded.
See also
- Sannin shogiSannin shogiSannin shōgi , or in full kokusai sannin shōgi , is a three-person shogi variant invented circa 1930 by Tanigasaki Jisuke and recently revived. It is played on a hexagonal grid of border length 7 with 127 cells. Standard shogi pieces may be used, and the rules for capture, promotion, drops, etc...
(three-person shogi) - Shogi variantShogi variantMany 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...
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- Hand shogiHand shogiHand shogi is a variant of shogi , however it is not Japanese. It was invented in early 1997 by John William Brown of Lewisville, AR, USA...
- Annan shogiAnnan shogiAnnan shogi also called Korean shogi, is a variant of shogi . Annan shogi is a popular shogi variant in Japan.- Gameplay :...
- UnashogiUnashogiUnashogi is a variant of shogi , invented in late 1994 by Edward Jackman and based on Unachess by Jeff Miller.-Rules:Same as standard Shogi except:...
- Ko shogiKo shogiKō shōgi is a large-board variant of shogi, or Japanese chess. The game dates back to the turn of the 18th century and is based on xiangqi and go as well as shogi. Credit for its invention has been given to Confucian scholar Ogyū Sorai.- Rules of the game :Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not...