Chu Shogi is a Japanese cousin of FIDE Chess and ancestor of Modern Shogi. Each player controls 46 pieces, and play is on a 12×12 board. The object is to capture your opponent's King (and Crown Prince, if they have promoted their Drunk Elephant). Unlike Modern Shogi, this game is played without drops. The game is much larger than Chess and Shogi. The...
Source is rules found on pgs 16-17 of this document by Nader Daoud Daou (2007). Although this is the game from which modern Shogi is believed to have directly derived, the game are distinctly different if the following respects. Sho shogi has no drop mechanism. All pieces used in modern shogi are used in sho shogi and have the same movements and initial...
Dai-Dai shōgi (大大将棋 'huge chess') is a large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th century and is based on the earlier Dai shogi. Apart from its size, the major difference is in the range of the pieces and the “promotion by capture” rule. It is the smallest board variant to use this rule. Dai Dai Shogi is played on a...
Tai Shogi (泰将棋 tai shōgi or 無上泰将棋 mujō tai shōgi "grand chess", renamed from 無上大将棋 mujō dai shōgi "supreme chess" to avoid confusion with 大将棋 dai shōgi) is a large-board variant of Shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates to the 15th century and is based on earlier large board shogi games. Before the discovery of Taikyoku Shogi in 1997, Tai Shogi was...
Tenjiku Shogi (天竺将棋 tenjiku shōgi, or 天竺大将棋 tenjiku dai shōgi "exotic chess") is a large-board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th or 16th century and was based on the earlier chu shogi, which itself was based on dai shogi. Tenjiku is played on a 16x16 un-checkered board. Surely, Tenjiku Shogi is one of the deeper and most...
Wa shogi (peaceful chess) is a large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess) in which all of the pieces are named for animals. Other than the initial board setup and moves of the pieces, little definite is known about the game. It is assumed that in most respects the rules were identical to Shogi, but it is unclear whether or not the game was played with...
"Taikyoku Shōgi (大局将棋) is a large board variant of Shogi (Japanese chess). The game was created around the mid 16th century (presumably by priests) and is based on earlier large board shogi games. Before the rediscovery of Taikyoku Shogi in 1997, Tai Shogi was believed to be the largest playable chess variant (if not board game) ever. It has not been shown...
Tori (Bird) Shogi is a delightful variant played on a 7×7 board that dates from the late 18th century. It is thought to have been the first Shogi variant to utilize drops (a mechanic in the modern version of 9×9 Shogi and absent from the original 9×9 Sho Shogi). Each piece is named after a type of bird. The royal piece (King) is the Phoenix. Other pieces...
Kokusai Sannin Shogi (International three-person chess) is a modern variant of Shogi (Japanese chess) for three players, created around 1930 by Tanigasaki Jisuke. The game takes place on a board of 127 hexagonal cells. Each player controls a set of 18 pieces. The game allows for two players to enter an alliance against the third. If two players engage in a...
This Shogi variant was invented (or, perhaps, rediscovered) by Shigeo Kusumoto in 1970. It is played on a 5x5 board and features pieces from standard shogi (king, gold, silver, bishop, rook, pawn). Pieces promote on the final rank. It also makes use of the standard shogi drop rule. Although played on a small board, mini shogi has not been solved, and it...
Kyoto Shogi is a Shogi variant played with specialized pieces on a 5x5 board. Its most unusual feature is that every move ends by "promoting" (flipping) the piece moved. The pieces in Kyoto Shogi are non-standard pairings of standard Shogi units: Tokin / Lance Silver General / Bishop King Gold General / Knight Pawn / Rook Rules for dropping are the same as...