Two Tribes: Shogi Vs Chess - the Greatest Battle Ever?

two tribes: Shogi vs chess - the greatest battle ever?

Dr. Christopher P. Hood

Many who have been on the JET Programme will probably have learnt how to play shogi. Others will have either have seen friends play it, or would have seen Japanese people playing it in parks, or seen the programmes on NHK at the weekend when channel-hopping. However, for those who have not - here are the basics.

The shogi board is 9 by 9 (as opposed to 8 by 8 in chess)
The main pieces are Lance (2 of them in the corner space where the rooks would be in chess), Knight (2 of them, next to the lance), Silver (2 of them, placed next to the knights), Gold (2 of them, placed next to the silvers), King (just one in the middle), Bishop (1, placed in front of the left knight), Rook (1, placed in front of right knight), Pawns (9 of them across the row in front of the bishop and rook).
Each of them has very specific moves it can make - which would take too long to explain here!
The moves are further complicated by the fact that when your piece moves into the opponent’s territory (i.e. 3 lines where the pieces started the game), then they get “promoted” and take on new characteristics (Lance, Knight, Silver and Pawn become like Gold, and the Bishop and Rook also gain extra abilities).
Another key feature - a major difference between shogi and chess - is that a captured piece becomes your own piece to use as you like (with the only restriction being that you can only have 1 pawn in any column).

If you play shogi, there will be a few things that you learn very quickly. Unlike in chess, it is not uncommon to win a game when you appear to be almost defeated and when the opponent has overwhelming numbers, just by making a few shrewd moves or placements of captured pieces... in other words, Never give up! The other thing is that sacrificing pieces (especially in tit-for-tat battles) can be extremely beneficial... a kind of shogi kamikaze, I guess.

So, given all this information, what would happen if you had a game where one player had shogi pieces and played with shogi rules, and the other had chess pieces and played by chess rules?

Let us call the shogi player Taro, and the chess player George. Obviously, there is the problem of the two games having different board sizes, so let us assume it is an extremely large board that can easily accommodate all their pieces (and indeed the pieces of other players as well, should they join in). In order to further set the scene, let us assume that the pieces have arrived at this situation as Taro is wanting to expand his area of influence (for whatever reason), whereas George has already been on the board for sometime demonstrating his power. Neither George not Taro should really be playing on this board - different parts of the board rightfully belong to other people, but they have little or no pieces to play the game. On top of this, George is already playing another game of chess with an opponent (let’s call him Jerry) and things are not going very well and he’s hoping to get the assistance from another chess playing friend (let’s call him Uncle Sam - who has a lot of strong pieces, but tends to turn up late and try to take all the credit when battles are won). Taro has been doing quite well, but has actually invited Uncle Sam to join the game on this board as well.

The game continues for sometime. Taro captures some of George’s pieces (as well as pieces of some other players who have joined the game). What to do next with these pieces? If Taro was playing chess, the pieces would be out of the game until the game ended, when they would then be returned unharmed to the owner. Alternatively, the pieces might be rescued by one of George’s pawns and be able to rejoin the game. However, Taro is playing shogi and so decides to treat them as shogi pieces - in other words, do with them as he pleases. They are not shogi pieces so they will not fight with Taro against George (and Uncle Sam), but Taro can use them to help in other ways (ensuring squares are clear, and Taro’s main pieces can move around efficiently, for example). Taro does not treat the many of the pieces well.

The game continues and gradually things start going wrong for Taro, especially as Uncle Sam keeps sending in more and more pieces. Taro tries some typical shogi tactics by sacrificing some of his pieces in attempts to take out some of the opposition’s pieces. This tactic baffles the chess players, as it is not one that they commonly use, and against the chess players this tactic is not proving entirely successful and Taro has to continue to retreat.

Eventually, the point of no return is reached and Taro gives up. At this point, the captured chess pieces are returned to George (and others). Complaints are made about the way in which they were used and treated. Taro is unapologetic as he was just playing by shogi rules. Furthermore, neither Taro or any of the other players apologise to those who own the board for the way they have carried on (somehow George, in particular, finds ways to justify his presence there while criticising Taro). Eventually, Uncle Sam forces Taro to agree to paying some compensation to the chess pieces that were captured. George is not entirely happy with this situation, but goes along with it. Taro is now bound and cannot do anymore for the pieces.

The pieces themselves continue to be angry. However, nothing else happens. Taro cannot do much as Uncle Sam has set down rules preventing this. Taro will not apologise, for as far as he is concerned, he was just playing by the rules - even if they were not the rules that these pieces were used to playing.

So what is the lesson? We should all try to ensure that all players do not start playing on boards without being invited and all players should apologise for the suffering they have caused the board owners in the past. As for the pieces - it was simply a fact of playing dangerous games that was further complicated by people playing by different rules, and the emphasis should be on ensuring that the players become friends and do not play against each other ever again.

This is an article I wrote in Summer 1999 about the Japanese POW issue and how an understanding of the problems can be gained from looking at the games of shogi and chess. This was published in the JET Alumin Association of UK's journal, JetLag, in late Summer 1999.