If you’ve ever played chess and thought, “This is fun, but what if my captured pieces could come back and help me?” …then welcome to shogi.
Shogi is often called Japanese chess, but it has one big twist that makes it feel totally different: when you capture an opponent’s piece, it becomes yours and you can drop it back onto the board later. That one rule creates a lot of cool surprises.
Let’s walk through the rules in a simple, easy way. (more…)
Shogi (将棋) is the Japanese version of an ancient Indian game that became Chess in Europe and xiangqi in China. In fact, Shogi is frequently referred to as Japanese chess in the English speaking world.
Shogi is played on a 9×9 board, unlike the 8×8 board of Western chess. Shogi has some pieces that are very similar to Western chess, a king, pawns, rook, bishop, and knight. Shogi also has pieces that are not found in Western chess such as gold generals, silver generals and the lance.
The most interesting difference between shogi and chess is that when opposing pieces are captured in shogi, they become loyal to the player that captured them. These captured pieces are then dropped back on the board to continue the game. (more…)
By Galo S Mirth
Millennium Castle (Japanese: ミレニアム囲い, Millennium-gakoi) is one of the most distinctive king shelters in modern shogi. It first became widely recognized around the year 2000 as an idea for the Static Rook (居飛車) side when facing Ranging Rook (振り飛車), and it is also known by several nicknames, including Miura Castle (三浦囲い) and Tōchika (トーチカ), “pillbox” or “bunker.”
What makes Millennium Castle especially interesting is that it does not try to be the hardest fortress possible. Instead, it tries to be hard enough while accomplishing three strategic goals:
This article explains what the castle looks like, how it entered top-level play, and the core theories that make it useful.
Millennium Castle is easiest to recognize by the king’s unusual placement: the king often sits on the left knight’s starting file (for Black, this is typically around 8-9 file territory), then gets surrounded by three (sometimes four) generals (gold and silver) plus the edge pieces.
Japanese sources often distinguish two common “families” of Millennium depending on whether the structure is built around a 6-6 bishop (for Black) or a 6-7 gold (for Black). In practice, these names refer to the shape you see in the defensive wall.
In one representative form, Black’s bishop comes to 6-6 and the left knight jumps to 7-7, after which the king tucks deep to 8-9. The wall of golds and silvers forms a compact, rounded barrier in front of the king, resembling a pillbox.
Key visual cues:
Another common family uses a gold on 6-7 to strengthen the upper side and coordinate the defenders. This type is sometimes described as being built with an eye toward upper-side stability and flexibility.
Key visual cues:
Like many castles, Millennium is often shown in Japanese sources with coordinates from one side’s perspective, and you will also see mirrored diagrams (Black and White, or left and right). The essential idea is consistent: the king is sheltered behind a compact wall, shifted away from the most common bishop lines, and the left-side pieces can stay available for active play.
Millennium Castle’s name is tied to the period when it started being played “on purpose” at the professional level around the year 2000. Japanese references describe it as becoming a recognized countermeasure in an era when certain Ranging Rook systems were highly influential.
Several points stand out in Japanese accounts:
Millennium Castle is also linked to awards and “new idea” recognition in shogi culture. Japanese sources connect Miura’s use and refinement of this king shelter to the Masuda Kōzō Award (升田幸三賞), a prize for notable new moves or new strategic ideas.
A fortress is not only about hardness. It is about buying time, avoiding your opponent’s most dangerous lines, and placing your pieces so that defense and offense cooperate.
Here are the most important theories Japanese sources emphasize.
A recurring selling point is that the king ends up off the most direct bishop lines that frequently decide Ranging Rook positions. Compared with some other deep castles, Millennium can reduce the chance that a single bishop check or bishop sacrifice line immediately becomes decisive.
This does not mean the king is invincible. It means the most obvious “laser line” is often missing, forcing the attacker to spend extra time creating new entry points.
One widely noted difference from certain other deep fortresses is that Millennium often allows the left knight to remain an attacking resource rather than being locked into pure defense.
That matters in practical play because a knight that can jump into the fight can:
This is a big part of why Millennium can feel “modern.” The castle is not only a bunker. It is part of a plan.
Millennium usually surrounds the king with three generals (golds and silvers), sometimes four. When these pieces are connected, it becomes harder for the attacker to win by simple tactics.
In many shogi attacks, the defender loses when one key general is dragged away, or when a single square becomes weak and cannot be covered twice. A connected structure helps reduce that kind of failure.
Japanese sources explicitly compare Millennium to Anaguma (穴熊) and treat it as somewhat less hard in absolute terms. The advantage is often about other factors: the bishop diagonal issue, practical piece coordination, and how fast you can reach a playable middlegame without allowing an easy “assembly-phase punishment.”
In short:
No castle is free. Japanese discussions note that while Millennium can have good durability against edge attacks, the king may be less far from the center than in the deepest fortresses. Also, even though the king is deeply placed, that does not automatically mean it is unbeatable from above.
The practical takeaway is:
Historically, Millennium is introduced as an anti-Ranging-Rook idea for the Static Rook side. Over time, Japanese sources also discuss the interesting modern development where even the Ranging Rook side may adopt a Millennium-like structure in certain matchups.
This evolution is important. It shows the idea is not only a single “anti-system.” It is a flexible concept: shift the king off the most direct bishop line, connect the defenders, and keep a key knight available for later play.
If you want a fast way to remember Millennium Castle, think:
That combination is why many players find Millennium so appealing once they see it for the first time.
By Galo S Mirth
If you speak English and enjoy strategy games, there is a very good chance Shogi will surprise you (in the best possible way). It looks familiar at first glance: two players, a board, pieces with different powers, and a single royal piece to protect. But once you play a few games, you notice that Shogi does something many classic board games struggle to do: it stays creative deep into the game, even after major captures. That freshness comes from one famous rule. In Shogi, captured pieces are not dead forever. They can come back onto the board under your control. This one mechanic changes almost everything: defense, attack, tempo, and long-term planning. It also means a game is rarely “over” just because one side is behind in material. If you are willing to think clearly and fight for initiative, counterplay is always alive. (more…)
Shōgi Zatsuwa (将棋雑話 or “Shogi Chatter”) is like a fun “shogi story-time” book. It’s a set of short essays by Kōda Rohan, a famous Japanese writer. Instead of teaching you exact moves, he chats about shogi’s world: why one king piece says 王 and the other says 玉, famous players from the past, wild match stories, different kinds of shogi, and even the “official” size of the board. It feels a bit like reading old-school trivia mixed with gossip from the shogi club. (more…)
By Japanese author Koda Rohan, from his essay collection Shogi Zatsuwa, section 4, 「玉将につきての俗説」 (“Folk Beliefs About the King Piece”). This short essay discusses traditions around the shogi king. (more…)
Kōda Rohan wrote this shogi essay about shogi-piece calligraphy in January 1901 for Taiyō magazine; it later appeared as Section 3 of his collection Shōgi Zatsuwa. (more…)
Kōda Rohan wrote this as Section 2 of his shogi essay collection Shōgi Zatsuwa (将棋雑話, often “Shogi Chatter”). It is known as 王と玉と (Ō and Gyoku / King and Jade). The short shogi essay discusses the history of the shogi king piece. (more…)
Written by Kōda Rohan, from his shogi essay collection Shōgi Zatsuwa (“Shogi Chatter”). The topic is the use of the name of Shogi lance in historical settings. (more…)
If you’ve ever played shogi online, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Shogi Club 24, also called “24”, or “ni-yon” in Japan. It’s the plain-looking site that still manages to feel like a real dojo: serious games, strong opponents, and a rating that people actually respect. It also has 300,000+ registered members, and you can register and play for free.
And now for the part that makes your stomach drop, …
Shogi Club 24 is scheduled to shut down on December 31, 2025.
Yes. That Shogi Club 24–the one that helped shape online shogi for more than two decades–is about to become history. (more…)
Shogi is one of the most forgiving strategy games ever… and also one of the strictest.
Forgiving, because you can bring captured pieces back into the game. Strict, because one illegal move can end your game on the spot.
In Japanese, an instant-loss violation is usually talked about as 反則負け (hansoku-make), or the “loss by foul.” The Japan Shogi Association (日本将棋連盟) even has a full list of actions that count as “you lose immediately.”
Today, let’s walk through:
If you’ve played even a few games of shogi, you’ve probably heard someone say “nifu!” in a slightly panicked voice.
Maybe it happened to you. You’re feeling clever. You have a pawn in hand. You see a good square. You drop it… and then the game ends right there because it’s illegal.
That’s rough. So today I want to talk about the nifu rule, including what it is, why it matters, and the coolest part: how far back we can trace it in shogi history using Japanese sources.
And yes, we’ll also look at a few “pawn-related” rules that are basically nifu’s cousins. (more…)