Strategy and Tactics

Drops are the most serious departure from Western chess. They entail a different strategy, with a strong defensive position being much more important. A quick offence will leave a player's home territory open to drop attacks as soon as pieces are exchanged. Because pawns attack head on, and cannot defend each other, they tend to be lost early in the game, providing ammunition for such attacks. Dropping a pawn behind enemy lines, promoting, and dropping a second pawn behind it so they protect each other is a strong attack; it threatens the opponent's entire defence, but provides little of value if the attack fails and the pieces are captured.

Players raised on Western chess often make poor use of drops, and dropping is half the game. If a player has more than a couple captured pieces in hand, it is likely that dropping attacks are being overlooked. However, it is wise to keep a pawn in hand, and often to exchange pieces if necessary to get one.

A decision made early in the game will be whether or not to exchange bishops. If exchanged, it may be possible to drop a bishop behind poorly defended enemy territory for a "fork" attack, threatening two vital pieces at once. (Silvers are also commonly used this way.) Even if such a bishop merely retreats, it may promote in doing so, and a promoted bishop can dominate the board.

However, attacking pieces can easily become trapped behind enemy lines, as the opponent can often drop a pawn in a protected square to cut off a line of retreat. For this reason, rooks are commonly kept at a safe distance in the early parts of the game, and are used to support attacks by weaker pieces.

Many common attacks involve advancing a silver along a file protected by the rook. Because silvers have more possibilities for retreat, while golds protect pieces at their sides, silvers are generally considered superior as attacking pieces, and golds superior as defensive pieces.

There are various ranging rook openings, where the rook moves to the centre or left of the board to support an attack. However, as the most powerful piece on the board it invites attack, and it is a good idea to keep your king well away from your rook.

Advancing a lance pawn can open up the side of the board for attack. Therefore, when a player first advances a lance pawn, it is usual for the opponent to answer by advancing the opposing pawn, in order to avoid complications later in the game.

Because defence is so important, and because shogi pieces are relatively slow movers, the opening game tends to be much longer than in Western chess, with a dozen or so moves of shoring up defences before any attack is made.

The Yagura Castle

The Yagura castle is considered by many to be the strongest starting position in shogi. It has a strongly protected king; a well fortified line of pawns; and the bishop, rook, and a pawn all support a later attack by the rook's silver or knight. However, one's opponent may just as easily castle this way, giving neither side an advantage.

Instead of the rook's pawn being advanced two squares, the pawn on the third file is often advanced one square, allowing both the rook's silver and knight to move forward. These offensive moves are not properly part of the castle defence, but the two-square pawn advance must be carried out early, if there is to be room for it, and so it is often done while still castling.

There is a good deal of flexibility in the order of moves when building the Yagura defence. The only point to keep in mind is that the generals should move diagonally, not directly forward. However, a strong intermediate position, called kani, has the three pawns on the left side advanced to their final positions, and on the second rank has all four generals next to the bishop, which is still in its starting position: bishop-gold-silver-gold-silver. The king is moved one square, behind the middle silver.

A common attack against a Yagura position is to advance the rook's knight directly forward, with a pawn in hand, to attack the fortifications on either side of the king. If the defender has answered a lance's pawn advance on that side, a pawn may be dropped where the edge pawn had been. If the defending silver has moved or is not yet in position, a pawn may be dropped there.