Shogi is a very popular traditional part of Japanese culture - with an estimated 20 million Japanese players and more! Mangalyam Serial Song Free Download. Shogi and Western chess are very closely related - sharing the same winning objective of enforcing capture (checkmate) of the opponent's king, and some similar movement of the pieces (king, rooks, bishops, knights and pawns). However, one of the most disti Shogi is a very popular traditional part of Japanese culture - with an estimated 20 million Japanese players and more! Shogi and Western chess are very closely related - sharing the same winning objective of enforcing capture (checkmate) of the opponent's king, and some similar movement of the pieces (king, rooks, bishops, knights and pawns).

However, one of the most distinctive and creative features of shogi is that all captured pieces immediately change sides ( a reflection of change of alliance in past warfare in Japan, when the rules of shogi were codified in the 17th century). All captured pieces become the capturing player's reserves or 'pieces in hand', which can be placed or 'dropped' back onto the board )instead of moving a piece already on the board). In shogi all the pieces are thus kept in play for the whole game, with capturing greatly increasing move possibilities. Consequently almost every game of shogi is exciting.