SHOGI AND CHESS
Sergej Korchitskij
(1 dan, Belarus)
Rules� differences
The main differences in the rules of these two games are that the Shogi board is more spacious (9 per 9 squares in Shogi against 8 per 8 ones in European Chess), more pieces are initially placed on the board (forty Shogi pieces against thirty-two Chess ones) and these pieces are more various (there are eight Shogi troops against six Chess ones), though the Shogi pieces are weaker (there are two main forces in Shogi, a Rook and a Bishop, while all the Chess pieces are sufficiently strong), however, the pieces in Shogi can drop from the outside, which makes their power stronger, and promote, which enlarges the hierarchy up to fourteen units.
The ability of Shogi pieces to drop to the board having been captured differences Shogi from other games of chess. The rule of dropping conditions almost complete absence of drawn games, the increase of the number of moves and �sane� game situations appeared not by the artificial way; with the landing rule it levels the material sense making the checkmate really the main game�s goal.
A per cent of drawn games, the advantage of the first move, and a strategy dextrality. A game balance.
A full of a divine grace pacifist�s spirit being above the modern world and embalming in its memory of not such remote times, but such bum and relentless slaughters, not having given the wise Chess game a wide berth. But, per se, being a war model, a bloodless and the most humane battle of these two armies, Chess, which ignores painful and hart holds, breathtaking speed only looses for this reason. Beneath our very eyes the least spectator sport transformed into the least intriguing. The talks about the �draw death� pushed the Chess reformers, among which were even world champions, forward the new rules invention, which should complicate the game by reducing the possibility of the �peaceful� result, but such innovations didn�t get accustomed to a place for a long time and rarely were taken seriously. The drawn game zone in European Chess turned out to be really spacious and a great amount of high-level sets so far falls into the gape drawn game gap, while the opponents� power doesn�t allow tear off more then a small step. It can be called this rough parity a principle of justice, but in other games the fate is determined by split seconds, while two extra knights in Chess are unable to provide victory at the empty board. On the other hand, in a thousandth time grieving for the disastrous of he drawn result for morale and partially killing the interest to the game, we cant note the definite balance of Chess, which still helps it, it seemed that there is no known method for it, to �keep its head above water�. This drawn game zone is the only counterbalance to the advantage of the first move. Grand master�s principle �the white to win, the black to draw� assumes the loophole for the side, which is in the disadvantageous terms from the beginning. So it seems that two main disadvantages of the European Chess supplement each other preserving the game�s balance and making a harmonic set. Though we have a large dragonflies with one pail: if Chess is saved from the first move advantage by the �draw death�, so what will save it from the �draw death�? It seems that nothing will�
Japanese Chess Shogi, reflecting a thoroughgoing samurai mentality, doesn�t �pamper� their admirers with the amount of drawn games. There are about 3 per cent of drawn games there. It is the direct consequence of the dropping rule, which rules out the possibility of the heavy slugging of the two armies. Drawn games in Shogi can only be achieved after the fourfold repetition of the moves and the mutual of the kings� encroachment while the amount of points is not enough. But drawn games in Shogi are never considered as a result and the sets, which were a draw, are played again and never taken into consideration. Such a duality of the result conditions a thoroughgoing struggle spirit and improves the importance of the game. During the move election a player should pattern his/her behaviour on positional factors, while the existence of the drawn games� strategy in European Chess often leads to the player�s decisions, his/her aggressiveness and the will to struggle, quite often influences the general tournament conditions. Moreover, Chess is a typical game with a skew strategy. As it has already been mentioned, the white ones are more active and always try take from the opening as big plus as possible, while the black ones wait for equalization to try their luck in the middle game. There is no drawn games� strategy in Shogi, there are no special game aims for both black and white elements, and there is no advantage of the first move. The professional tournaments say that both white and black win approximately often; moreover there are the professionals who achieve the best results starting the set as a second one! Shogi is a really balanced game.
A material advantage and a strategic pattern of the struggle.
According to the laws of every war one of the main factors of collision of two approximately equally trained and technically equipped armies is a quantitative advantage in power. The games which model a war are not an exception. But if it�s enough to count up the number of pieces at each gamer in Draughts, but in Chess, both European and Japanese, the playing material is heterogeneous, therefore the pieces� value scale is used for its calculation. The achievement of the material advantage is the main strategic goal in the Chess set. The time of Chess romantic has passed and nobody already plays for a checkmate any more. The initial stage of the strategic struggle consists in accumulation of small positional advantages, which transform gradually into the material advantage. After the accumulation and transformation stage follows the stage of realization. So it�s the general plan of the game set. The material realization usually comes to the exchange strategy, which is based on the elementary logic: the reduction of the quantitative composition and activity of the two armies leads to the increase of the player who has superior forces (e.g. four is twice bigger than two, but if the exchange of an element, so three is bigger than one in three times and the exchange of another one element will lead to the absolute annihilation of the weakest army). That is the Chess essence - quality transforms into quantity, the elusive positional advantages transform into tangible material.
The material in Shogi is not a foundation stone as it is in Chess, despite of the existence of the pieces� value scale in this game, and the material balance is one of the main criteria of the position�s assessment. Let�s turn again to the elementary mathematic logic. Because of the dropping rule all the exchanges in Shogi never lead to the reduction of the opposite forces, but it leads to their quantity transformation: the activity of the captured pieces is usually grows, as they are less mobile at the board (the gold general while moving at the board chooses not more than from six squares, while this piece can drop from the outside to the board to one of minimum fourty-one square), and the integral mobility of both armies is increased by the exchanges. Mathematically, it is profitable for the weakest side, so the exchange strategy in Shogi just doesn�t work, where it�s the main line in Chess. It explains the interest and popularity of odds games in Shogi. In contrast to European Chess odds play here its own cense, as its realization happens through the constructive strategic projects, but not by means of blind exchange.
The material in European Chess is a lake, in which all the numerous tiny brooks of the positional factors flow together. Getting of the material advantage are the means, which commonly darken the main goal of the game. It�s only one of tiny brooks, rushed to the main goal, consisting in destruction of the opponent�s king. The material advantage in Japanese Chess needs transformation into other position factors to become appreciable: the effectiveness of the pieces, the attack speed, the strength of the protective constructions. Very often exactly other factors come to the foreground of the position, by which the heightened dynamism of the game, the abundance of heterogeneous exchanges and positions with a disturbed material balance. The imbalance frequency and the depreciated material as compared with the European Chess version are closely connected with the transformation rules, which give the right to almost every Shogi piece to improve mobility in the range of an enough spacious zone, containing twenty-seven units of the opponent�s camp. Thanks to this rule there is a possibility of the non-violent change of the material balance in one�s favor. In this respect the most effective are the pawns� transformations which can be landed inside the transformation zone or directly near by it to acquire a new quality at the next move.
And one more blow at the �materialist� view at Shogi strike the rules of the pieces� movement, making the most of them rather plain. It is hard to find in one�s heart to move fast at the nine per nine board, low-speed Shogi pieces change their value in accordance with the closeness or remoteness of the piece from the kings of both the opponents!
Having compared these two games for the importance of the material advantage, now we won�t be surprised by the fact that in Shogi fine combinations and crazy tactical ideas, which ravish the mind, are similar to rare pearls, while pearl scatterings lay at the surface, gladdening the ingenious aesthetes from the world of mind games.
Human vs computer
The development of the Information technologies leads to the fact that the best representatives of the mind game world started to lose to their electronic opponents. After draughts and Othello have reached the earlier sinless Chess and the last victim of the software was �the greatest, but not so horrible� Garry Kasparov, who lost to the heartless terminator �Deep Blue�. And it�s under a spacious drawn zone, where he could have hidden from the cruel cyborg. Now avid for blood looks of the programmers rivet Shogi game�s become a new target for high tech. In spite �the King� is alive and a new electrical �calculating king is not foreknown. To tell the truth, a computer program TAKOS put a cat among the canaries in 2005 when nearly beaten the professional player of the fifth dan. But �nearly� is not considered and the professional consequently won, and then in November 2005 meijin Moriuchi in Tokyo unconstrainedly beaten a more complicated program YSS, given a bishop as odds. It took place about the ears of thousands of people from more than ten countries; the author of the article was watching it live. In March 2007 Bonanza, the world�s champion among computer programs, lost in the demonstration set to one of the strongest Japanese pros Akira Watanabe. Why Shogi appeared to be such a strong nut for machines in possession of colossal performance? We�ll try to find an answer to this question. First of all the dropping rule transforms the game tree into impenetrable thickets. If there are not so many variants at the beginning in Shogi game, moreover there are solid Chess opening databases simplifying the choice, so at the end of it can appear a situation when a computer have to recall from more than five hundred possible moves! Secondly, this very rule has one more interesting consequence. If there is a great amount of legal positions in Chess, which because of their pretentiousness, in principle, are unachievable, in the time of the play of two rational creatures, so the most various and fanciful positions are achievable thanks to the landing in Shogi. That is obvious that the greater per cent from the number of all variants may be incarnated in a real game, besides the fact that there are more probable variants (10220 as compared with 10120 in Chess). Chess differ by a greater per cent of senseless combinations which may be out of either human�s or computer�s sight without any damage to a set quality. Thirdly, the less importance of the material advantage in Shogi but again makes the number of positions large, which may be met during the play of two masters, while main positions with another piece at one of the rivals in Chess are absolutely hopeless and disreputable to be considered. And finally, fourthly, in spite of the high variety of Japanese Chess, Shogi players deeply estimate positions, relying on long-term policy decisions. And, besides the coordination and activity of the pieces, it is one of the consequences of the dropping rule, thanks to which appears one more characteristic of the position � �a form�.
A form
A form in Shogi is called a positional relationship of pieces which, unlike the effectiveness of their disposition, is not dynamic but a static factor of the position, defined its both tactical peculiarities and long-term strategic projects. The term �a form� is absent in European Chess, which are not accustomed to the dropping rule. From the point of view of Shogi the weakness in Chess is usually not a weakness at all. It can be shown at the concrete example. Imagine a Chess position in which the King and a Rook of the white team are via a square which is supposed to be a Knight fork. And the black rival brings his �fast horse� closer to the critical point, wasting on it more then one move and sacrificing other attractive opportunities. But after noticed a danger, threatening a move, a watchful white player takes away his/her castle to the other square and defends the place to which rushes a hostile Knight. The moral of this story is that the Knight�s maneuver is ten a penny if it�s conjugated with other, more disguised and competent goal. Let�s imagine the same situation in Shogi: the King and a Rook are a square from each other. At that moment a performance is being performed at the other part of the board. The exchange of a number of pieces, including Knights, is in the performance�s script. And our rival, being given a Knight, erects it at the critical point by his/her next move, makes a pin and winning the game.
The term �a form� is suitable in Japanese Chess for the whole position, but the form essence is realized more impressive in the castle theory. The piece fortifications are called in Shogi in this way. These fortifications protect the King from the enemy�s attacks. The varieties of such fortifications are about a fifty-odd, each of them has its own strong and weak sides. The comparison of the rivals� fortifications, their protective �forms�, describing the degree of the king�s safety, is one of the main elements of the strategy and assessment criterion of the position. There are only two variants of the castling in European Chess and the types of king�s castles don�t differ (unless the existence/absence of a Bishop`s fianketto and a �hole� for the King). The term �King�s castle� as like as the term �a form� are absent at the official Chess theory. The King in Shogi unlike that in the European ones is sensitive not only to the real but to the potential threatens too, which may be realized in case of exchange (see the above-listed example with the Knight pin). So the form, formed by the King protective pieces, is so important in Japanese Shogi.
Well, thanks to the dropping rule every most weak and awkward piece in the Shogi world may have an indirect action at a distance to the whole board. This fact has not only tactical but a strategic measurement, conditioning the appearance of a new term in the game theory � �a form�.
It may be added that �the form� in Shogi is a comprehensive conception too, not exhausted by the information above. Other specific Shogi rules include different corrections to the form theory. Developing the form, it�s necessary to reckon the possibility of the hostile pieces� transformation at the unprotected area of your camp. And a blocked mobility of the Shogi pieces in comparison with their �colleagues�, joining battle at the black and white board, makes take into consideration even unimportant shades of their disposition. For example, a knight and a lance never come back while silver, moved forward vertically, needs three moves to occupy an imprudently left square!
�A Pawn is a Chess spirit�
We�ve found out that the statics of the game in Shogi chess is found in �a form�. Is there such an aspect in European Chess? Absolutely. The Chess static energy is contained in the position�s �skeleton�, that is its pawn�s structure. Though these are two absolutely different statics. The Pawn�s structure in Chess is not extremely dynamic, is classified in different types, the game in which it is limited by a set of concrete strategic projects. Pawns can support each other being autonomous elements. The weakness, moreover the absence of at least one pawn can become a fatal factor in definition of the winner. The pawn�s transformation is a tenor of any Chess end game. So Francis Philidore was right to call a Pawn �the spirit of Chess�. Sometimes it appears that the goal of the game of Chess is to win a Pawn but not the King.
Statics at Shogi has its own specific character. Any form can be promoted in accordance with the position�s requirements; it can be shattered, deformed and given its nature too by the forces of the rival. There are no known impregnable fortresses and tightly motionless pawn chains at Shogi. There is no term �a Pawn chain� at Shogi at all as Pawns moving strictly in one file can hardly protect one another! The Japanese pawn is a fierce weapon in rival�s position attack as you should be always taken into consideration the threat of its transformation. You know, that pawn�s sacrifice by dropping the enemy camp allows disturbing the alignment of rival�s forces before the fight. The pawn organically combines strength and weakness which fits in with the picture of the battle. And of course Japanese pawn is one of the bearers of both samurai spirit and a Japanese Chess spirit, which is stretched for eighty-one one-coloured squares.
A little bit history
Shogi and Chess evolved from the same game � ancient India Chaturanga. Spreading, however, in two directions, to the West and to the East, this game was being altered conformable to the mentality and customs of the nations, who were apprehending it. Through different ways the ancient game reached Europe an Japan, so remote and different parts of world, in a very modified form. In spite of formal and considerable differences, both Japanese and European chess obtained the total recognition at home. In connection with the strong expansion of the European culture, Chess have already overstepped regional limits and spread round the world. Shogi started to capture the world only at he end of the 20th century in connection with the globalization process and the increased interest in mysterious eastern culture. These cognate games gained more differences than preserved likenesses. And now, less then two thousand years later, they met again, having left the knowledge about these games in nearly thousand books and finding millions of admirers en route, having collected million dollars of sponsoring money. The National Federation of European Chess exists in Japan, while about fifteen Federations of Japanese Chess are in Europe. But who can tell what lies beyond? I think that we, Europeans, setting the vague in literature, philosophy, science, law, political structure and other spheres of human being, should admit that wise Japanese people appeared to be sagacious and long-sighted in the range of the intellectual games.
Translation of Victor Yushkevich