Yari Shogi

Invented by Christian Freeling (Netherlands), 1981. “Yari” means lance in Japanese.

Overview

Yari Shogi takes Shogi’s characteristic forward orientation to an extreme: every unpromoted piece (except the General) includes a forward-Lance component in its movement. Captures happen the same way as regular moves. Drops are included; the only rule difference from standard Shogi drops is that Pawn drops that immediately deliver checkmate are allowed.

Setup

9-row × 7-column board.

White

• Rank 1: Forward Rook(a1), Bishop(b1), Bishop(c1), General(d1), Knight(e1), Knight(f1), Forward Rook(g1)
• Rank 3: Pawns a3–g3

Black

• Rank 9: Forward Rook(a9), Knight(b9), Knight(c9), General(d9), Bishop(e9), Bishop(f9), Forward Rook(g9)
• Rank 7: Pawns a7–g7

Pieces

General

Moves one square in any direction (as a King). Does not promote.

Forward Rook

Slides along the rank (sideways) or forward along the file — but not backward. Effectively a Rook without the backward move.

Promotes to: Full Rook (slides orthogonally in all four directions).

Bishop (Yari)

Slides forward along the file (fR component), or steps one square diagonally forward (fF component). Cannot move backward or sideways.

Promotes to: Gold.

Knight (Yari)

Slides forward along the file (fR component), or makes a forward L-shape leap — two squares forward then one square sideways (the standard Shogi knight leap, forward only, jumps over pieces).

Promotes to: Gold.

Pawn

Moves one square straight forward. Captures by the same move.

Promotes to: Silver.

Gold (promoted Bishop or Knight)

Moves one square forward, diagonally forward, or sideways or slides backward along the file (backward Lance). Combined: any Shogi-Gold step plus a backward file slide.

Silver (promoted Pawn)

Moves one square straight forward or diagonally forward or slides backward along the file (backward Lance). Cannot move sideways or step backward.

Promotion

The promotion zone is the three ranks furthest from each player (White: ranks 7–9). Promotion is optional unless it would leave the piece immobile:

• Bishop, Knight, and Pawn must promote if moved to the last rank (rank 9 for White).

Pieces are dropped unpromoted and do not promote upon being dropped even inside the promotion zone.

Drops

Captured pieces change sides and may be dropped on a vacant square as a turn, with these restrictions:

• A piece may not be dropped where it would have no legal moves. (Bishop, Knight, and Pawn cannot be dropped on the last rank.)
• A Pawn may not be dropped in a file already containing an unpromoted friendly Pawn.
• Pawns may drop to give checkmate (unlike in standard Shogi).

Source: chessvariants.com/ms.dir/yarishogi.html; rules by Christian Freeling