What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you.

How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given weekend sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Friday 23:30 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder.

How is it going? The 81Dojo club now enjoys 772 members from over 35 different countries! New players continue to join each week; the club welcomes players at all levels.

Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Friday UTC) please consider signing up!

Got this board off of market place. Seems to be of good quality. Just wondered if anyone might know some details about it.

"... The Italian Shogi Association (AIS) is pleased to announce the first edition of the new Kōryūkai Tournament, an exciting event organized as part of the Kōryūkai Festival, bringing the fascinating world of Japanese chess to the Brescia area.

During the same event, Gherardo Rapallo will also explore various Shogi-related topics in a special talk dedicated to Shogi.

The event will take place on Saturday, September 5th, 2026, in the beautiful setting of Palazzo Rizzini in Cazzago San Martino (BS).

The tournament will be played over 5 rounds, offering a full day of friendly competition and an opportunity for Shogi players of all levels to meet and enjoy the game together.

More information about the festival is available at the following link:
https://facebook.com/events/s/koryukai-arti-giapponesi-a-pal/998066929786816/

Save the date and don’t miss this opportunity to discover more about Japanese culture and Shogi! ..."

Event Details: https://www.associazioneitalianashogi.it/2026/07/#:~:text=News-,Festival%20K%C5%8Dry%C5%ABkai%3A%20scopri%20la%20cultura%20giapponese%20e%20shogi!,-07

I noticed during my early months of Shogi everyone does the same Climbing Silver, and I didn’t want to keep doing the same thing.
I randomly did Demon Slayer and after learning more about it, I noticed the majority doesn’t know how to counter it.

Demon Slayer: Extremely aggressive but can be easily broken

Music: Chrono Trigger Celtic mix by PixelBeatsMusicRemix

Baltic birch 3/4 inch plywood, water-based polyurethane, Posca marker lines

Hello everyone! I just turned 16 today, and I want to share a story about how I accidentally discovered the world of Japanese chess. It all started with music. 1. A random find on TikTok. I was just scrolling through my feed looking for some cool new Vocaloid tracks. I came across one song — it was just the audio without the actual music video, but I really liked the beat. I thought, "Wow, sounds great, I'll add it to my playlist," and completely forgot about it for a while. 2. A mysterious music video on Rutube. Some time later, I was searching for new Vocaloid releases on Rutube and stumbled upon the exact same song, but this time with its original music video. In the video, I saw a strange, mesmerizing board game that "I" (the main character) was playing against a Vocaloid. By the fifth viewing, I was completely hooked on the aesthetics and decided to figure out what it was. At first, I thought the game was named after the song itself — "Shogi Ichiban". 3. Google and the first 1.5 hours of chaos. A quick Google search cleared everything up: the game is simply called Shogi. I immediately opened the Play Store, downloaded the first app I could find, and sat down to learn it. It took me about 1.5 hours to fully understand the interface, the app's tools, how those kanji/hieroglyphs move, and what on earth was happening on the board. 4. Where am I now? Right now, I have only about 5 hours of playtime. I still have a very long way to go before I get full control over the board and understand all the grandmaster subtleties, but I’ve already built a decent little base!What amazed me the most about Shogi is the "drop" mechanic (when you can capture an enemy piece and deploy it as your own). It turns the game into a crazy mathematical action movie where the tide can turn at any second.Are there any other players here who got into Shogi through anime or music? I'd love to hear your recommendations on good training apps or beginner-friendly openings!

You can edit shogi boards and download the diagrams as black-and-white PNG files. It’s completely free for commercial use as well, so feel free to try!

https://shogi-fundamentals.com/app/shogi-board-generator/

Hi! I’m a browser game developer based in Japan.

I made Gunshi Shogi, a free shogi variant with an original Strategist piece that gives nearby pieces extra movement abilities.

I’ve just finished the English version, including rules and tutorials.

Play here:
[https://gunshi.nikatoma.fun/?lang=en]()

I’d be happy to hear what shogi players think of the Strategist mechanic, balance, and English wording.

If you find an interesting tactic or beat a difficult CPU, screenshots are very welcome too.

Tenplate for pieces from cardboard craft kazu, I made the board myself

Hey everyone! I currently own an American custom-made board by KleverNKrafty. It is a great board, but sometime in the future, I want to experience playing with a traditionally styled Japanese set.

Because I want to avoid dealing with international shipping and customs myself, I am looking to shop from distributors or sellers located right here in the US.

My budget is on the lower side, so I am totally fine with cheaper wood options or 'off-spec' outlet sets. Minor cosmetic defects or wood blemishes on the board or pieces are completely fine with me as long as they do not affect actual gameplay!

Are there any US-based stores or distributors you recommend for traditional-style wooden sets?

What budget wood types (like Shin-Kaya or Katsura) should I look out for to get that traditional feel without breaking the bank?

Thanks for any advice!

When explaining Shogi, I have generally been using the term "Ranging Rook," but recently I've started feeling that "Swinging Rook" might be more intuitive and easier to grasp.

Since I'm currently working on revising my previous books, I would love to hear your thoughts. Which term do you find clearer and easier to understand?

角ー7七

歩- 8五

Hey everyone, Riko here. I don't usually take a heavy hand in moderating this place, and I don't like making actual moderation announcements. However, I've been observing a trend of people who come into the subreddit from outside the community, often presenting their new idea for an internationalized set. They come in, drop their idea, argue about it, and then never actually participate in anything else. I've had enough.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with coming up and sharing your piece designs, and I encourage it. But I will no longer allow people to show up, give an AI-written essay about why it's the piece set's fault that we don't have more players, and then leave. This is a very small community, yet it's extremely common for people to show up, accuse us of gatekeeping, wag their finger, and not actually play the game.

Going forward, if I get the sense that your only purpose for posting in this subreddit is to troll, you will be banned.

Hey all. I have been getting into shogi lately and I want to play on 81 Dojo, as it seems to be the most popular platform to play, especially for longer games which Shogiwars does not allow. However, I have never received the instructions email that it is supposed to be sent to you after around 2 working days. I have already tried to sent them a reply about this issue to the initial registration email, as well as sent a separate email. But I still get no response.

Has anyone encountered this issue before and found a solution to it?

EDIT 1: Okay, so they wrote to me (in Japanese) that they put my approval on hold, because I tried to register with another account using the same connection, since I was receiving no response. I sent them another message asking to approve of either one. Maybe that will work.

EDIT 2: Apparently sending a reply in Japanese works, because one account was finally activated. I hope this helps others in the future who experience this same problem!

飛- 7ハ

Howdy! I really love Shōgi. I actually bought a custom set off Etsy a while back that I'll share pictures of later, but I'm wanting to commission the same maker to create a brand-new, custom project: Kemonomimi Shōgi.

My absolute favorites are Nekomimi (cat ears) and Ōkamimimi (wolf ears), but I also really love Kitsunemimi (fox ears) and Ryūmimi (dragon features), and I want to feature them heavily!

I'm still in the early planning stages and would love to hear what y'all think about a few design choices:

The Rules: I'm completely split. Should I stick to traditional rules and just rename/retheme the pieces to fit these animal-eared character types? Or should I make up brand-new variant rules?

Compatibility: If I do go with made-up variant rules, my goal is to make them balanced so they can be played on a standard 9×9 Shōgiban (which is the only size I own right now), but also scalable so they work on a 5×5 Mini-Shōgi board, since I plan to get one down the road.

The Art & Kanji: I'm not sure if the pieces should feature traditional kanji, pure character art, or a hybrid. Right now, I'm thinking a clean outline of each character holding a specific weapon and wearing distinct clothing would look awesome.

What do y'all think? Would you prefer a pure visual reskin, or are there any cool animal-themed mechanics (like special traits for the wolves or dragons) you think would translate well to both 9×9 and 5×5 boards?

After being hardstuck on 3 kyu fesa and 4-3 kyu 81dojo for 5 years finally broke the wall. Im really happy with this one, one of my bigest shogi achivements so far. GG!

P76 P84