Welcome to the United States Shogi Federation!

This exciting, traditional strategy game from Japan has had fans from the United States hosting tournaments since the early 1990s! We wanted to bring some of that excitement into the modern day, make it easier for experienced players to find each other, and offer new players and interested prospects an easy way to find shogi clubs and events in their local area. We hope our efforts can help ease communication and make shogi more accessible to everyone.

Use the links at the top or scroll down to find a club, see the latest information, or learn more about shogi!

What is Shogi?

Literally, the "General's Game" (or "Game of Generals"), shogi, is a two-player Japanese strategy board game. Similar to the Western game of chess, the object of the game is to capture (checkmate) the opponent's king. Like the game of chess, shogi's origins are tied to the ancient Indian game of chaturanga. Although it's not clear when shogi was born, it's believed that chaturanga (or a version of it) made its way to Japan from India, either through China and then Korea or thorugh Southeast Asia during the Nara Era (710 - 794), and then inspired an early version of shogi popular during the Heian Era (794 - 1185). The oldest shogi pieces that have been discovered to day (a set of 16) date back to around 1058. While it has changed quite a bit since then, some people consider shogi to be not merely a game, but a traditional piece of Japanese culture, an artform like haiku and tea ceremonies.

Shogi is often referred to as "Japanese chess", but it is no mere variation, and there are a few key differences that set the games far apart in complexity and strategy. One major rule is that nearly every piece has a "promoted" version with an alternate moveset, allowing unique angles of attack. The second is that captured pieces can be "dropped" back onto the board, meaning every piece is always in play! This makes calculating many moves ahead a greater challenge and means that very few games ever reach a draw.

Check the links below to learn how to play!