Play Shogi with Impassable Kings online with Game Courier

Shogi with Impassable Kings is Shogi with only one difference. Kings may not enter the same rank as each other. This prevents them from passing each other, which prevents the impasse situation where each King goes into the opponent's territory and becomes much harder to checkmate. Accordingly, the usual rule for handling impasses by counting pieces has no use in this game.

You may play this game by online correspondence with a variety of graphic options, including both western pieces and Japanese pieces. Some of the options are provided below, and further customization is available, including more board images and more piece sets. When you play, you can click or tap a piece to see its legal moves, and you can click or tap a space to preview your move. If you are satisfied with it, you can make your move official. If not, you can go back and try something else. You will be prevented from making illegal moves, and captured pieces will automatically be converted to your side, demoted as need be, and placed in hand for you. Click on one of the buttons below to begin.

The Symbolic set, the Chess Motif set, and the Japanese font set (seen on the sodalite blue board) are all made by Fergus Duniho, who also created Game Courier and programmed these presets. The Japanese sets seen on the plain blue and plain beige boards are the work of Koma-Shokunin 1, used here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license