Player Ranking and Handicaps
Amateur players are ranked from 15 kyū to 1 kyū and then from 1 dan and upwards; this is the same terminology as many other arts in Japan. Professional players operate with their own scale, from professional 4 dan and upwards to 9 dan for elite players. Amateur and professional ranks are offset (with amateur 4 dan being equivalent to professional 6 kyu).
Games between players of disparate strengths are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces are removed from the setup, and in exchange White plays first. Note that the missing pieces are not available for drops and play no further part in the game. The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in international chess because material advantage is not as powerful in shogi.
Common handicaps, in increasing order of severity, include:
- Left lance
- Bishop
- Rook
- Rook and left lance
- Two pieces: Rook and bishop
- Four pieces: Rook, bishop, and both lances
- Six pieces: Rook, bishop, both lances and both knights
Other handicaps are also occasionally used. The relationship between handicaps and differences in rank is not universally agreed upon, with several systems in use.
If a jishōgi occurs in a handicap game, the removed pieces are counted towards White's total.
Read more about this topic: Shogi
Famous quotes containing the words player, ranking and/or handicaps:
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