How to play Shogi and other shogi video libraries by HIDETCHI

Now you can take shogi class on YouTube. The author HIDETCH has created an impressive archive of YouTube video clips for Shogi fans. Enjoy!

More channels are now available on YouTube

The explosion of YouTube popularity means there are more YouTube channels related to Shogi.   Please see "Shogi in YouTube" page for more info.

Shogi-school Blog

Some very nice blog articles for Shogi beginners

The 81 Dojo Forum

There is a forum page in 81 dojo server (see below) for exchanging news and information among shogi fans. about shogi, join the forum and ask.

Make sure your computer can display Japanese characters. All modern operating systems supports Asian Characters.

Get a little help on understanding meaning of that Japanese text

Browser extension (Firefox)

If you are using Firefox, then one of the extensions listed in this link should help.  For Chrome and Edge, look up 'Japanese translator' in its extension library.

BabelFish

This site translate the WEB page of different language for you

Hans Genun's Basic shogi Vocabulary

Exhaustive Japanese vocabulary library relating to Shogi. As normal words used in Shogi sometimes have definitive meaning, this is very handy for word reference. An amazing product of love by one individual.

BCM Games

Link here is for ChessVariantdotCom. Refer to the explanation on that site.  The app here plays all kinds of chess variant, including Shogi. There are many options you can set to configure the look and feel of the program. It also comes with shogi engine called Spear so that you can evaluate your game.

Shogi GUIs and Engines

These are GUIs and Engines talks to each other using USI protocol.   BCM Games supports more communication protocol to support other board game but it uses USI to communicate to  Spear engine.  We will discuss more of those applications in this subpage.   Please check them out!

Qinoa Syougi(きのあ将棋)

Practice your shogi skills using on-line shogi program. This app uses JavaScript, so it is not suffered from the lack of flash programming support in recent browsers. The site contains nominal amount of English so you could probably get to 'Play' games with various AI with varying strength and weaknesses. "Exploring Qinoa Shogi Site" explains how to navigate and play against the Shogi Engine on this site.

将皇(WebGL版)　ブラウザで遊べる将棋

This is a webGL version that runs on your browser of the same app that is popular in Android and IOS. (These smart phone apps might not be available in western world) Aside from playing against AI, it offers Checkmate problem from real games and also so called "勝ち切れ将棋(play until win)"　in which you start from the board where professional player actually resigned, then continue playing against AI until you checkmate the opponent king. If you want to polish endgame skill, this is a good exercise. AI's strength can be set from level 0 to level 6 with the level 6 being strongest.

Kifu for Windows and Kifu for Mac

Kakinoki software provides kifu viewers for both Windows and Mac platforms. Mr.Kakinoki is a creator of KIF/KIFU format which is now used on variety of software and now a de facto standard for computer Kifu records. Others notable formats are CSA and K2F. Thiese viewer read all of them.   Use the link above to download the program.

BCM Shogi referenced above will read Kifu format, (including Handicap games)

Your's truly's introduction to Kifu Notation

ShogiMaze

This is very easy to navigate English frontend to shogi database (Original site is in Japanese). If you are interested in a particular system and want to know all the associated moves, visit this site and explore!

Nekomado Shop

This on-line store ships from Japan, run by woman shogi professional.  They carry Shogi-equipments and books in various languages. Their Shogi book selections are pretty decent.

Quinoa Shougi

If you would like to play at any of those places, I would recommend that you spend some time with this computer shogi player to practice your skill. The site is in Japanese, and I have a page to go through the basic navigation guide to practice your shogi skill.

Lishogi

This is a new shogi site that allows game plays against humans as well as against computer for free. Although the site says it is in Beta stage as of March 2023, the user interface seems very polished. The computer play is powered by Yaneuraou, which is one of the best shogi engines available and its strength level is selectable. So, if you are a bit apprehensive about playing against actual people, this is another good place to practice shogi.

81dojo

This is probably the most user-friendly shogi site for non-Japanese players among the listing here. As with other sites, you need to register with your e-mail address and select your login name. All kinds of static data is available on players playing on 81dojo. (This is the only site you can check on your opponent's playing style and tendency before you actually start playing) There is a short tutorial on how to use the site. It also hosts 3x4 shogi board (aka animal/Dobutsu) shogi. Be aware this site's applet does allow illegal moves (double pawns etc.,) and immediately declare that you have lost. (Other sites simply will not allow illegal moves). This site is also sanctioned by JSF. You can actually request/purchase Dan certificate based on your rating.

PlayOK

This site used to be called "Kurnick". The site offers a variety of online board games and Shogi is one of them. The interface is somewhat limited but functional. Some nice interface on Tablet PC. The game environment is somewhat hostile. There is one nifty feature this site has. When the user switches the focus out of the board applet, the username is grayed out. When one's username "blinks" at every turn, it almost appears to be that he is switching out of the application to work with another program (maybe shogi software program for cheating?)

Shogi dojo 24

This is one of the oldest on-board shogi site that was started by just one man. A few years ago, Japan Shogi Federation assumed the management of this site. The user base is huge and if you go in, you will not have any problem finding someone at your level to play the game 24/7. English introductory pages and English lexicon used in the application needs some polishing, but you should be able to figure them out. User interface looks aged when you compare it to 81dojo though.  Note that the rating on this site is very much biased (to the lower end).  Don't be surprised the R1,600 players (on PlayOK) or R1,200 players (on 81dojo) could be playing in less than R1,000 range on this site. 

Shogi Quest

This is a smart phone application (Android and iOS) You download the application, and you can play Shogi on your smart phone. It gives you 10 minutes, 5 minutes and 2 minutes of play. Interface is slick. If you don't mind sudden death (you run out of time and you lose) and don't miss chatting with other players, this is a handy app on your smartphone. Interface is all in English.

Shogi Wars

This is another smart phone application (Android and iOS) that you download the application, and you can play Shogi on your smart phone. The site also supports playing games on browsers. It gives you 10 minutes, 3 minutes and '10 seconds for each move' play. In app purchase is needed for better experience, like avatar and unlimited game plays. You are limited to 3 matches per day for a free account. (This could be a good thing, as Shogi is highly addictive game) It also implements sudden death scheme. One unique aspect of this app is that you can purchase AI ticket and let AI make a move for you. (AI take over 5 moves for one ticket use) So it is clearly geared towards gamers. However, this app is also sanctioned by JSF and you can request official degree certificates if you earn enough rating.