How do shogi pieces show their owner?

Their wedge shapes point toward the opponent

Placing a captured piece on an empty square

Shogi Drops Quiz: Captured Pieces That Return to Battle

This shogi drops quiz picks up an enemy piece and places it back into battle. Play 10 interactive questions on the 9 by 9 board, wedge-shaped pieces showing their direction, captured pieces held in hand, dropping on empty squares, the two-pawn file ban called nifu, no checkmate by dropping a pawn, drops always entering unpromoted, the promotion zone and Sota Fujii.

Start Shogi Drops Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Board
What size is the shogi board?
Shape
How do shogi pieces show their owner?
Hand
What happens to a captured piece?
Drop
What is a drop?
Nifu
What does the nifu rule forbid?
Mate
Which checkmate is illegal?
Promo
Do dropped pieces enter promoted?
Zone
Where can pieces promote?
Stuck
Why can't a pawn be dropped on the last rank?
Fujii
Which player held all eight major shogi titles in 2023?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What size is the shogi board?
Answer: 9 by 9
Squares are not colored.
Q2: How do shogi pieces show their owner?
Answer: Their wedge shapes point toward the opponent
Both sides use the same pieces.
Q3: What happens to a captured piece?
Answer: It joins the captor's hand
It can be reused.
Q4: What is a drop?
Answer: Placing a captured piece on an empty square
It counts as a move.
Q5: What does the nifu rule forbid?
Answer: Two unpromoted pawns on the same file
A drop must avoid this.
Q6: Which checkmate is illegal?
Answer: Checkmate by dropping a pawn
Pawn moves can still mate.
Q7: Do dropped pieces enter promoted?
Answer: No, always unpromoted
They can promote later.
Q8: Where can pieces promote?
Answer: In the furthest three ranks
It is the promotion zone.
Q9: Why can't a pawn be dropped on the last rank?
Answer: It would have no legal moves
Knights and lances share similar limits.
Q10: Which player held all eight major shogi titles in 2023?
Answer: Sota Fujii
A historic achievement.

Captured Pieces Return to Battle

Shogi, Japanese chess, is played on a 9 by 9 board of uncolored squares. Both sides use the same flat, wedge-shaped pieces, and the direction a piece points shows its owner. The biggest difference from Western chess is the drop.

A captured piece joins the captor's hand and can later be dropped onto any empty square as a move. Drops follow rules: nifu forbids two unpromoted pawns on the same file, checkmate by dropping a pawn is illegal and pieces cannot be dropped where they would have no legal moves, such as a pawn on the last rank. Dropped pieces always enter unpromoted.

Pieces promote when moving into, within or out of the promotion zone, the furthest three ranks. Drops make shogi rarely drawn and full of attacks. In 2023, Sota Fujii became the first player to hold all eight major titles at once.

What This Quiz Teaches

Strategy game fans will enjoy these questions.

How shogi pieces look
What drops are
Which drop rules exist
How promotion works
Who Sota Fujii is

Did You Know?

Promoted pieces flip over.
Kanji mark each piece.
Yoshiharu Habu is a shogi legend.
Computers now beat top professionals.
Shogi has many castle formations.