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This page is written by the game's inventor, Charles Gilman.

Hoo Mitregi

The step from Mitregi to Dai Mitregi was quite a big one, increasing part-symmetric pieces from two to three components and so expanding the number of types of these from 2 to eight - four Gold and four Silver.

Hoo Mitregi is a compromise, limiting components to two but mixing one- and two-step moves on the same piece. It could be seen to have that in common with Symgi, although that variant has different pieces again of six, all symmetric, types. In fact Hoo Mitregi uses the same four part-symmetrics as my large variant Nested Shogi. My piece article Man and Beast 11: Long-Nosed Generals explains their names. Mitregi's 2 diagonal/orthogonal combinations, Hoo Mitregi's 4, Symgi's 6, and Dai Mitregi's 8, in all cases excluding the King, make a rather good if fortuitous progression. As with Dai Mitregi there are leaping and stepping subvariants. The four types remain equally divided between Gold and Silver. As one Hoo Mitregi half-symmetric piece is unbound and the rest bound to halves of the board (not all to the same two halves) it is more appropriate to have one aside of that one and two aside of the rest than Mitregi's one Goldgeneral and two Silvergenerals aside.

The name comes from Hoo being the Japanese name for the Waffle, as two types of piece have subsets of its move.

Setup

Pieces

Original Mitregi pieces:
The KING (Japanese name varies between armies) is the one piece surviving entirely unchanged from Chaturanga. It occupies the end of the other middle file.
It can move one square in any orthogonal and diagonal direction, is unpromotable, and must be kept out of check.
The ROOK (Hisha=Flying Chariot) and its FO form the WING (Kyoosha=Fragrant Chariot) move any distance orthogonally, and are blocked by intervening pieces.
The BISHOP (Kakugyo=Angle Mover) and its FO form the MITRE (Yohei=Ramshead Soldier) move any distance diagonally, and are blocked by intervening pieces.
The KNIGHT (Choma=Jumping Horse) and its FO form the HELM (Keima=Honourable Horse) are 2:1 leapers, and cannot be blocked.
Forward for the Helm is taken to mean only the two forwardmost leaps.
The CAMEL (N/A) and its FO form the HUMP (N/A) are 3:1 leapers, and cannot be blocked.
Forward for the Hump is taken to mean only the two forwardmost leaps.
The POINT (Fuhyo=Foot Soldier) is the Shogi (and Xiang Qi) replacement for the Pawn, and until promoted always moves one step orthogonally forward.
Points start on the third square of the two leftmost, two rightmost, and two middle files.
The CROSS (Sekisho=Stone General) is the Point's colourbound analogue, and until promoted always moves one step diagonally forward.
Crosses start on the third rank on those squares not occupied by Points.
This mixture of Pawnlike pieces gives a distinctive version of the Pawn structure of Occidental standard games so lacking in Shogi.
New part-symmetric pieces:
The GOLDTUSK is a compound of the Wazir, which moves one step along any orthogonal, and the Tusk, which moves two steps along either forward diagonal. It has six of the Waffle's eight moves and is unbound.
The SILVERDABCHICK is a compound of the Ferz, which moves one step along any diagonal, and the Dabchick, which moves two steps along the forward orthogonal. It has five of the Fezbaba's eight moves and shares the binding of the Bishop and Camel.
The GOLDDABBABA is a compound of the Dabbaba, which moves two steps along any orthogonal, and the aforementioned Cross. It has six of the Fezbaba's eight moves and shares the binding of the Bishop and Camel.
The SILVERELEPHANT is a compound of the Elephant (the leaping and stepping versions have separate pages), which moves two steps along any diagonal, and the aforementioned Point. It has five of the Waffle's eight moves and is bound to the whole of alternate files.
Promotees:
The CHATELAINE (Ryuo=Dragon King) is the Rook promoted to have the Ferz move added.
The PRIMATE (Ryuma=Dragon Horse) is the Bishop promoted to have the Wazir move added, thereby removing its colourbinding.
The GNU (N/A) is the Knight or Camel promoted to have the other's move added.

Rules

There is no initial double-step move, En Passant, or Castling, as Shogi has none of these.

The promotion zone comprises the four ranks of the enemy camp. Promotion is allowed at the end of a move starting or ending in the zone, and required if the piece has no further move unpromoted. Rooks are promoted to Chatelaine, Bishops to Primate, Knights and Camels to Gnu, and forward-only pieces to any kind of part-symmetric array piece. Part-symmetric pieces themselves are unpromotable, as are Kings.

Players keep pieces that they capture in a Reserve, whence they can reintroduce any except the Waffle and Fezbaba as their own pieces, unpromoted and able to move in that form. Each player may not have more than one unpromoted Point per file, nor more than six unpromoted Crosses per Bishop binding.

Check, Checkmate, and Stalemate are as in FIDE Chess and Shogi.


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By Charles Gilman.
Web page created: 2007-02-22. Web page last updated: 2016-04-06