established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Modifications have been made for tori shogi. A typical example is Sw-6d. The first letter represents the piece moved: Sw = swallow, Q = quail, Pt = pheasant, Cr = crane, Fa = falcon, Ph = phoenix. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter, as +Sw for a goose (promoted swallow). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 7g being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move requires the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken. For example, SWx4a+ indicates a swallow capturing on 4a and promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. For example, if Black has a crane at both 3c and 5c, which can be moved to the square 4b in front of the phoenix, then these are distinguished as Cr5c-4b (moving the left one) and Cr3c-4b (moving the right one). Optionally, a prefix may be added to the quail to distinguish the left quail from the right quail, LQ and RQ, when the left quail appears to the right of the right quail. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. For example, the start of a game might look like this: 1. Swx3c Swx5e 2. Fax5e Fax3c 3. Cr-5f Q-1b In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis. See also Shogi variant Minishogi Judkins shogi Microshogi Kyoto shogi Cannon shogi Yari shogi Whale shogi References External links Tori Shogi at The Chess Variant Pages Shogi Net Shogi.net/tori shogi Online play on Little