into, out of, or within its promotion zone. A piece can be dropped, however, only in its unpromoted state, regardless of where it is dropped and whether it was promoted when captured, though it can then be promoted on subsequent turns. Six of the eight types of pieces can be promoted. Unlike in chess, each piece can be promoted only to one particular piece. Two of these promoted pieces have movement patterns that are only available by promotion, and the remaining ones have the same movement as the gold general. Promotion in shogi is usually optional; the only exception is when an exclusively forward-moving piece advances so far forward that it would have no legal move on subsequent turns if left unpromoted (e.g. a pawn moving to the last rank). Once a piece is promoted, it cannot be demoted back into its original form unless it is captured. The ability to choose whether or not to promote is important, as some pieces lose some of their power upon being promoted (e.g. a promoted silver general can no longer move diagonally backwards); thus, there can be a legitimate reason not to promote, even though all pieces theoretically gain more than they lose upon promoting. Shogi variants Most shogi variants have similar promotion rules to standard shogi, where all but a few pieces have the ability to be promoted, each to one type of piece. In most variants, the player's promotion zone is bounded by the position of the opponent's pawns at the start of the game. There are, however, some differences, especially in variants larger than shogi itself. For example, in the historical variants chu shogi and dai shogi, among others, the option of promotion is more restrictive than in the standard game: a piece can be promoted normally as it enters the promotion zone, but if it makes a move out of or wholly within the zone, it can be promoted only if it also captures another piece. Also unlike standard shogi, a forward-moving piece in these variants may be left unpromoted at the far end of the board, unable to move. Furthermore, some pieces have different promoted states depending on the variant played (e.g. a silver general is promoted to a gold general in shogi but to a vertical mover in chu shogi and dai shogi). In maka dai dai shogi, there is no promotion zone at all; instead,