April 2021: You can make a 'Japanised' International Chess set using these templates.

This set of templates is for an A3 printer(*).

Most public libraries in the U.K. have A3 printers, otherwise use your local print shop. With care, you can make a really rather nice set –
cheap – £5-6!

(*) What do I do if I don't have access to an A3 Printer? You can probably print this set onto A4 sheets (of course, the size of the board and pieces will be
reduced correspondingly). How? View the file from within a PDF reader (I use Sumatra – available from portableapps.com). Select the printer icon ( ) at the top of the
display; select the pages you wish to print; select the Advanced tag; within the advanced options, select Shrink pages to printable area; select Print. Your selected
pages should successfully print to A4 sheets.

This Chess set is aimed at those Japanese people who would love to learn International Chess, but who are really put off because it's so
difficult to learn the game because of:

• the strange 'Staunton' pieces used in a conventional International Chess set,

• the weird chequered board,
• the odd Western notation system which is based on an 'origin' at the lower left corner of the board,
• the peculiar practice of placing White at the 'bottom' of the board in diagrams.

In Japan, there is a fairly popular version of Chess called 'Shogi'. I have addressed all the problems listed above by making this world-
beating 'Japanised' International Chess set. I have done this simply by making the set look as much as possible like a Shogi set to make it
easier for Japanese players of International Chess. I have used:

• Shogi-style pieces. There is no Queen in Shogi, so I have used a 'Free King' ( 奔王 ) which is the same, move-wise as the Chess
Queen.
• a non-chequered board
• a notation system with an origin at the upper right corner of the board
• placed Black at the 'bottom' of the board

The board is smaller than a 'standard size' Chess board in order to fit it onto a single A3 sheet. It's the best I could do using fixed-width
box drawing symbols. I have included rank and file markings. The 'new kaya' wood-effect background is based on a real Shogi board. It was
a bit of a squeeze, but I managed to get the whole thing, including the pieces, on to one side of A3...

The graphic piece designs are based on images used by the late George Hodges in his book (now rare) The Great Shogi Games (The Shogi
Association, 1980).

How do I make this set?

1. Print page 2 of this template. Use good quality paper. If you can get access to a laser printer, so much the better. If your
printer can handle card, use 160-210gsm card (note: many A3 printers can't handle card).
2. Using a sharp knife, carefully separate the board from the pieces, using the faint grey line as a guide. If your printer doesn't
print to the very edge of the paper, trim the excess white edges from the board.
3. Now, put the board inside an A3 laminating pouch and pass it through a laminator. Trim the laminated board to the correct size
– do not trim the plastic too close to the edge of the actual board, or the whole thing will 'open up' and de-laminate.
4. As an alternative, use double-sided adhesive tape to stick the board to a piece of photographic mounting card, and trim to size
using a sharp knife.

That's the board dealt with – next, the pieces:

5. Separate the Pawns from the Queens/Kings/Bishops/Knights/Rooks.

6. Carefully crease and fold the Pawns along the faint grey line marking the base.
7. Stick the Pawns to a strip of card, using double-sided adhesive tape for front and back.
8. Stick the Queens/Kings/Bishops/Knights/Rooks to a separate piece of card, using double-sided adhesive tape
9. Carefully cut out all the pieces with a pair of sharp scissors .

You should now have a (medium-sized) board and a matching set of pieces. The promoted status of the Pawns is marked on the reverse side
– there are 4 Queens, 4 Bishops, 4 Knights and 4 Rooks. There are spares – including a 'blank' Pawn

I don't recommend using glue for any of this – glue is messy, and will probably soak into the paper/card causing the images to run.

Further copies of this document can be downloaded from my Shogi Dropbox archive: https:/tinyurl.com/RogersShogiArchive. The file is
called DIY Chess set (Japanised version).pdf.

There are also lots of Shogi and Oriental board games resources in the archive, including templates for Shogi, Tori Shogi, Chu Shogi, Wa
Shogi, Dai Shogi, Xiang-chi, Go and Dou sho qi sets, Shogi documents, rules leaflets, etc.

The key to success with these DIY Chess sets is to use good quality materials. In the U.K, you can buy A3 laminating pouches (for the
board) from Office Outlet stores; wide (Unibond brand, 5m x 38mm) double-sided adhesive tape (for the board) from B&M stores; narrow
(8m x 18mm) double-sided adhesive tape (for the pieces) from The Works stores; and white mounting card and white 160-210 gsm card
from Hobbycraft stores.
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'Japanised ' Chess board – from Dropbox: https://tinyurl.com/RogersShogiArchive. Created by Roger Hare, 1 April 2021.

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__ m ___

Pawns

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Queens Kings Bishops

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Knights Rooks