This is a duplicate. It has been originally posted in my "What's on your mind" field of Facebook.
Here is one of my shogi strategic tips for players with chess background. "Don't underestimate the power of Bishops in shogi." In chess, Rooks are major pieces and Bishops are minor pieces while both pieces are major pieces in shogi. In chess, the relative value of a Bishop is 60% of a Rook, meaning 3 divided by 5. In shogi, a bishop is 13 points and a Rook is 15 points according to 9th dan Tanigawa, so the relative value of a shogi bishop is 86.7% of that of a Rook, meaning 13 divided by 15. Practically, I think strategic exchange of a Rook for a Bishop more often happens in shogi than chess. Do you know why such difference exists despite the fact the move of both Bishops and Rooks are basically the same? I think the answer is like this. #1, A shogi Bishop can go anywhere on the board after promotion while a chess Bishop can go on the same color squares which means only half of the board. #2, Pawn move difference between the two games causes this imbalance. In chess, a Pawn moves diagonally when it captures something. This interesting feature makes it possible pawn chains can often shut out the same-color square Bishop in chess. However, a shogi Pawn still moves one square forward even when it takes something. So there is virtually no concept of "Pawn chain" in shogi. A shogi Bishop cannot be blocked by "Pawn Chains" since a shogi Pawn cannot protect another pawn located diagonally forward, and these are why a shogi bishop can generally enjoy its long range diagonal more easily than a chess Bishop. So again, don't underestimate the relative value of a shogi Bishop. It's one of the major pieces as well as a Rook.
Supplemental information. If you like to review the relative value of each piece, HIDETCHI's video of How to play Shogi #10 is pretty handy. Please see the video from 3:29. The recognitions between 9th dan Tanigawa and 9th dan Sato are slightly different, but it will give you an important guide in terms of material in shogi. You can plan a good trade for you with this knowledge in your play.
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