Game Complexity
Shogi has the distinctive feature of reusing captured pieces. Therefore shogi has a higher branching factor than other chess variants. The computer has more positions to examine because each piece in hand can be dropped on many squares. This gives shogi the highest number of legal positions and the highest number of possible games of all the popular chess variants. The higher numbers for shogi mean it is harder to reach the highest levels of play. The number of legal positions and the number of possible games are 2 measures of shogi’s Game complexity.
| Game | Board Size | Number of Pieces | Number of Different Pieces | Legal Positions | Possible Games | Average Game Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chess | 64 | 32 | 6 | 1047 | 10123 | 80 |
| Xiangqi | 90 | 32 | 7 | 1048 | 10150 | 95 |
| Shogi | 81 | 40 | 8 | 1071 | 10226 | 110 |
| Wei-qi | 361 | Up to 360 | 1 | 10171 | 10360 | 150 |
Read more about this topic: Computer Shogi
Famous quotes containing the words game and/or complexity:
“In the game of “Whist for two,” usually called “Correspondence,” the lady plays what card she likes: the gentleman simply follows suit. If she leads with “Queen of Diamonds,” however, he may, if he likes, offer the “Ace of Hearts”: and, if she plays “Queen of Hearts,” and he happens to have no Heart left, he usually plays “Knave of Clubs.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“The price we pay for the complexity of life is too high. When you think of all the effort you have to put in—telephonic, technological and relational—to alter even the slightest bit of behaviour in this strange world we call social life, you are left pining for the straightforwardness of primitive peoples and their physical work.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)