How can I make a shogi position diagram for free?

Tap pieces onto the board on this page and press “Save as PNG” to get an image. The quickest way is to start from the even-game or a handicap setup and play through with “Move”; captured pieces go into your hand automatically. Before saving, use “Diagram style” to choose the piece style, board colour and a caption (such as “Diagram 1: after ▲7六歩”). No sign-up or app install is needed.

How do I write the defender's hand as “all remaining pieces” in a tsume shogi diagram?

Choose “Tsume shogi (king and remaining pieces to the defender)” under “Starting setup”. Only Gote's king is placed, and the other 39 pieces go into Gote's hand. When you place the attacker's pieces you need to remove them from Gote's hand, so after setting up press Gote's “Empty” and then “Put every piece left in the box into this hand”. Tick “Write Gote's hand as “all remaining” (tsume shogi defender)” and the diagram and BOD will show 残り全部.

What is SFEN and where is it used?

SFEN writes a shogi position on one line; the even-game starting position is “lnsgkgsnl/1r5b1/ppppppppp/9/9/9/PPPPPPPPP/1B5R1/LNSGKGSNL b - 1”. Uppercase letters are Sente's pieces, lowercase are Gote's, and numbers are runs of empty squares. It is used to pass positions to USI shogi engines and analysis tools. You can copy the SFEN here, or paste a “position sfen …” line from an engine to turn it into a diagram.

What is BOD (Kakinoki format)?

It is a position diagram written as text, used in Kakinoki-format KIF files and elsewhere. The board is written on nine lines starting with “|”, Gote's pieces are prefixed with v and empty squares are “・”. A “後手の持駒：” line goes above and a “先手の持駒：” line below. It is also used to share positions on forums and by email. You can copy BOD here, and paste the diagram from a KIF file to import it.

How are handicap games set up, and who moves first?

In handicap games the uwate (the stronger player, in the Gote position) removes pieces and moves first. Lance handicap removes the uwate's left lance, bishop handicap the bishop, rook handicap the rook, two-piece the rook and bishop, four-piece also both lances, six-piece also both knights, and eight-piece also both silvers. Choose one under “Starting setup” and the pieces are set out that way with Gote (uwate) to move.

How are points counted for an entering-king declaration?

Count rooks and bishops (including dragons and horses) as 5 points and golds, silvers, knights, lances and pawns (including promoted ones) as 1 point, and add up your pieces in the enemy camp (the opponent's three nearest ranks) and your pieces in hand. Kings are not counted. Under the 27-point rule Sente needs at least 28 points and Gote at least 27, and the king must be in the enemy camp, there must be at least 10 pieces other than the king in the enemy camp, the king must not be in check, and it must be the declarer's turn with time left. The tool shows the points and conditions for the position automatically.

How can I show a position I made to someone else?

For an image, use “Save as PNG” or “Copy image” and paste it into a blog or social media. To hand it over in an editable form, use “Copy share URL” and the same position will be set out when the other person opens it (colours and arrows are not included in the URL). SFEN is handy for someone analysing with a shogi engine, and BOD for people used to KIF.

Shogi Diagram Maker | Set Up a Board and Export the Diagram as PNG or SVG — Handicap and Tsume Shogi Setups, SFEN and BOD (Kakinoki Format) Import/Export, Nifu Check and Entering-King Point Counter

The Shogi Diagram Maker is a free tool for making position diagrams (kyokumenzu) for blogs, social media, game commentary and tsume shogi printouts — just tap pieces onto the board. Start from the even-game setup, any handicap setup (lance, bishop, rook, two-piece, four-piece, six-piece, eight-piece or ten-piece) or a tsume shogi setup with only the defending king on the board and every other piece in the defender's hand. Moving onto an opponent's piece captures it into your hand automatically, and you can promote pieces, switch their owner, set pieces in hand and choose the side to move. Highlight the last move in yellow, colour squares and draw arrows to build commentary diagrams. Choose between piece shapes and the plain-character newspaper style, wood, white or dark boards, file and rank numbers, the 王 notation for Gote's king, player names and a caption under the diagram, then save as PNG (up to 3×) or SVG, or copy the image directly. It also copies and imports SFEN for shogi engines and BOD (the Kakinoki text diagram used in KIF files), and makes a share URL that opens the same position. It checks that there are no more than 40 pieces, flags nifu (two pawns on a file), pieces with no legal moves and impossible checks, and shows each side's points and declaration conditions under the 27-point entering-king rule and the 24-point impasse rule.

Set up the position

Starting setup

Tap a piece, then its destination. Moving onto an opponent's piece captures it into your hand.

Place a piece

▲Sente

△Gote

Place promoted pieces (と, 杏, 圭, 全, 馬, 龍)

Edit

Highlight the destination square in yellow (last move)

Side to move

Pieces in hand

▲Sente

飛0

角0

金0

銀0

桂0

香0

歩0

△Gote

飛0

角0

金0

銀0

桂0

香0

歩0

Diagram style

Piece style

Board colour

Sente's name (shown after ▲)

Gote's name (shown after △)

Caption under the diagram (e.g. 第1図は▲7六歩まで)

Show file (1–9) and rank (一–九) numbersWrite Gote's king as 王 (uwate 王, shitate 玉)Write promoted pieces in redWrite Gote's hand as “all remaining” (tsume shogi defender)

Text inside the diagram (pieces, pieces in hand, names) uses the kanji notation standard for shogi diagrams.

Save as an image or copy as text

PNG size

SFEN (for shogi engines and analysis)

Share URL for this position

BOD (Kakinoki-format text diagram)

後手の持駒：なし
  ９ ８ ７ ６ ５ ４ ３ ２ １
+---------------------------+
|v香v桂v銀v金v王v金v銀v桂v香|一
| ・v飛 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・v角 ・|二
|v歩v歩v歩v歩v歩v歩v歩v歩v歩|三
| ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・|四
| ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・|五
| ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・|六
| 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩|七
| ・ 角 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ 飛 ・|八
| 香 桂 銀 金 玉 金 銀 桂 香|九
+---------------------------+
先手の持駒：なし

Paste SFEN or BOD to import

Lines like “sfen …” or “position sfen … moves …”, and the diagram from a KIF file (nine lines starting with “|” plus the pieces-in-hand lines), can be pasted as they are.

Position check (piece counts, nifu, checks)

No problems found with piece counts, nifu, pieces with no moves or checks.

Piece	玉	飛	角	金	銀	桂	香	歩
On board and in hand	2/2	2/2	2/2	4/4	4/4	4/4	4/4	18/18
Left in the box	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

A set has 40 pieces (king 2, rook 2, bishop 2, gold 4, silver 4, knight 4, lance 4, pawn 18). Promoted pieces count as their original piece.

Entering-king declaration (27-point rule) and impasse (24-point rule) points

Rooks and bishops (dragons and horses) are 5 points, other pieces 1 point, and kings are not counted.

▲Sente

On board: 27
Pieces in hand: 0
Total: 27

24-point rule: 24 points or more, so an impasse would be a draw.

27-point rule declaration conditions (▲ needs 28 points)

✗ King is in the enemy camp (the opponent's three nearest ranks)
✗ At least 10 pieces other than the king in the enemy camp (now 0)
✗ At least 28 points from pieces in the enemy camp plus pieces in hand (now 0)
✓ King is not in check

You can't declare yet.

△Gote

On board: 27
Pieces in hand: 0
Total: 27

24-point rule: 24 points or more, so an impasse would be a draw.

27-point rule declaration conditions (△ needs 27 points)

✗ King is in the enemy camp (the opponent's three nearest ranks)
✗ At least 10 pieces other than the king in the enemy camp (now 0)
✗ At least 27 points from pieces in the enemy camp plus pieces in hand (now 0)
✓ King is not in check

You can't declare yet.

The 27-point rule is the entering-king declaration rule used in Japan Shogi Association official games. Some tournaments and apps use other rules, such as declaring under the 24-point rule.

ABOUT

About Shogi Diagram Maker | Set Up a Board and Export the Diagram as PNG or SVG — Handicap and Tsume Shogi Setups, SFEN and BOD (Kakinoki Format) Import/Export, Nifu Check and Entering-King Point Counter

The Shogi Diagram Maker is a free tool for tapping pieces onto a board and making position diagrams (kyokumenzu) for blogs, social media, commentary and tsume shogi printouts. Start from an even-game, handicap (lance to ten-piece) or tsume shogi setup, then move, place, promote and flip pieces, change pieces in hand and the side to move, highlight the last move in yellow, and colour squares or draw arrows. Choose piece shapes or plain characters, a wood, white or dark board, file and rank numbers, the 王 notation for Gote, player names and a caption, then save as PNG or SVG or copy the image. It also copies and imports SFEN and BOD (Kakinoki format), makes a share URL, checks piece counts, nifu, pieces with no moves and checks, and counts points under the 27-point entering-king rule and the 24-point impasse rule.

How to use Shogi Diagram Maker | Set Up a Board and Export the Diagram as PNG or SVG — Handicap and Tsume Shogi Setups, SFEN and BOD (Kakinoki Format) Import/Export, Nifu Check and Entering-King Point Counter

1Under “Starting setup”, choose even game, a handicap, tsume shogi or clear the board, then press “Set up this position” (or start from “Paste SFEN or BOD to import” if you already have one)
2Choose “Move”, tap a piece and then its destination to play through the position. Moving onto an opponent's piece puts it in your hand
3To add pieces, pick a Sente or Gote piece under “Place a piece” and tap a square. Make promoted pieces with “Promote / unpromote” or “Place promoted pieces”
4Adjust the counts under “Pieces in hand” with + and −, and set “Side to move”. For tsume shogi, press “Put every piece left in the box into this hand” for Gote
5If needed, add commentary marks with “Colour squares” and “Arrow”, and set the drawing style, board colour, names and caption under “Diagram style”
6Export the diagram with “Save as PNG”, “Copy image” or “Save as SVG”, and copy the SFEN, BOD or share URL as needed

Great for

Paste many position diagrams with the last move and arrows into a shogi blog post or note explaining an opening
Turn your own tsume shogi problem into a diagram with the defender's hand written as “all remaining pieces”
Make diagrams of handicap starting setups (six-piece, two-piece and so on) to hand out at a shogi class
Paste the SFEN of a position analysed with a shogi engine and turn it into a clean diagram image
Turn the position diagram (BOD) in a KIF file into an image, or make BOD from a diagram to post on a forum
Count the points in an entering-king position to see whether it meets the 27-point declaration conditions
Check a set-up position for nifu or wrong piece counts

Good to know

Position diagrams are also called zumen. Japanese newspapers and shogi books usually draw the board with one kanji per piece, Gote's pieces upside down, and Sente's (▲) pieces in hand written vertically on the right and Gote's (△) on the left. The diagrams here follow the same layout.
Promoted pieces are written with one character: と (tokin), 杏 (promoted lance), 圭 (promoted knight), 全 (promoted silver), 馬 (horse, promoted bishop) and 龍 (dragon, promoted rook). 玉 and 王 are the same king; by custom, in handicap games or games between players of different ranks the stronger player (uwate) uses 王.
In handicap games the uwate (the Gote position) removes pieces and moves first. Lance handicap removes uwate's left lance (1a), right-lance handicap the right lance (9a). Then come bishop, rook, rook-and-lance, two-piece (rook and bishop), four-piece (plus both lances), six-piece (plus both knights), eight-piece (plus both silvers) and ten-piece (only the king and pawns remain, golds removed too).
SFEN writes a position on one line. Going from the top rank and from file 9 on the left, Sente's pieces are uppercase and Gote's lowercase (K king, R rook, B bishop, G gold, S silver, N knight, L lance, P pawn; promoted pieces get a + in front), runs of empty squares are numbers, and ranks are separated by “/”. Then come the side to move (b Sente, w Gote), the pieces in hand and the move number. It is used to pass positions to USI shogi engines.
BOD is the text diagram used in Kakinoki-format KIF files. The board is nine lines starting with “|” (Gote's pieces are prefixed with v and empty squares are ・), with “先手の持駒：” and “後手の持駒：” lines for the pieces in hand. Counts in hand are written in kanji numerals (歩三 and so on).
A shogi set has 40 pieces (2 kings, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 4 golds, 4 silvers, 4 knights, 4 lances, 18 pawns). If the pieces on the board and in hand exceed 40, the tool shows an error. Promoted pieces are counted as their original piece.
Nifu (two of your own unpromoted pawns on the same file) and pieces with no legal moves (a pawn or lance on the first rank, a knight on the first or second rank; ranks 9 or 8–9 for Gote) are illegal, so the tool warns you before you make the diagram. It also warns when the side not to move is in check (an ignored check).
Under the 27-point entering-king declaration rule, the declaring player wins if it is their turn, their king is in the enemy camp (the opponent's three nearest ranks), they have at least 10 pieces other than the king in the enemy camp, the pieces in the enemy camp plus pieces in hand are worth at least 28 points for Sente or 27 for Gote (5 for major pieces, 1 for minor pieces), they are not in check and they still have time on the clock. This tool does not check the clock.
The 24-point impasse rule is used when both kings have entered and the game becomes jishogi: a side whose pieces on the board and in hand total under 24 points (5 for major pieces, 1 for minor pieces) loses, and if both have 24 or more the game is a draw. The total is 54 points, so 27 each is half.
The characters in the diagram are drawn with your device's Mincho (serif) font, so the shapes in the PNG differ slightly between devices. The position and display settings are saved only in this device's browser and are never sent to a server.

Questions this tool answers

Use Shogi Diagram Maker | Set Up a Board and Export the Diagram as PNG or SVG — Handicap and Tsume Shogi Setups, SFEN and BOD (Kakinoki Format) Import/Export, Nifu Check and Entering-King Point Counter for searches like these:

I want to make a shogi position diagram as an image for my blog
I want to make a tsume shogi diagram with the defender holding all remaining pieces
I want to paste an SFEN and turn it into a shogi board image
I want to make or read a KIF position diagram (BOD, Kakinoki format)
I want a diagram of a handicap starting setup (lance, two-piece, six-piece)
I want to calculate points under the 27-point entering-king rule
I want to count how many points I have under the 24-point impasse rule
I want to check a set-up position for nifu or wrong piece counts

FAQ

How can I make a shogi position diagram for free?: Tap pieces onto the board on this page and press “Save as PNG” to get an image. The quickest way is to start from the even-game or a handicap setup and play through with “Move”; captured pieces go into your hand automatically. Before saving, use “Diagram style” to choose the piece style, board colour and a caption (such as “Diagram 1: after ▲7六歩”). No sign-up or app install is needed.
How do I write the defender's hand as “all remaining pieces” in a tsume shogi diagram?: Choose “Tsume shogi (king and remaining pieces to the defender)” under “Starting setup”. Only Gote's king is placed, and the other 39 pieces go into Gote's hand. When you place the attacker's pieces you need to remove them from Gote's hand, so after setting up press Gote's “Empty” and then “Put every piece left in the box into this hand”. Tick “Write Gote's hand as “all remaining” (tsume shogi defender)” and the diagram and BOD will show 残り全部.
What is SFEN and where is it used?: SFEN writes a shogi position on one line; the even-game starting position is “lnsgkgsnl/1r5b1/ppppppppp/9/9/9/PPPPPPPPP/1B5R1/LNSGKGSNL b - 1”. Uppercase letters are Sente's pieces, lowercase are Gote's, and numbers are runs of empty squares. It is used to pass positions to USI shogi engines and analysis tools. You can copy the SFEN here, or paste a “position sfen …” line from an engine to turn it into a diagram.
What is BOD (Kakinoki format)?: It is a position diagram written as text, used in Kakinoki-format KIF files and elsewhere. The board is written on nine lines starting with “|”, Gote's pieces are prefixed with v and empty squares are “・”. A “後手の持駒：” line goes above and a “先手の持駒：” line below. It is also used to share positions on forums and by email. You can copy BOD here, and paste the diagram from a KIF file to import it.
How are handicap games set up, and who moves first?: In handicap games the uwate (the stronger player, in the Gote position) removes pieces and moves first. Lance handicap removes the uwate's left lance, bishop handicap the bishop, rook handicap the rook, two-piece the rook and bishop, four-piece also both lances, six-piece also both knights, and eight-piece also both silvers. Choose one under “Starting setup” and the pieces are set out that way with Gote (uwate) to move.
How are points counted for an entering-king declaration?: Count rooks and bishops (including dragons and horses) as 5 points and golds, silvers, knights, lances and pawns (including promoted ones) as 1 point, and add up your pieces in the enemy camp (the opponent's three nearest ranks) and your pieces in hand. Kings are not counted. Under the 27-point rule Sente needs at least 28 points and Gote at least 27, and the king must be in the enemy camp, there must be at least 10 pieces other than the king in the enemy camp, the king must not be in check, and it must be the declarer's turn with time left. The tool shows the points and conditions for the position automatically.
How can I show a position I made to someone else?: For an image, use “Save as PNG” or “Copy image” and paste it into a blog or social media. To hand it over in an editable form, use “Copy share URL” and the same position will be set out when the other person opens it (colours and arrows are not included in the URL). SFEN is handy for someone analysing with a shogi engine, and BOD for people used to KIF.

Special Thanks

SOLO GUILD | サービス作るAIエンジニア

Back to all tools