Turning weak pieces into strong ones

The promotion zone

The far three ranks of the board, from each player's point of view, make up their opponent's promotion zone. For Sente, that's ranks 1–3; for Gote, it's ranks 7–9 — shaded below from Sente's side.

When you're allowed to promote

A piece may promote on any move that starts inside the zone, ends inside the zone, or crosses into it — in other words, almost any move that touches those three ranks at either end. Promotion is optional and happens the instant the move is made; there's no waiting until your next turn. A promoted piece is simply flipped over to show its second face, usually carved or printed in red.

Sometimes it's better not to promote — a Silver General, for instance, sometimes keeps more useful movement options by staying unpromoted. Promotion is a choice, except when it isn't.

When promotion is mandatory

A few pieces must promote if the alternative would leave them with no legal move at all:

• A Pawn or Lance landing on the far rank (rank 1 for Sente) must promote — one more step forward and it would run off the edge of the board.
• A Knight landing on either of the far two ranks (ranks 1 or 2 for Sente) must promote, since its jump would otherwise carry it past the edge of the board.

Pieces dropped from hand

A piece dropped back onto the board from hand always arrives unpromoted, even if you drop it directly into the promotion zone. It only gets the chance to promote on a later move, the same as any other piece.

What never promotes

The King and Gold General never promote — the King because there is no stronger version of the piece the entire game depends on, and the Gold General because it's already the pattern every other promoted piece is copying.

With movement and promotion covered, the last piece of the puzzle is how a turn actually plays out. Continue to Rules of Play.