Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Yari shogi is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess), however it is not Japanese. It was invented in 1981 by Christian Freeling of the Netherlands. This game accentuates shogi''s intrinsically forward range of direction by giving most of the pieces the ability to move any number of free squares orthogonally forward like a shogi lance. The opposite is true of promoted pieces which can move backward with the same power. The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms ''black'' and ''white'' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece, displacing (capturing) an opposing piece or dropping a captured piece onto an empty square of the board. Each of these options is detailed below.