Tenjiku Shogi

Tenjiku Shogi (天竺将棋 tenjiku shōgi, or 天竺大将棋 tenjiku dai shōgi "exotic chess") is a large-board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th or 16th century and was based on the earlier chu shogi, which itself was based on dai shogi.

Tenjiku is played on a 16x16 un-checkered board.

Surely, Tenjiku Shogi is one of the deeper and most interesting large Shogi variant. While based on Chu Shogi (Middle Shogi), Tenjiku boasts a menagerie of wonderfully powerful pieces which make it a far more dynamic and fast paced game than the other large variants. It really stands out from the other great Shogi variants and deserves its name of "exotic". The exotic pieces include range jumpers which can jump over any number of pieces in order make a capture, and the Fire Demon which can "burn" all enemy pieces on the squares adjacent to where it lands!

Unlike in most other Shogi variants, tactics in Tenjiku are critical right from the first move of the game. Despite the large board, the power of the pieces can mean that careless play is rewarded with a lost game in only a few moves.