The Bishop
📋 What it is
The Bishop slides any distance along the diagonals; promoted, it also gains one-square straight moves.
🗣️ Coach says
The Bishop rockets along diagonals, any distance, exactly like a chess bishop. Its weakness: it only ever reaches one colour of square. But PROMOTE it (a "Horse") and it also gains the four straight one-step moves — patching its blind spots and becoming one of shogi's strongest pieces.
🧠 Memory hook
Diagonals, any distance. Promote it → a "Horse" that also steps straight.
😂 Giggle
Why is the Lance such a focused student?
It only ever looks straight ahead!
😲 Whoa!
A promoted Bishop is called a "Dragon Horse" and a promoted Rook a "Dragon King" — shogi gives its upgraded big pieces dragon names.
✅ Quick check: What extra power does a Bishop gain when it promotes?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
The four one-square straight moves (up/down/left/right) in addition to its diagonal sliding — covering the squares it used to miss.
Promotion adds orthogonal single steps, fixing the Bishop's colour-bound blind spots.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Slide a Bishop across the diagonals, then "promote" it and add the four straight steps.