Anyone with any idea why I lost this minishogi game?

I thought I almost won... Is there a rule about the position of the king?

http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=1538365

Yes, you win the game if you can occupy the enemy king's starting position

According to the rules:

http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/games/gamedetail.jsp?gtid=shogi&page=rules

"The player who brought his king to the initial position of his opponent's king wins the game."

Hehe i knew the answer before even looking at the game :) i learned that rule much later than the rest too.

I see, thanks for the explanation, I think both of us didn't know that until I forced him to do so...

Weird, I'd not heard of that victory condition before. Is it specific to Little Golem?

I don't see it in other versions of Mini Shogi rules. E.g.:
http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/53027/cd-box-formatted-mini-shogi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minishogi
http://www.chessvariants.org/shogivariants.dir/minishog.html
all seem to not mention that way of winning.

Chess variants are notoriously forgiving when it comes to rule modifications. Perhaps it came from some other Shogi variant and someone here thought, 'why not'.

And I lost a game because I thought I *did* know the rule

I once thought I had a winning move - bringing the king to that target square - but apparently it wasn't a legal move, as it left the king in check. Personally, I think achieving a winning goal should take priority over a potential capture which could be performed in a subsequent move.

That presumes the legality of the move, but is it? Is there any reason to introduce a second and in my view arbitrary object for the game?

@christian
How do you "castle" in Minishogi ?
:)

I've got no clue. Too bad Bobby Fischer is no longer among us to have a shot at it. If you can manage to introduce castling in Shuffle Chess, you can manage anything. :)

@Christian: What presumes the legality of the move?

I would say that introducing the artificial "put the king in check" objective on top of a far-more-logical "capture the king" objective has no reason behind it at all. OK, it makes lost games end one game earlier if the opponent refuses to resign, but in that case your opponent's a dick and you should simply refuse to play against him until he grows up.

Fat Phil, if you were prevented from reaching the opposing king square by the server because of exposure to check, I believe the server is in error. In regular Shogi, there is no rule against exposure to check. The only rule in Shogi which mentions check or checkmate is with regards to pawn drops. You may not deliver checkmate with a pawn drop. So, if you expose your king to check in a game without this try rule, or you do not occupy the opposing king start square by doing so, the move is regarded as legal, but immediately loses.

This "try rule" is not an official rule of Shogi, but has become popular among many amateur players. It is an attempt to improve the game, by avoiding the messy situation when both players have what is called entering kings.

@David: Interesting. Thanks.

@me: s/in check/in checkmate/

Okay, now I am confused.
Is it correctly understood that you win by reaching the square but you are not allowed to move into check?

For example in this game http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=1560887 , I put my opponent in checkmate, but he could move and win. Is it correct that I won?

I hate the checkmate rule! Why not just win by capturing king. Makes so much more sense and you don't get this confusion.

Game #1560887

Funny position indeed :) According to LG rules KxR would win, correct? The king is in check, the other king isn't even threathened, but ... the goal of reaching a particular square fulfilled!

Hahaha!

_"I hate the checkmate rule! Why not just win by capturing king. Makes so much more sense and you don’t get this confusion."_

It may be a "western" thing. In Hollywood the hero finally has the villain cornered, and instead of killing him, he starts pointing out in an elaborate way how smart he, the hero, is. That invariably turns out to be a dumb action, leading to the villain's escape and a sequel.

I like checkmate despite the complications it gives, rulewise. There's no rational reason for it, but it's traditional in western chess and it satisfies a certain sense of style that may well be culturally embedded.