A Classification of the Phases in Shogi Game using Piece Strength by SOM

Abstract

Computer Shogi programs are still in development to defeat the professional players. One of the main problems exists in estimating the game phases. It is said that there are three phases in the Shogi game, so called, opening, middle and endgame phase. The appropriate strategy differs depending on the game phase. In the present paper, we have tried the classification of the phases using piece strength using Self-Organizing Maps, 100 game records of professional players are used to show the feasibility of our approach. All of the games classified the phase into three classes in piece moving order.