Shogi glossary
Two pawns (nifu)
Japanese: 二歩
In shogi, nifu (二歩, two pawns) is the illegal act of having two of your own unpromoted pawns on the same file. It can only happen through a drop, and in official games it loses immediately.
Illegal: two of your unpromoted pawns on the same file.
What counts
The rule covers the whole file, not just neighboring squares: a pawn on 3g plus a dropped pawn on 3c is still nifu. Tokins do not count, and neither do the opponent's pawns, so a file with your tokin and your pawn on it is perfectly legal.
Why only drops
Shogi pawns move and capture straight ahead, so a pawn on the board never changes files. Doubled pawns, common in chess after captures, can only arise when you drop a pawn onto a file where you already have one. That is the single moment you need to check.
Practical effects
Nifu limits defense. When you are in check and want to block with a pawn, every file that already holds one of your unpromoted pawns is closed to you.
It also explains one benefit of a pawn exchange: after the trade you hold a pawn in hand and have an empty file to drop it on.
Try it · from “Check, Checkmate and Illegal Moves”
You are in check. Block it with a pawn drop.
FAQ
Is nifu an automatic loss?
In official play, yes: any illegal move, nifu included, loses the game on the spot. Casual games may be more forgiving, but the safest habit is to glance along the file before every pawn drop.
I don't do defense. Hope you brought a castle!
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