Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

"Joseki at a Glance" to be published on October 2

The first book of Shogi Grance Series will be published on October 2 by Nekomado. For more details, please refer to the following page and the press release both in Japanese and English.

• New English Book Series "Glance Shogi Series" is out!!
• Press Release(PDF File)

Kifu database is on again

Kifu database is on again. I hope it will be available permanently.

Kifu database is temporarily down

Kifu database is temporarily down hopefully up to May 29, reportedly due to the fact the that the administrator of the site is moving to Kansai area.

 

Electronic Book of Shogi Sekai Magazine has started since today December 9

Electronic Book of Shogi Sekai magazine has started since today on December 9. It's for iPad. The notable difference compairing with paper version is that you can replay the variation on the diagram as you see in the following short video.

 

Here are the links to the source information and articles in Japanese on this epoch-making endeavor.

• マイコミ[毎日コミュニケーションズ] － ニュースリリース －

• 駒の動きをタッチで再現──将棋専門誌『将棋世界』がiPad向け電子書籍に | ブック | マイコミジャーナル

• 駒の動きをタッチで再現──将棋専門誌『将棋世界』がiPad用電子書籍に | iPad | iPad*iPhone Fan

HIDETCHI's vew video - Oui Hirose vs Ryuo Watanabe

Hidetchi uploaded a new shogi video on YouTube. It's about very interesting game between oui Hirose and Ryuo Watanabe.

 

"Assessing your Strength"

I found the following articles which explain how to participate in the your strength assessment broughted by Mainichi Newspaper web version.

• Assessing your Strength

SHOGI FOUNDATION published a new book titled "Master of Shogi"

I got to know about the publication according to shogifan's post to shogi-l.

• Masters of Shogi

'This collection includes mainly games by Ohashi Sokei III, Ito Sokan II, Ito Kanju, Amano Soho, Kimura, Tsukada, Masuda, Oyama, Naito, Kato, Yonenaga, Nakahara, Tanigawa, Sato, Habu, Moriuchi. 19th Lifetime Meijin Habu gives key comments to each of the 80 games.  The rest of the notes incorporate further professional analysis.

A video of shogi for chess players were uploaded on YouTube

The following video of shogi for chess players was uploaded on YouTube. It's using "International Pieces" and for beginners and/or novices.

Here is the duplication of the description of this video by the author.

This video is the first part in a series of videos that will introduce Shogi, the Japanese form of Chess, to Chess players. This first video introduces some Shogi equipment that is suitable for Chess players who don't know any Japanese, namely my Symbolic set, and it explains why Shogi uses wedge-shaped, double-sided pieces. It does not cover all the rules or even how all the pieces move. I will cover these subjects in subsequent videos.

Lectures on the Latest Strategies, Chapter 5

Good news if you are a Gokigen Nakabisha(Central Rook) fan! The translation of Chapter 5 of Lectures on the Latest Strategies about Gokigen Nakabisha, written by 6-dan Katsumata Kiyokazu, became available to read.  Here is the link and the copy of the beginning.

• Lectures on the Latest Strategies, Chapter 5 - Shogipedia

This professional player whom we call Habu, he is ubiquitous in any strategy that he got interested in, he raises an issue, he presents a solution, and he goes away like a whirlwind. That was what I spoke in the lecture on Fujii system. Gokigen central rook, which we'll cover in this lecture, also starts its story from tracing "Habu's footsteps".

There was a game that is one of the most impressive in Habu's games, and that became a branching off point when studying modern strategies. It's the 1st game of Meijin title match in 1994. Habu appeared for the first time in Meijin title match that year as the challenger. Habu got black in the 1st game, and he adopted a "5th-file vanguard central rook", rather than Yagura which was the mainstream strategy at the time.

This provoked a little dispute among professional players. It was hardly understandable at the time for a static rook player to swing the rook when playing black, especially on the highly formal and the greatest stage of Meijin title match. I remember a high ranked player was even angry with it saying, "It is unacceptable the he used a central rook as black in Meijin title match". 

Please click the link above in order to read the rest of articles. In addition, there are diagrams and usuful links to the gamerecords and annotation materials.

SHOGI MAZE - a very interesting Kifu finder has been released

Today I got to know the following Kifu(a record of the moves of a shogi game) finder has become available.  It's a very interesting idea to search for games with a specific opening which you would like to look for by repeatedly clicking the moves which appear right next to the diagram from the first move to the position you desire.

• Shogi Maze Description
• SHOGI MAZE

Here is the screenshot of the top diagram of SHOGI MAZE.  It's a sccreenshot to show you the image so it does not have real links to the clickable positions in the next move.  If  you would like to use it, please click the second link above.