Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Result of 2nd game of 64th Meijinsen

On April 25 and 26, the 2nd game of 64th Meijinsen was held between Challenger Tanigawa 9dan and Meijin Moriuchi in Niigata prefecture, Japan. Moriuchi played Sente(black, lower side) and won the game with 69 moves. The score after the game is 2-0 led by Moriuchi.

The left diagram is the position when Tanigawa resigned to look at Moriuchi's final move of G*6b. After the diagram, Gote's King would be mated as followings;

Kx6b +P-5b(mate)

K-8b Gx7b K-9b L*9c Kx9c N*8e K-8d G*7e K-9e S*8f(mate)

K-8b Gx7b Kx7b +R-5b S(or B)*6b +R-6a K-8b +Rx6b G*7b S*7a K-9c N*8e K-8d G*7e K-9e L*9f(mate)

K-8b Gx7b Kx7b +R-5b G*6b G*8b Kx8b +Rx6b G*7b S*7a K-9c N*8e K-8d G*7e K-9e L*9f(mate)

K-8b  Gx7b Kx7b +R-5b R*6b +Rx6b Kx6b R*5b K-7a G*7b(mate)

Number of shogi players decreased to 130 in Brainking.com at End of April

According to the ratings page of provisional BKR players in Brainking.com, the number of shogi players who has provisional BKR decreased to 130 at the end of April(JST). The site has added shogi to its wide variety of game line since August 12, 2005(JST). Comparing with the end of March, 2006, the number of shogi players decreased by 6. Please refer to the definition of BKR(BrainKing Rating) if you like.

The details by country are as followings; Malaysia and Luxembourg show up in the list for the first time.

USA --- 22(-4)
Czech --- 21(+1)
Netherlands --- 9(+4)
Russia --- 6(-3)
Belgium --- 5(0)
France --- 5(+2)
Germany --- 5(0)
UK --- 5(0)
Italy --- 4(+2)
Slovakia --- 4(-1)
Australia --- 3(0)
Portugal --- 3(+1)
England --- 2(-1)
Canada --- 2(-1)
Finland --- 2(0)
Japan --- 2(0)
Sami --- 2(-1)
Spain --- 2(+1)
Sweden --- 2(0)
Switzerland --- 2(0)
Austria --- 1(0)
Estonia --- 1(0)
Guatemala --- 1(0)
India --- 1(0)
Israel --- 1(0)
Korea --- 0(-1)
Latvia --- 1(0)
Luxembourg --- 1(+1)
Malaysia --- 1(+1)
New Zealand --- 1(0)
Syria --- 1(0)
Thailand --- 1(0)
Wales --- 1(0)
Unspecified --- 15(0)

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Ningen Shogi(Human shogi)

Since April 9, the 51th Tendo Sakura Matsuri (Tendo cherry blossom fesitival) started this year in Yamagata prefecture, Japan. Tendo is fomous as the city of producing shogi pieces. The main event of the festival is Ningen Shogi(Human shogi) on April 22 and 23. Tendo has entered into sister city relationship in Marostica, Italy since 1989 due to the fact that the city holds the event of Human Chess every year.

I have never been to Tendo. But I would like to make a trip there some day to see the event and drop on at shogi piece manufacturers.

Here are some links regarding Ningen Shogi

Photo of Ningen Shogi

Traditional Art(Shogi) by Tendocci.

Sister City Marostica by Tendocci

The Chess Game with Living Persons

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Result of 2nd game of 24th Asahi Open Championship

On April 19, the 2nd game of the 24th Asahi Open Championship was held between Asahi Habu and Challenger Fujii 9dan in Miyagi prefecture. Before the game, the score was 1-0 led by Habu. Fujii played Sente(made the first move) and he won the game with 129 moves. Now the score is tied by 1-1. Since Asahi Open Championship is 3 wins match. The winner of the next game will have big advantage.

The diagram is at Habu's resignation when Sente(Black, lower side) dropped his Bishop on 4b. Sente has a Gold and a Pawn in hand.

If it is Sente's turn in the diagram, there will be a mate such as Bx3a+ Kx3a R*4a K-2b G*3c K-1b(if K-1c instead, then Rx1a+ S-1b +R-2b(mate)) R-4b+ P*3b Gx2c Kx2c Rx3b+ K-1c S*2b K-1b S-3c+ K-1c +R-2b(mate).

Therefore, Gote(White, upper side) must make a defensive move but there is no effective defense. The possible variations after the diagram would be as followings;

R-4a B-3c+ S*2b G*3b Sx3b +Nx3b K-1b +Bx2b(mate)

R-4a B-3c+ S*3a +Bx2c Rx4c S*3b Sx3b G*2b(mate)

R-3b +Nx3b Sx3b R*3a K-2b G*3c K-1c Rx1a+ L*1b +R-2b(mate)

R-3d B-3c+ Rx3c +Nx3c S*2b +Nx2c Sx2c G*3c L*2b R*5a B*3a S*4b(Hisshi, brinkmate)

S*2b Bx3a+ Sx3a+ R*5a Px3g+ P*3b +Px2h Gx3h-2h Sx2c-3b Rx3a+ Kx3a S*4b K-2b +Nx3b K-1c(If Kx3b instead, then G*3c K-2a S*3b K-1b G-2c(mate)) G*2c Kx2c S-3c+ K-1c S*2b K-1b S-1a+ K-1c +S-1b Kx1b +N-2b K-1c +N2c(mate)

There might be more variations, but in any case, Sente should win the game.

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Answer to the comment(Itte son Kakugawari)

I had a comment from Andi.

"I'm still very confused about the point of Itte son Kakugawari Senpo; if it's  so good to have the rook pawn back on the 4th rank, why can't white just skip this move in the normal development and then be the first to attack?"

I would like to try to answer the question here. The first diagram is the example of early stage of the normal Kakugawari(Bishop Exchange). The sequence from the beginning to the diagram is as followings;

P-2f P-8d P-2e P-8e P-7f G3b B-7g

As you see above, Gote(White, the upper side of the diagram) has to push its Rook Pawn to the 5th rank such as P-8e very early and Sente(Black, the lower side) has to waste one Bishop move to 7g to prevent Gote from exchanging its Rook pawn in the normal Kakugawari opening. After the diagram above, Bishop exchange is to occur as followings;

..., P-3d S-8h Bx7g+ Sx7g  S-2b G-7h S-3c(Second diagram below)

In the normal Kakugawari opening, Bishop exchange occurs on the square of 7g after Sente wastes one Bishop move to 7g, while it occurs on the square of 8h without Sente's wasting any Bishop move in the Itte son Kakugawari opening. Sente's B-7g is not necessary unless Gote pushes its Rook pawn to 8e intending to exchange its Rook Pawn. This is why Gote cannot keep its Rook Pawn in the 4th rank in the normal Kakugawari opening.. In other words, unless Gote pushes its Rook Pawn to 8e, it will not be able to go to the normal Kakugawari opening.

Gote's right kNight cannot jump to 8e in the middlegame in the normal Kakugawari since its Rook Pawn is already on the square of 8e. Itte son Kakugawari opening will allow Gote to jump its right kNight to 8e much more easily to threat to capture Sente's Silver on 7g in the middlegame.

If you are further interested in the difference between the normal Kakugawari and Itte son Kakugawari, please visit the following two links to to the pages of Chidori Gin no Senpo Zukan(in Japanese) and replay the sequences using Kifu for Java there. Although the comments are written in Japanese, I think you have no problem to replay the sequences.

Itte son Kakugawari

Kakugawari Koshikakegin - Same shapes(1)

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Brainking corrected the colors of players in shogi

Here is a good news.

Together with the release of Igo, Brainking.com has corrected the colors of players in shogi. Before the change, White used to move first(Sente) and while Black used to move second(Gote) there. But now it has got normal for shogi fans. This change seems to have been applied to all the shogi gamerecords including the games in play and the statistics of winning percentage by color.

I hope the enhancement to add handicap game to shogi will be implemented shortly. Then, Brainking.com would be a perfect turn-based shogi site.

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Result of 1st game of 64th Meijinsen

On April 11 and 12, the 1st game of 64th Meijin-sen between Meijin Moriuchi and Challenger Tanigawa(9dan) was held in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As a result of Furigoma, Tanigawa made a first move(lower side of the diagram). Moriuchi won the game with 124 moves. It was a very exciting game. Tanigawa attacked without making a Kakoi(castle) and his king stayed on the original square until Moriuchi's counterattack threatened it in the endgame. Do you think it was a good example of a famous shogi proverb 'Igyoku wa Sakeyo(Avoid a Sitting King)'? I don't know. There is another proverb such as 'Meijin ni Joseki Nashi(Meijin is free from standard sequences)'. The left diagram is at Tanigawa's resgination when Moriuchi dropped his Silver on 4h supported by the kNight on 5f.

After the diagram, Sente(lower side)'s king will be mated. The possible variations are as following;

K-2h or K-3h G*2g(mate)

Gx4h Nx4h+ Kx4h Rx5h+ Kx5h G*5g K-4i G*4h(mate)

Gx4h Nx4h+ Lx4h Rx5h K-3g B*5i K-3f G*2f K-3e G*2d(mate)

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A new shogi www opened

According to the contribution to the shogi-l by Andrei Kasperovich, a new website which specilaizes in shogi has opened. It is written in two languages such as Russian and English. I hope the website will  enrich its contents gradually to be recognized as a good shogi resource among the shogi fans all over the world.

Result of 1st game of 24th Asahi Open Championship

Yesterday on April 4, the 1st game of the 24th Asahi Open Championship match(3 wins match) between Asahi Habu and Fujii 9dan was held. As a result of Furigoma, Habu played Sente(first mover, lower side of the diagram). Habu won it with 135 moves. The score after the game is 1-0 led by Habu. This must be a good reference for the progress in joseki of quick attack in the opening of Shikenbisha(4th file rook) and Ibisha(static rook). I was at a big room yesterday in Asahi Newspaper HQ building in Tsukiji, Tokyo to watch Kimura 7dan's commentary show using a big shogi board and presentation screen. According to Kimura 7dan, Fujii was in the advantageous position at the time of trading Bishop for Rook. But Habu turned around the position somewhere after the trade. You can replay the full game record here(Attention, it may not work well if you access from outside Japan. I have plural inputs that it could not be replayable although I had no problem to replay the moves(added on Apr. 6). Flash Player needs to be installed to view the gameboard).

The diagram above is when Habu made the 135th move such as N*8d(check) and Fujii resigned. Habu had a Bishop, two Golds, and two Pawns in hand. The mating line after the N*8d would be a bit easy. Gote(upper side) had two choice responding to it; K-8b or Px8d. In case of K-8b, then B*7a would form an instant mate. In case of Px8d taking the kNight on 8d, then the following mate line would be expected:B*6a K-8b G*8c K-7a B7b+(mate, check by two pieces such as +B on 7b and R on 5a).

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Shogi Taisho(grand prizes)

According to NSR(in Japanese), the following players were awarded for the fiscal year 2005(April 1, 2005 through March 31, 2006). The prize-giving committee from sponsors of shogi title matches have defined the prize winners except for Most frequent player, Winningest player, Highest winning percentage, and Highest winning number in a row award which automatically depend on the records for the term.

* Most valuable player award --- Yoshiharu Habu(3 crowns)

--> Although Habu lost Kio, he has still 3 titles which is the biggest number among all the professional players.

* Valuable player award(newly created prize this time) --- Toshiyuki Moriuchi(Meijin,Kio, Akira Watanabe(Ryuo)

--> Moriuchi defended Meijin and took Kio from Habu. Watanabe defended Rhuoh.

* Fighting-spirit award --- Yasumitsu Sato(Kisei)

* New Face award --- Shinya Sato(5 dan)

--> He's granted the highest winning percentage award as well.

* Most valuable lady player award --- Rieko Yauchi(Joryu Meijin)

--> Yauchi took Joryu Meijin from Shimizu for the first time of her life.

* Impressive lady player award --- Ryoko Chiba(Joryu Osho)

* Special award --- Nobody entitled

* Most frequent player award --- Yoshiharu Habu, 62 games

* Winningest player award --- Akira Watanabe, 41 victories

* Highest winning percentage award --- Shinya Sato, 78.7%

* Highest winning number in a row award --- Yoshiharu Habu, 18 wins in a row

* Tokyo shogi press club award --- Shoji Segawa(4 dan)

* Kozo Masuda award --- Hitoshige Awaji(9 dan), 'Itte son Kakugawari Senpo(Bishop exchange with 1 move behind)

--> Late Kozo Masuda(9 dan) is famous as an innovator in the opening. He made lots of new joseki sequences. This prize is to be granted to a player who made innovation in the opening.

* Kozo Masuda special award --- Taku Morishita(9 dan), Morishita System

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