Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Result of Kurnik official shogi tournament of 2007-05-12

On May 12, Kurnik official shogi tournament #1409273(7r, 10m, +10s) took place. There were five participants. You can see the result here. The winner was mugen9x9. You can replay the games by clicking "1.0" or "0.0" in the tournament table there.

The schedule of the coming tournaments can be found in the lower part of Kurnik shogi login page. For more general information about Kurnik official tournament, please read the page of about tournaments.

The result of 3rd game of 65th Meijin-sen

On May 7 & 8, the third game of 65th Meijin-sen between Meijin Moriuchi and challenger Goda 9 dan was held in Mie prefecture, Japan. Goda was Sente(Black, or lower side of the diagram) player and Moriuchi won it in 96 moves. It's rare Goda chose Furibisha(Ranging Rook). You may replay the game here.

The diagram above is the resignation diagram when Moriuchi dropped his Gold on 6g as the 96 moves. After the diagram, Sente's King will be mated immediately. The variation after the G*6g is as followings;

K-6i S*6h(mate)

K-7i S*7h K-8h +Bx8g(mate)

K-8i S*7h K-9h +Bx8g(mate)

K-8h Gx7g K-8i S*7h K-9h +Bx8g(mate, replayable by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the diagram)

K-8h Gx7g K-9g +Bx8g(mate)

A successful fund manager plays shogi

I was a little surprized to read a Bloomberg.com's article including the word "shogi". The title of  the article is "Arcus's Pearson Sells Japan's Winners, Buys Losers in Top Fund" It is about Mark Pearson who is a founding-partner of Arcus Investment Ltd. There is a following sentense in the bottom part of the article;

Pearson draws on his skill at playing shogi, the Japanese version of chess, to come up with investment strategies.

If you have friends who are investors and have not known shogi yet,  please  let  them know the article. Learning and playing shogi could be useful for them to come up with investment strategies.

YSS won 17th World Computer Shogi Championship

According to Computer Shogi Association(Japanese site), YSS won the 17th WCSC(World computer shogi championship). The tournament was held from May 3 through 5 in Chiba prefecture.

1st and 2nd days are for preliminary tournament and 8 programs went into the final round-robin league on May 5. The standings are as followings.

1st place - YSS(6-1)
2nd place - Tanase Shogi(6-1)
3rd place - Gekisashi(5-2)
4th place - Bonanza(5-2)
5th place - Bingo Shogi(3-4)
6th place - TACOS(2-5)
7th place - K-Shogi(1-6)
8th place - Ryu no Tamago(0-7)

The difference of the levels of top four programs is really razor-thin.

Result of 3rd game of 25th Asahi Open

On April 30, the third game of 25th Asahi Open between Asahi Habu and challenger Akutsu 5 dan was held in Osak city, Japan. Habu was Sente(black, or the first mover). He won the game in 93 moves. For those who can read Japanese, here is the link to the  page of Asahi Open of Asahi.com. You can enjoy lots of photos regarding the tournament here.  Habu led the score by 2-1. Asahi open championship is 3 wins match.

The diagram bellow is the resignation diagram when Habu dropped his pawn on 6c to take Akutsu's Rook on 6b.

After the diagram, I think the possible variations would be the followings. Anyway Gote(White, Uppder side is hopeless.

R-1b +P-6d G-8c +Px7d G-9c B*8c K-7a Bx6a+ Kx6a G*6b Rx6b Px6b+ Kx6b R*6c K-5a P*5b Kx5b +B-4c K-4a R-2a+ P*3a N*3c K-5a Rx6a+(mate)

R-1b +P-6d G-8c +Px7d Gx7d +Bx7d S*8c +Bx8c Kx8c S*7d K-8b G*8c K-7a B*8b(mate)

R-1b +P-6d P-9e +Px7c Sx7c N-8e Px9f Nx7c+ Nx7c G*8b K-6c +B-6d K-5b S*5c K-4a R-2a+ P*3a N*3c K-5a +Rx3a(mate)

R-1b +P-6d P-9e +Px7c Sx7c N-8e Px9f Nx7c+ Nx7c G*8b K-6c +B-5d K-6b S*5c K-5a N*6c K-4a R-2a+ P*3a +Bx3b(mate)

R-4b +P-6d Rx4f Px4f S*6g(threatmate) +Px7c Sx7c R*8b Sx8b Px8b+ G*8c(!) Kx8c +Bx7d K-9c N-8e K-8b S*8c K-7a B*8b(mate, replayable clicking the arrow in the right direction)

Gx6c +Px6c Rx6c B*4e G*7c P*6d Kx8c Px6c+ P-9e +Px7c Sx7c N*7e K-9d G*8e K-9c G*8c(mate)

P-9e Px6b+ Gx6b R*8b K-6a Rx6b+ Kx6b P*6c K-7b G*8b K-6a R-2a+ P*5a B*4c S*5b N*5c(mate)

P-9e Px6b+ Gx6b R*8b K-6a Rx6b+ Kx6b P*6c K-7b G*8b K-6a R-2a+ K-5b P*5c K-4b +P-4c(mate)

There may be more variation. But in any case, Sente(Black, lower side of the diagram) should sin the game.