Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Moriuchi is entitled to be the 18th permanent Meijin

I just like to inform you  quickly that Moriuchi won the seventh game of 65th Meijin-sen against Challenger Goda yesterday. He defended the title with the score of 4-3. This means he has been Meijin for 5th terms and is now entitled to be the 18th permanent Meijin folllowing to the 17th permanent Meijin, Tanigawa.

Winning percentage by turn to play for FY2006

According to the article written by Hirohiko Suzuki in August Edition of Kindai Shogi, the winning percentage by turn to play regarding professional games for fiscal year 2006(April 1 2006 through March 31 2007) are as followings;

Sente(Black) --- .520
Gote(White) --- .480

Gote's winning percentage is the highest for these five years. And it is the fifth highest for these 20 years. The number of the games ended with Jishogi and Sennichite is excluded for this calculation. According to the article, the winning percentage of Sente are as followings from fiscal year 2002.

FY2002 --- .539

FY2003 --- .536

FY2004 --- .554

FY2005 --- .531

Fy2006 --- .520

Result of 2nd game of 78th Kisei-sen

On June 23, the 2nd game of 78th Kisei-sen between Kisei Sato and Challenger Ryuo Watanabe was held in Aichi prefecture. Sato was Gote and won the game in 110 moves. You can replay the game here. Sato leads the score by 2-0. He needs one more victory to defend the title.

The diagram above is the resignation diagram when Sato dropped his Rook on 2h. After the diagram, Sente's King will be mated immediately as followings;

K-3g G*2f K-4f G*4e(mate, replayable by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board.)

K-4i G*4h(mate)

Harem Anime "Nagasarete Airantou" has shogi scenes

In this April, Harem Anime "Nagasarete Airantou" started in Japan. One of main female characters, Suzu, is set to be good at boardgames such as shogi, chess, go and so on. The episode 10 of the anime has shogi scenes. You may watch it with English subtitle through this page.

For those who are more interested in the anime, I'm collecting the following links;

Nagasarete Airantou(Wikipedia)

Nagasarete Airantou (Anime News Network Encyclopedia)

Nagasarete Airantou - 10 (Random Curiosity)

Nagawarete Airantou 10 (Tenka Seiha)

Nagasarete Airantou - 10 (Subculture Anime Blog)

Nagasarete Airantou Episode Guide

Nagasarete Airantou - Episode 10 (spoilers)(Otaku no Ken)

Shogi is a lucky item for Gemini on June 20

I usually do not believe in horoscope. But I would like to introduce a horoscope site since it says that shogi is a lucky item for Gemini on June 20. Shogi is so popular to horoscope fans, isn't it? It might be interesting for you to read;

Daily Horoscope of Gemini 2007 June 20 Wednesday

Results of Kurnik official shogi tournaments of 2007-06-13

On June 13, Kurnik official shogi tournament #1468832(7m) took place. There were five participants. You can see the result here. The winner was linkuei. 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 about tournaments.

Result of 6th game of 65th Meijin-sen

On June 14 & 15, the 6th game of 65th Meijin-sen between Meijin Moriuchi and challenger Goda 9 dan was held in Aomori prefecture, Japan. Moriuchi was Sente(Black, or lower side of the diagram) player and Goda won it in 140 moves. Goda tied the score by 3-3. You may replay the game here. The final game will be held on June 28 & 29. Since Meijin-sen is 4-wins match, the winner of the next game will be the next Meijin . It will be a big game.

The diagram above is the resignation diagram when Goda dropped his Gold on 3e as the 140 moves. After the diagram, Sente cannot help losing the game in the following variations.

Rx3e Px3e Kx3e R*2e K-4d G*5d K-3d Gx3c(mate)

Rx3e Px3e Kx3e R*2e K-3f G*3f K-4h R-2h+ K-4i L-5h+(mate, replayable by clicking the arrow in the right direction)

Rx3e Px3e K-2g P*2f K-1h R*3h P*2h G*2g K-2i Rx2h+(mate)

Rx3e Px3e K-2g P*2f K-4g G*3f K-4h R*3h K-4i L-5h+(mate)

K-4g Nx3c R-2a+ B*3f K-3g G*3h(mate)

K-3g Nx3c R-2a+ N-2e +Rx2e Gx2e B*4a R*3h K-2g G*2h(mate)

K-3g Nx3c R-2a+ N-2e K-2g B*3f K-2h G*2g K-2i N-3h+ K-1i +N-2h(mate)

K-2g P*2f Rx2f Gx2f Kx2f P*2e K-3f R*2f K-4g G*3f K-4h R-2h+ K-4i L-5h+(mate)

K-2g P*2f Rx2f Gx2f Kx2f P*2e K-3g R*3h K-2g G*2f

K-2g P*2f Rx2f Gx2f Kx2f P*2e K-2g R*2f K-3g G*3h K-4g R-2g+(mate)

K-2g P*2f K-1h R*3h P*2h G*2g K-2i Rx2h+(mate)

There may be more variations, but in any case, Sente cannot help losing the game.

Result of 1st game of 78th Kisei-sen

On June 9, the 1st game of 78th Kisei-sen between Kisei Sato and Challenger Ryuo Watanabe was held on  Osaka prefecture. As a result of Furigoma, Sato was Sente and won the game in 111 moves. You can replay the game here.

The diagram above is the resignation diagram when Sato dropped his Gold on 3b. After the diagram, Gote's King will be mated immediately as followings;

K-1b(a) G*2b +Rx2b Gx2b Kx2b +Rx4b K-1a R*1b K-2a +R-3b(mate, replayable by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board.)

K-1b(a) G*2b +Rx2b Gx2b Kx2b +Rx4b K-2a +R-3b K-1a N*2c(mate)

Reijer's report on 17th World Computer Shogi CHampionships

The long report titled "The 17th CSA Computer Shogi Championships" written by Reijer is available to read. Bonanza's victory in 2006 seems to have impacted many shogi programmers and let them to implement "bitboards".

Results of Kurnik official shogi tournaments of 2007-06-06 & 2007-06-09

On June 6, Kurnik official shogi tournament #1457293(7m) took place. There were five participants. You can see the result here. The winner was daniil. You can replay the games by clicking "1.0" or "0.0" in the tournament table there.

On June 9, Kurnik official shogi tournament #1457326(10m, +10s) took place. There were six participants. You can see the result here. The winner was adrianwoo. 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 about tournaments.