Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Habu won the 3rd game - 33rd Kio-sen

Yesterday Habu won the third game of 33rd Kio-sen 3-wins match with Kio Sato in 71 moves. Habu was Sente player. The opening strategy of the game was Sato's Gokigen Nakabisha(central Rook). Habu's response was to choose ultra quick attack variation. The position at the 25th move of B*9f is the same as that of 2nd game of 57th Osho-sen between Habu and Kubo played on January 24 and 25. Sato's 26th move was K-5c instead of P-7d  but in vain  finally.   

The diagram below is the resignation one. The possible variations after that position would be as followings;

B*8e K-6d Bx6c S*7c Nx7c Nx7c+ K-9b G*8b(mate)

B*8e K-6d G*7d Kx5d Gx6e S*7a K-9b G*8b(mate,replayable by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the diagaram)

B*8e K-6d G*7d Kx5d P-9d S*7c K-9b L*9c(!) Nx9c G*8b(mate)

B*8e K-6d G*7d Kx5d P-9d S*7c K-9b L*9c(!) Kx9c B-7a+ K-9b +B-8b(mate)

B*8e K-6d G*7d Kx5d P-9d S*7c Nx7c +Px7c K-9c B-7a+ K-8d +Px7d Bx7d G*7e K-7c G*6d(mate)

B*8e K-6d G*7d Kx5d P-9d S*7c Nx7c +Px7c Gx7c Nx7c+ K-9c B-7a+ K-8d G*7e K-9e G*8f(mate)

B*8e K-6d G*7d Kx5d P-9d S*7c Nx7c +Px7c Gx7c Nx7c+ Kx7c N*6e K-8b G*7c K-9c Gx8c Kx8c R*7c K-8d B-7e+ K-9e G*8f(mate)

Gote was hopeless in any case.

The score after the game is 2-1 led by Habu. The 4th game will take place on March 19.

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #23

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #23. It's a 5 move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Boardlive today - 3rd game of 33rd Kio-sen between Kio Sato and Challenger Habu

Today is the day for the 3rd game of 33rd Kio-sen 3-win match between Kio Sato Yasumitsu and Challenger Habu Yoshiharu(2 crowns). Habu became a Sente(black) player. The thinking time per player is 4 hours and less than 60 seconds per move after consuming it. I think it will end early this evening. You can replay and watch the game through the linked page below;

3rd game of 33rd Kio-sen 3-win match

Sato chose Gokigen Nakabisha. Habu dropped his Bishop on 9f at the 25th move in the ultra quick attack of Gokigen Nakabisha following to the 2nd game of Osho-sen with Kubo(8 dan) of January 24 and 25. Sato made a different move of K-5c from P-7d which Kubo made in that game. It will be interesting to see what's happening due to this difference.

Blog "Shogi London" started

A blog titled Shogi London started recently. According to it, the London Shogi Club normally meets on the last Saturday of the month at a Cafe in London. If you are further interested, please visit the following link.

Shogi London

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #22

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #22. It's a 5 move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Results of Kurnik Official Shogi tournaments held last February

Kurnik is an online gamesite where you can play shogi in various time control. Here is the list of the captioned tournaments held there. First column is the tournament number, Second is the date. The third is the winner. You can go to the page of the tournament table by clicking each link of tournament number.

1884659 2008-02-02 (sat.) trinca
1898678 2008-02-06 (wed.) rex15
1898711 2008-02-09 (sat.) rex15
1913783 2008-02-13 (wed.) rex15
1913816 2008-02-16 (sat.) trinca
1932134 2008-02-20 (sat.) rex15
1932167 2008-02-23 (wed.) charlesgo
1951303 2008-02-27 (sat.) rex15

Kurnik shogi official tournaments take place every Wednesday and Sunday. The more detailed 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.

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #21

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #21. It's a 7 move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #20

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #20. It's a 7 move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Habu became Challenger against Meijin Moriuchi - Final round of A Juni-sen

Yesterday the final(9th) round of 66th A Juni-sen took place. The following was the result.

Habu beat Tanigawa.
Maruyama beat Fujii
Goda beat Namekata
Sato beat Kimura
Miura beat Kubo (rematch due to Sennichite)

The performance after the final round is as followings;

1 - Habu(8-1)
2 - Miura(7-2)
3 - Goda(6-3)
4 - Maruyama(6-3)
5 - Kimura(5-4)
6 - Fujii(4-5)
7 - Tanigawa (3-6)
8 - Sato (3-6)
9 - Kubo(2-7)
10 - Namekata (1-8)

Habu became Challenger against Meijin Moriuchi. The 1st game of 66th Meijin-sen will be held on April 8. Kubo and Namekata will downgrade to B1 class for 67th Juni-sen.

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #19

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #19. It's a 7 move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.