Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

A report about Shotest Shogi 3D

An English teacher in Korea purchased Shotest Shogi 3D for Windows PC and wrote reports in Boardgamegeek Shogi Forum. If you are interested, please click the below;

I read about the PC version in the shogi email list and made an impulse purchase last night.

Link to an article titled "Can advanced shogi software defeat professional players?"

If you are interested in computer shogi, you might be interested in the following article.

Can advanced shogi software defeat professional players? : Culture : Features : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

ESC/WOSC 2008

According to the shogi-l mailing list, Europepan Shogi Championship(ESC)/World Open Shogi Championshop will be held from July 10 to 13 in Pardubice in Czech Republic.
For more details, please refer to the announcement linked below;

Welcome to Pardubice!

Recent announcement and Q&A regarding Shotest Shogi in shogi-l

Jeff Rollason at AI Factory recentluy posted the following annoucement to the shogi-l mailing list.

Shotest Shogi Web

So far there have been several questions and answers. Here are the links to them.

Shotest is stand-alone

The current PC version will not have the tutor + tsume, but a later version coming will.

We do indeed plan to bring out a PC version with a English tutorial.

We are going to add a table of features go the web.

 

Two articles to read today

I would like to recommend you to read two articles linked below;

Review of an Ancient Game, a must for Chess players | Shogi | BoardGameGeek

This is a review about shogi written by an author who has background of chess. One thing I have to point out is shogi is not an Ancient Game but a classic game. The current rules of using the 9X9 board, the 40 pieces and reusability of captured pieces were established in the sixteenth century at latest. They may have been firmed earlier, but it's not confirmed.

Shogi Strategy: Forks « The Level 8 Buddhist

This is to illustrate how to make a fork move in shogi using nice diagrams. Yes, comparing with chess, shogi gives you much more opportunities to make a fork move due to reusability of captured pieces.

Link to an article titled A strong rival brings out strength of character

This is a link to the article written after Habu beat Moriuchi in last Meijin tournament in International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun. The author is unknown but it seems an ama player.

A strong rival brings out strength of character

Live Video - Round one, Nichiresu Invitation Cup

On 10:00am(Japan Time), the match between Nakakura Akiko and Fujita Maiko started.  On 2:00pm,  the match between Yamashita Kazuko and Kitao Madoka will start. You can see the videos thorugh the page linked below;

日レスインビテーションカップ

Boadlive of Nakakura vs Fujita (Sente = Fujita(right)) Recorded Video on Ustream

Boardlive of Yamashita Kazuko vs Kitao Madoka(Sente = Kitao(right)) Recorded Video on Ustream

Thinking time per player is 30 minutes and 3060 seconds byoyomi after consuming it. So the game is to be finished in one hour and some minutes after the starting time.

Nichiresu Invitation Cup will be broadcasted on live using USTREAM. Here is the dates of the first round.

June 22 10:00am --- Nakakura Akiko vs Fujita Maiko
June 22 2:00pm --- Yamashita Kazuko vs Kitao Madoka
July 1 6:00pm --- Takojima Akiko vs Matsuo Kaori
July 6 2:00pm --- Fujimori Natsuko vs Nakakura Hiromi
July 9 6:00pm --- Kano Tamao vs Oba Miki
July 16 6:00pm --- Kanda Mayumi vs Shimai Saori

A blog mentioning to its author's purchase of a shogi set from an eBay shop

I found a blog enty written by an Irishman who lives and works in Brussels, Belgium in which he mentioned to his shogi set purchase from an eBay shop. Please visit the link below if you are further interested in the story.

Life in a Low Country: Shogi – Japanese Chess

The 2nd game of 79th Kisei-sen started this morning

The 2nd game of 79th Kisei-sen between Kisei Sato and Challenger Habu started this morning. As a result of Furigoma, Sato is Sente player. It's a 3-win match. Before the game, the score was led by Sato in 1-0.

You may replay the game though the following page(The page says it's for Windows users.) clicking the upper button which appears there like below.

2nd game of 79th Kisei-sen

 

Webboard live today - Final of Oui Challenger Deciding Match Between Meijin Habu and Hashimoto(7 dan)

Today is the day for Oui Challenger Deciding Match between Meijin Habu(37 years old) and Hashimoto(7 dan, 25 years old) held in Shogi Kaikan(NSR's Shogi Hall) in Sendagaya, Tokyo. Habu was defeated by Fukaura and lost the title last year. Will he have a chance to revenege him to win this game or Hashimoto will be entitled to challenge Fukaura to become a twenty-ager star player such as Ryuo Watanabe?

As a result of Furigoma, Habu became Sente player. The opening strategy is ai-gakari. The game started at 10:00am.

The boardlive is available to see below;

Webboard (You may replay the game from the start to the current position.)

Webcamera shots to be frequetly updated are found through the links below;

Camera for Habu
Camera for Hashimoto
Camera for the board

Photo of the lunch Hashimoto ordered
Photo of the lunch Habu ordered

The thinking time per player is 4 hours. They say the game will end in the evening today such as around 7:00pm.