Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Downloadable file of the Commentary Show for 1st game of 34th Kio-sen

Japan Shogi Association let the video file of the Commentary Show for 1st game of 34th Kio-sen between Kio Sato Yasumitsu and Kubo Toshiaki(8 dan) become downloadable up to March 1. The commentators are Fukuzaki 9 dan and Chiba Joryu 3 dan.

http://www.shogi.or.jp/movie/kiou_part01.wmv (140MB, 1 hour and 15 minutes long)

The first 5 minutes of the video is for the start of the real game including Kio Sato's opening a piece box, picking up Osho, letting the pieces in order, Furigoma, and so on. I think this is experimental trial by JSA. If you are interested, please download it by March 1(Japan Time).

Boardlive today - 2nd game of 34th Kio-sen

Today is the day for the 2nd game of 34th Kio-sen between Kio Sato Yasumitsu and Kubo Toshiaki(8 dan) at Hokkoku Shimbun Kaikan in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa prefecture. Kubo is Sente player and his Opening Strategy is Ishida-ryu. The allotted thinking time per player is 4 hours and less than 60 seconds per move after consuming it. I think it will end around 5:00 - 6:00pm since it started at 9:00am(Japan Time). You can watch the boardlive through below;

Kifu for Flash board

The following video is handy to understand the opening of this game.

YouTube: Shogi Openings: Quick Ishida's Attack by Black #1

 

Yauchi tied the score in 2-2, 4th game of 35th Joryu Meijini-sen three-win match

On February 26, the 4th game of 35th Joryu-Meijini-sen 3-win match between Joryu Meijin Yauchi and Challenger Joryu Osho Shimizu was held at Tokyo Shogi Kaikan of JSA in Tokyo. Yauchi was Sente player. Yauchi won the game in 91 moves to have tied the score in 2-2. The next game is the final game to decide the winner of the match..

The diagram below is the resignation one where Sente dropped the Gold on 4b. After the position in the diagram, there will be mate for Gote's King. Here are some variations..

K-2b R*3b K-1c Rx3c+ S*2c N*2e(!) Px2e S*2d K-1b +Rx2c(mate, replayable by clicking the arrow in the right direction)

K-2b R*3b K-2c G*2b K-1c Rx3c+(mate)

K-2a R*3a K-1b R-3b+ S*2b G*2c(mate)

K-2a R*3a K-2b R-3b+ K-1c G*2c(mate)

Kx4b R*5b K-4c G*5d(mate)

In any cases, Gote's King will be forced to be mated.

 

wwwshogipl is the winner - PlayOK tournament #3006200

Wwwshogipl is the winner of the captioned on-line shogi tournament held on February 25, 2009. Here is the link to the result. You can replay the games by clicking each point in the table on the linked page. Since the page will disappear in 6 months from the tournament date, I'm uploading the screenshot of the result below;

PlayOK.com - tournament #3006200 (shogi)

Fukaura won the 5th game of 58th Osho-sen 4-win match

On February 24 & 25, the 5th game of 58th Osho-sen 4-win match between Osho Habu and Challenger Oui Fukaura was held at Ginpaso in Gamagori City, Aichi prefecture. Fukaura was Sente player this game. Fukaura chose Nakabisha in the opening. Fukaura's left kNight succeeded in Sabaki in the middlegame and he won the game in 107 moves.

The diagram below is the resignation one where Sente dropped his pawn on 1c. Gote's King was in threatmate such as G*1b. After the diagram, the possible variations would be as followings;

Sx1c +N-3c K-1b Nx1c+ Kx1c S*2d(!) Px2d G*2c(mate)

Sx1c +N-3c K-1b Nx1c+ Kx1c S*2d(!) Kx2d G*3d K-1e P*1f Kx1f L*1i K-2e P-2f Kx2f S-2g K-1e Sx3f K-2f G-3h N*1f Lx1f Kx1f G-2g K-1e P*1g S*2e Sx2e Kx2e S*2f(mate, replayable by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the diagram)

Sx1c +N-3c K-1b Nx1c+ Kx1c S*2d(!) Kx2d G*3d K-1e P*1f Kx1f L*1i K-2e P-2f Kx2f S-2g K-1e Sx3f K-2f G-3h B*4i G-2g Bx2g+ Sx2g K-2e B*3f(mate)

L-1a G*3c Sx3c +Nx3c K-2a L*2b Sx2b S*3b(mate)

S*2a G*3c K-1a Gx2c L*1b Px1b+ Sx1b Gx2d L*2b P*1c Lx2d Px1b+ Kx1b S*1c K-2c +N-3c(mate)

B*2a G*3c K-1a Gx2c L*1b Px1b+ Bx1b Gx2d S*2b P*1c B-5f S*1b Bx1b Px1b+ Kx1b L*1c k-2a B*1b K-1a B-2c+ Sx1c P*1b K-2a Nx1c=(mate)

Boardlive today - 4th Game of Joryu Meijini-sen 3-win match

Today is the day for 4th game of Joryu Meijini-sen 3-win match between Joryu Meijin Yauchi Rieko vs Challenger Joryu Osho Shimizu Ichiyo. It started at 10:00am at Tokyo Shogi Kaikan of JSA, Tokyo, Japan. Yauchi is Sente in this game. The allotted thinking time per player is 3 hours and less than 60seconds per move after consuming it. You can watch and replay the game through the linked Kifu for Java board below;

Yauchi vs Shimizu

The opening strategy is Yagura.

"Professional Games with comments" was updated

An annotated article about the 1st game of 34th Kio-sen between Kio Sato Yasumitsu and Challenger Kubo Toshiaki(8 dan) was added to Reijer Grimbergen's page of "Professional Games with comments". You can replay the games with comments through the Java link on that page.

Shogi softwares released recently

Two softwares were released recently.

The first one is Shogiban which is a postcardware for VGA pocket PC(Windows Mobile 2003). The details are here.

Shogi Recorder for VGA Pocket PC (Postcardware)

Another one is Shogi Z for iPhone. The following pages about the applicaion are found so far today.

AppStoreFeed - Shogi Z (Japanese Chess)

Shogi Z (Japanese Chess)

Boardlive today and tomorrow - 5th game of 58th Osho-sen 4-win match

Today is the day for the 5th game of 58th Osho-sen 4-win match betwen Osho Habu Yoshiharu and Oui Fukaura Koichi at Ginpa-so in Gamagori City, Aichi Prefecture.  It started at 9:00 am. Fukaura is Sente Player. The opening strategy looks like Fukaura's Nakabisha. Before the game, the score was tied in 2-2.

Kifu for Flash

Official Blog(in Japanese)

The allotted thinking time per player is 8 hours and less than 60 seconds per move after consuming it. The game is expected to end in the evening of tomorrow(based on Japan Time).

I'm writing my impressions, comments etc.., about this game in my twitter page from time to time. If you are interested, please follow it.

Results of 4th Computer Shogi Sekai Saikyo Kettei Sen

Here are the replayable boards of the games played by the top four computer programs on February 19 & 20. The tournament name is 4th Computer Shogi Sekai Saikyo Kettei Sen at Research Center of Distance Learning of JAIST in Nomi City of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.

TACOS(Sente) vs Gekisashi (Upper board), YSS(Sente) vs Tanase Shogi - won by Gekisashi & YSS
Gekisashi(Sente) vs YSS(Upper board), TACOS(Sente) vs Tanase Shogi - won by Gekisashi & Tanase Shogi
Gekisashi(Sente) vs Tanase Shogi(Upper board), TACOS(Sente) vs YSS - won by Tanase Shogi & YSS

Gekisashi, YSS and Tanase Shogi shared the 1st place with the score of 2-1, TACOS became a single loser.