Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Boardlives Today - 3rd NRS invitation Cup

Today is the day for the 1st and 2nd rounds of the 3rd NRS inviation Cup. Here are the links to the games.

1st round

1-1 Kanda Mayumi(2 dan) vs Kasai yuki(ama)
1-2 Fujita Maiko(1 kyu) vs Watanabe AiMana(Tour pro)
1-3 Fujimori Natsuko(3 dan) vs Nakakura Akiko(sho dan)
1-4 Ono Yukari(ama) vs Kano Tamao(sho dan)
1-5 Narita Miho(ama) vs Matsuo Kaori(sho dan)

2nd round(to start at 2:00pm in Japan)

Yamashita Kazuko(5 dan) vs Winner of 1-1
Ishibashi Sachio(Joryu Oui) vs Funato Yoko(cho dan)
Kitao Madoka(sho dan) vs Winner of 1-2
Ohba Miki(sho dan) vs Winner of 1-3
Takojima Akiko(5 dan) vs Winner of 1-4
Shimai Saori(sho dan) vs Winner of 1-5

Here is the link to LPSA's channel to broadcast the event on live.

lpsa on USTREAM: . Other Gaming

Yonenaga has been elected as the President of JSA again

The annual general meeting of Japan Shogi Association(JSA) was held on May 26. This year is the one when the directors are to be elected. The election is to be done every two year according to their bylaw.

As a result, the following eight directors have been elected and Yonenaga has been elected as the president among the newly-elected directors following to the previous two terms.

Yonenaga Kunio
Nishimura Kazuyoshi
Awaji Hitoshige
Sakurai Noboru
Aono Teruichi
Nishikawa Keiji
Nakagawa Daisuke
Ueno Hirokazu

A blog which specializes 3rd File Rook started

A blog which specializes Sangenbisha(3rd File Rook) started recently. The author of it is an amateur who has opened a website in Japanese which is dedicated to the strategy since March 6, 2003. It is good for English readers to become able to read the contents by him in English.

Tips on Third File Rook

If you are a Sangenbisha player or want to learn the strategy, this is the blog to bookmark.

 

Goda tied the score in 2-2 - 4th game of 67th Meijin-sen

On May 20 and 21, the 4th game of 67th Meijin-sen between Meijin Habu and Goda(9 dan) was held. Goda won the game in 86 moves to tie the score in 2-2. You can replay the game here(unofficial source).

The followings are my twitter entries on the moves of the Day 2.

1. Here you can replay the game from the start to the end.http://bit.ly/ce0ZV3 minutes ago from web
2. It was a game for Goda to show his sharpness in the endgame. After the game, the score was tied in 2-2. It became the best of five match.5 minutes ago from web
3. (5) K-5h S*4g Kx4g N*3e K-5h G*5i(mate). In any cases, Sente's King would be trapped.6 minutes ago from web
4. (3) K-3i Rx2i+ K-5h S*4g Kx4g N*3e K-3f +R-2g K-4e G*4d(mate), (4) K-5h S*4g Kx4g N*3e K-3f R-2g+ Kx3e G*4d(mate)7 minutes ago from web
5. The mating lines are as followings, (1) K-3i, Rx2i+ L*3i G*5i(mate) (2) K-3i Rx2i+ K-5h S*4g(!) Gx4g +R-5i(mate)9 minutes ago from web
6. 86. S*6h, Meijin Habu resigned here. After 86.S*6h, Sente's King would be mated.10 minutes ago from web
7. 84. K-6a 85. Bx8d+, K-6a meant to save the pieces in hand for approaching Sente's King.13 minutes ago from web
8. 83. B*7c, Bishop drop forking King and Rook! But...15 minutes ago from web
9. 82. Gx5b, Gote took it by Gx5b then.16 minutes ago from web
10. 81. S*5b(!) Wow(!) Sacrificing Silver drop in return! If Gote took it by King, then Gote's King would be mated to begin with S*5c.17 minutes ago from web
11. 80. Px7g+ It's a natural move.19 minutes ago from web
12. 79. Gx7g, Sente took the sacrificing promoted Bishp by the Gold, then.19 minutes ago from web
13. 78. +B-7g(!) Wow! Sacrificing promoted Bishop! If Sente took it by Bx7g, then Rx8g+ would make Sente impossible to defend Gote's attack.20 minutes ago from web
14. 77. G-4h, Preventing Gote from mating Sente's King.22 minutes ago from web
15. 76. R*2h, This was threatmate such as S*5h K-6h Sx6g+ Kx6g G*6f. Sente would have to defend it.23 minutes ago from web
16. 75. Gx6g, Sente had to take it.24 minutes ago from web
17. 74. Sx6g+ Taking a Silver near the King keeping initiative.. Gote's attack would be swinging here.25 minutes ago from web
18. 73. Sx3d, Almost compulsory. After 68.L*4g, I felt Gote led the position.26 minutes ago from web
19. 72. Sx3d Taking a Rook. It's a natural move following to 70.S-3c.27 minutes ago from web
20. 71. Gx4g, Taking the Lance to ease the King. But the Gold got apart from the King.28 minutes ago from web
21. 70. S-3c, Threatening to take the Rook on 3d, Sente could not take the pawn on 5d like Rx5d since R*4i after Rook trade would be painful.29 minutes ago from web
22. 69. G-5h, It's almost compulsory. Sente could not allow losing a Gold for a Lance.32 minutes ago from web
23. 68. L*4g, Lance drop threatening to take the Gold on 4i. Attacking the Gold near the King is often a good move like this.33 minutes ago from web
24. 67. N-6e, Letting the kNight on 5g go away from the Silver on 6f. Sente would like keep Gote's promoted Bishop on the edge.35 minutes ago from web
25. 66. S-6g, Silver advancement getting away from the kNight on 5g and threatening to take it.36 minutes ago from web
26. 65. N*5g, Threatening to take the Silver on 6e and it made impossible for Gote to drop a piece on 5g.38 minutes ago from web
27. 64. Bx9i+ It was a natural move of taking a Lance with Bishop promotion.40 minutes ago from web
28. 63. Sente took the sacrificing kNight on 4e by the Silver.41 minutes ago from web
29. 62. P*3a, Pawn drop of supporting the Gold on 3b. Gote would like to keep the Bishop diagonal line open.42 minutes ago from web
30. 61. Rx3d, Taking the side Pawn.threatening to take the isolated Gold on 3b.43 minutes ago from web
32. 60. N-4e(!), kNight sacrifice. If Sente took it by a Pawn or a Silver, Bx9i would be waiting.about 1 hour ago from web
33. Without 48.P-5d, the Bishop diagonal line could not go to the Silver on 4b directly since the Pawn on 5c would block it.about 1 hour ago from web
34. 59. B-8f, Sente's Bishop went away to 8f to let its diagonal line to the Silver on 4b which would like to make 48.P-5d a bad move.about 1 hour ago from web
35. 58. P-7f, It threatend to take the Bishop. Sente would have to let the Bishop go somewhere.about 1 hour ago from web
36. 57. Rx2d, Sente took it instantly. If Gote's next move were P*2c, would he take the side Pawn by Rx3d?about 1 hour ago from web
37. 56.Px2d, It's mandatory. Gote could not allow Px2c+about 1 hour ago from web
38. 55. P*2d, Sente would like to activate the Rook to become able to take the Pawn on 2d whenever he liked.about 1 hour ago from web
39. 54, not 53.about 1 hour ago from web
40. 53. S-6e, Gote advanced Silver to give pressure on the head of the Bishop on 7g.about 1 hour ago from web
41. 53. Bx7g, Taking the promoted kNight by Bishop, not a Gold. Gold should not be go away from the King unless it was really necessary.about 1 hour ago from web
42. 52. Nx7g+ Gote took the kNight on 7g.about 1 hour ago from web
43. 51. P-1e, Expanding the battlefield since Sente lost a pawn. If you have material loss, then don't be slow. It's one of the secrets.about 1 hour ago from web
44. 50. Nx6e, Taking the pawn by this move was enabled by the 48th move of P-5d since Sente could not take the Lance on 9a from 6f.about 1 hour ago from web
45. In the middlegame, you should be careful to keep material balance.about 1 hour ago from web
46. 49. B-6f, It's mandatory. Bx3g+ would be no good since it's a bad trade of taking a kNight for a Bishop.about 1 hour ago from web
47. @no_moonshine_no You're welcome.about 1 hour ago from web in reply to no_moonshine_no
48. 48. P-5d, Letting the Bishop on 5e go away.about 1 hour ago from web
49. 47. P-1f, It's preparation to attack the edge if Gote moved his Bishop to 1c.about 1 hour ago from web
50. 46. P-1d, It gave Gote a room to move his Bishop to 1c.about 1 hour ago from web
51. 45. N-7g, Protecting the pawn on 6e. The isolated pawn was connected with the kNight.about 1 hour ago from web
52. 44. N-7c, Preventing the Bishop on 5e from taking the Lance on 9a. The 42nd move of G-6b made it possible to jump the kNight here.about 1 hour ago from web
53. 43. B-5e, It threatened to take the Lance on 9a. Gote would not allow it.about 1 hour ago from web
54. 42. G-6b, But Gote did not take the pawn on 6e. The reason was B-5e would be a good move if he took it by Sx6e.about 1 hour ago from web
55. 41.S-6g, It's mandatory. Then, the pawn on 6e became isolated.about 1 hour ago from web
56. 40. P*7e, Gote dropped a pawn on 7e since he would be able to take the Pawn on 6e if Sente pulled back the Silver to 6g.about 1 hour ago from web
57. 39. P-6e, Sente did not drop a pawn on 7e and prioritized to activate the Bishop batter by advancing the pawn on 6th file.about 1 hour ago from web
58. 38. R-8d, Gote's plan was to let Sente drop a pawn on 7e and would offer Silver trade after that such as S-8eabout 1 hour ago from web
59. 37. Sx7f Natural move of taking back a pawn.about 1 hour ago from web
60. 53. S-6e, Gote advanced Silver to give pressure on the head of the Bishop on 7g.about 1 hour ago from web
61. 53. Bx7g, Taking the promoted kNight by Bishop, not a Gold. Gold should not be go away from the King unless it was really necessary.about 1 hour ago from web
62. 52. Nx7g+ Gote took the kNight on 7g.about 1 hour ago from web
63. 51. P-1e, Expanding the battlefield since Sente lost a pawn. If you have material loss, then don't be slow. It's one of the secrets.about 1 hour ago from web
64. 50. Nx6e, Taking the pawn by this move was enabled by the 48th move of P-5d since Sente could not take the Lance on 9a from 6f.about 1 hour ago from web
65. In the middlegame, you should be careful to keep material balance.about 1 hour ago from web
66. 49. B-6f, It's mandatory. Bx3g+ would be no good since it's a bad trade of taking a kNight for a Bishop.about 1 hour ago from web
67. @no_moonshine_no You're welcome.about 1 hour ago from web in reply to no_moonshine_no
68. 48. P-5d, Letting the Bishop on 5e go away.about 1 hour ago from web
69. 47. P-1f, It's preparation to attack the edge if Gote moved his Bishop to 1c.about 1 hour ago from web
70. 46. P-1d, It gave Gote a room to move his Bishop to 1c.about 1 hour ago from web
71. 45. N-7g, Protecting the pawn on 6e. The isolated pawn was connected with the kNight.about 1 hour ago from web
72. 44. N-7c, Preventing the Bishop on 5e from taking the Lance on 9a. The 42nd move of G-6b made it possible to jump the kNight here.about 1 hour ago from web
73. 43. B-5e, It threatened to take the Lance on 9a. Gote would not allow it.about 1 hour ago from web
74. 42. G-6b, But Gote did not take the pawn on 6e. The reason was B-5e would be a good move if he took it by Sx6e.about 1 hour ago from web
75. 41.S-6g, It's mandatory. Then, the pawn on 6e became isolated.about 1 hour ago from web
76. 40. P*7e, Gote dropped a pawn on 7e since he would be able to take the Pawn on 6e if Sente pulled back the Silver to 6g.about 1 hour ago from web
77. 39. P-6e, Sente did not drop a pawn on 7e and prioritized to activate the Bishop batter by advancing the pawn on 6th file.about 1 hour ago from web
78. 38. R-8d, Gote's plan was to let Sente drop a pawn on 7e and would offer Silver trade after that such as S-8eabout 1 hour ago from web
79. 37. Sx7f Natural move of taking back a pawn.about 1 hour ago from web
80. 36. Px7f, Gote took it as if it was natural. But I do not think it's mandatory to take it.about 2 hours ago from web
81. 35. P-7f, Entering the middlegame from here. This planned to trade pawns to make the Bishop easier.about 2 hours ago from web
82. 34. S-7d, Supporting the vanguard pawn on 7e.about 2 hours ago from web
83. 33. S-6g, This was a natural move following to the previous move of P-6f.about 2 hours ago from web
84. 32. S-7c, Since the square of 7f would be the first contact point, then it was the 1st step to support the possible battle field there.about 2 hours ago from web
85. 31. P-6f, This was the preparation for Silver advancement to 6g to trade pawns on 7f in order to open Sente's Bishop diagonal line.about 2 hours ago from web
86. 30. S-4b, Gote advanced his left Silver. Now Gote's King had wider space to go to his left side 2a.about 2 hours ago from web
87. 29. P-4f, Making a room to pull back the Silver on 3f to 4g and preventing Gote from jumping his kNight to 4e after that.about 2 hours ago from web
88. 28. N-3c, Amazing. I did not expect it at all. This would be the game beyond my understanding already at the stage of 28th move.about 2 hours ago from web
89. The P-5f as the 27th(not 26th, sorry) move prevented Gote from developing his Bishop to his right side by way of 5e.(B-5e & B-7c etc...,)about 2 hours ago from web
90. 26. P-5f, Habu's sealed move was P-5f. Advancing the central pawn. I'm not sure about the true meaning of this move. But anyway,about 2 hours ago from web
91. Here is the diagram of the end of Day 1 of Meijinsen bw Habu and Goda.http://www2.asahi.com/shoug...about 2 hours ago from web

My twtter entries on the moves of 4th game of 67th Meijin-sen - Day 1

Today is the Day 1 of the 4th game of 67th Meijin-sen between Meijin Habu and Goda(9 dan). Habu is Sente player. Here is the duplicate of my twitter entries of the moves made on Day 1.

1. Gote thought he would not need to worry about 27.S-2e. Sente was thinking if it would work. Looks like Habu is making a sealed move here.5 minutes ago from web
     
2. 26. P-7e, Gote thought this vanguard pawn advancement would be something.. Controversy on the board was beginning.7 minutes ago from web
3. 25. S-3f It's a preparation for the combination attack on 2nd file using the Silver and Rook. Sente thought P-7e would be no problem.9 minutes ago from web
4. 24. P-7d, Opening the path of kNight jump of N-7c and aiming at P-7e to prevent Sente from opening his Bishop diagonal line.10 minutes ago from web
5. 23. S-6h, I'm not sure about the meanings of this move. Why didn't Sente move his Silver to 2g instead.?12 minutes ago from web
6. 22. P-8e, Goda's answer is neither of them. He pulled it back to 8e. It's going to be an unusual opening.13 minutes ago from web
7. 21. P*8g It's a natural move again. Where will Gote pull back his Rook? 8d or 8b?14 minutes ago from web
8. 20. Rx8f, It's a natural move to taking back the pawn.15 minutes ago from web
9. 19. Px8f, Compulsory move. Sente cannot allow Px8g+15 minutes ago from web
10. 18. P-8f, Gote finally tried to trade his Rook pawn.16 minutes ago from web
11. 17. S-2g, Sente indicated his opening plan. It's Bogin(climbing Silver). One of the aims is to break though the head of the Gote's Bishop.16 minutes ago from web
12. 16. P-3d, Gote opened his Bishop diagonal line.18 minutes ago from web
13. 15. S-3h, Sente advances his Right Silver to 3h. The Silver can go forward to 2g, 3g and 4g from 3h.18 minutes ago from web
14. 14. S-7b Goda still reserved trading his Rook pawn. This is unusual, too.20 minutes ago from web
15. 13. P-9f Habu did not allow Gote to advance the edge pawn to 9e.20 minutes ago from web
16. 12. P-9d, It's an unusual move. I'm not sure what it mean right now. But I guess he would advance it to 9e unless Habu played P-9f.21 minutes ago from web
17. If he planned to use it horizontally as well, he should have pull it back to 2f or 2e.24 minutes ago from web
18. 11. R-2h, Habu pulled back his Rook to its original square. This means he was planning to use it vertically only for a while.24 minutes ago from web
19. 10. P*2c, Almost compulsory. It's not good for Sente to drop a Pawn to 2c to lose the Bishop.25 minutes ago from web
20. So the Gold on 3b cannot move since Rx2c+ is waiting.27 minutes ago from web
21. One is having a pawn in hand, Second is Sente's can move his piece to 2e, and the other is to force G on 3b protect the square of 2c.28 minutes ago from web
22. 9. Rx2d, It's a natural move to take back the pawn. The exchange of Rook pawn completed. Trading Rook pawns have 3 merits.31 minutes ago from web
23. 8. Px2d Compulsory move.32 minutes ago from web
24. 7. P-2d, After protecting the head of the Bishop, Sente tried to trade rook pawns.32 minutes ago from web
25. 6. G-3b, Gote protected the head of his Bishop, too.33 minutes ago from web
26. 5. G-7h, Protecting the head of the Bishop before trading Rook pawn. Instead, P-2d Px2d Rx2d P-8f Px8f P*8g would be worse for Sente.34 minutes ago from web
27. 4. P-8e, Gote advanced Rook pawn again as well.35 minutes ago from web
28. 3. P-2e, Advancing Rook pawn again to exchange it on 2d later.35 minutes ago from web
29. 2. P-8d, Goda responded with P-8d. This showed Gote would choose Ibisha as well. It looked like going to Ai-gakari Opening.36 minutes ago from web
30. 1. P-2f, Habu's first move was P-2f, not P-7f. This showed he indicated he would choose Ibisha(static Rook) at the 1st move.37 minutes ago from web
31. I'm writing my comments on each moves of Day 1.38 minutes ago from web
32. 4th game of 67th Meijin-sen started today. Today is Day 1. Meijin Habu made a first move. Challenger Goda is Gote.

The longest tsume problem became available to watch on YouTube

HIDETCHI contacted Hashimoto Koji, who is the composer of the current longest tsume problem in 1525 moves called Micro-cosmos and were allowed to make a video of that. Here is the link to the outcome. Please enjoy one of the masterpieces in the tsume shogi world.

YouTube - Famous Mate Problems: "Micro-cosmos"

An interesting article I found yesterday

Yesterday I found a blog entry written by the author who thought paying $30 for a shogi board and $10 for shipping would be expensive. So he made his own set by himself. If you feel sympathy with him, the following article will be must-see. He explained what he did with many photos there.

The Matt and Sometimes Amy Blog: Shogi is Japanese Chess

For a VERY long time, I have desired a shogi board.  Shogi, as the title says, is Japanese chess.  It’s played on a 9x9 board with 20 pieces per side with similar(ish) rules.  But, any time I’ve found a shogi board, it’s cost has been at least 30 dollars and usually was going to cost me another 10 dollars in shipping as well.

So, I decided, quite suddenly, that I should just build my own.

Please visit the link above to read the whole story.

 

Escape from Free Class - Segawa(4 dan) will go to C2

According to plural sources, Segawa Shoji(4 dan) beat Chuza Makoto(7 dan) today and he will take part in C2 Juni-sen from 69th term onward since the winning percentage of the recent 35 games exceeds .650. Congratulation! He has escaped from the danger of the free class that he would have to quit his professional career automatically in 10 years from his start date of the class due to the regulation.

Oneye is the winner - PlayOK tournament #3307475

Oneye is the winner of the captioned on-line shogi tournament held on May 13, 2009. Here is the link to the result.

 PlayOK.com - tournament #3307475 (shogi)

 

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 tournament table below;

A video of Ningen Shogi(Human Japanese chess) in Tendo

I found a video of the Day 1 of Ningen Shogi held in Tendo on April 18 this year. Here is the link.

YouTube: Ningen shogi in Tendo