Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Adrianwoo is the winner - PlayOK tournament #3283527

Adrianwoo is the winner of the captioned on-line shogi tournament held on May 9, 2009. Here is the link to the result.

 PlayOK.com - tournament #3283527 (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;

 

 

Citanul is the winner - PlayOK tournament #3283502

Citanul is the winner of the captioned on-line shogi tournament held on May 6, 2009. Here is the link to the result.

 PlayOK.com - tournament #3283502 (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;

Ningen Shogi(Human Japanese Chess) in NY?

Here is the link to an artilce titled on asahi.com.

asahi.com：With samurai spirit, 'shogi' bound for Big Apple - English

Ogihara, from a New York-based club of shogi (Japanese chess) enthusiasts, is hoping to recreate a shogi match with a set of human "pieces" dressed in samurai-style armor on a giant playing board in the heart of New York. The match would be modeled on the famed annual event that draws vast crowds to this city.

For the whole story, please click the link above.

Tentative version of "Silicon Valley kara Shogi wo Miru" in English is now

The tentative version of  the Japanese book "Silicon Valley kara Shogi wo Miru" was translated into English to read through the following linked pages.

Top page of the project
 
Preface - 'Non-playing Shogi Fan' Declaration
 
Chapter 1 - Yoshiharu Habu and 'Changing Modern Shogi
 
Chapter 2 - (about Sato Yasumitsu and the commentary of 1st game of
79th Kisei-sen in the year 2008)
 
Chapter 3 (about the enjoyment of watching Shogi)
 
Chapter 4 (about Fukaura Koichi)
 
Chapter 5 (about the commentary of 1st game of 21st Ryuoh-sen in the
year 2008)
 
Chapter 6 (about Watanabe Akira)
 
Chapter 7 (Table talk between Habu and the author)
 
Postscript
 
Acknowledgments

 The book containing 291 pages was released on April 25. The reason why English translation emerged so early is that Umeda Mochio, the author, declared to allow the book to be freely translated into any languages to be published anywhere on the Net in the form of web content on his blog entry of April 20, 5 days before the release. And an open source
style project of translation of it has been kicked by shotayakushiji since April 29 and then 15 Japanese people including myself came together to generate the tentative version linked above.

I'm sure this will instantly be one of  most interesting reading materials in English about shogi.

You can not only read the contents but also participate in brushing up the translation since the translation is still tentative and the project is proceeding in an Open Source style. In order to take part in the project,having a PBworks account will be required. And you can kick the translation project of it into other languages than English and French.(PJ for French translation by Yamada Yoshihisa, see the link both in Japanese and French below;
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/yoshihisa_yamada/20090509/1241832915

Here are some links to the contents related to this project for our
reference.

* Emerging Open Source Translation Projects in Japan

* Open-source style translation project "Shogi" book

*Shogi-Silicon Valley Book open to the world
 

Habu beat Goda - the 3rd game of 67th Meijin-sen

On May 7 and 8, the 3rd game of 67th Meijin-sne between Meijin Habu and Goda (9 dan) occured in Hiroshima prefecture. Sente was Goda. Habu won the game in 120 moves. The score after the game is 2-1 led by Habu.

You can replay the game here(unofficial source).

And here is the duplication of my twitter entries about the this game almost move by move.

1. They say Goda should have won if he dropped N*5g at the 107th move instead of K-7h. But I'm not sure at the moment.8 minutes ago from web
2. After L*6g, mate exists such as K-7i G*7h(!) Kx7h +R-5h K-7i +R-6h(mate).12 minutes ago from web
3. 118. +R-4g 119. K-6h 120. L*6g, Goda resigned the game seeing 120. L*6g.14 minutes ago from web
4. 114. N-5h+ 115. Gx5h 116. Bx5h 117. Kx5h, It's almost mandatory.16 minutes ago from web
5. 112. B*6g, 113, Kx6i, If Sente played 113, K-8h, then Bx8i K-9g +B-8h K-8f +Rx8g K-9e L*9d +Bx9d Px9d Kx9d +Rx8b(hisshi)18 minutes ago from web
6. 111. Px9f, Taking the Silver on 9f which gave threatmate to begin with Sx8g +, But...22 minutes ago from web
7. 110. N*6b It's a natural drop keeping the Bishop in hand.23 minutes ago from web
8. 109. Rx8b, Goda thought there should have been mate to begin N*6d, but it wasn't. He had to make a move less than 60 seconds per move.24 minutes ago from web
9. 108, Sx9f, Gote could not help but take the Bishop on 9f.27 minutes ago from web
10. 107. K-7h, Moriuchi said this was a cause of defeat of Goda. Goda thought there should have been mate with keeping a kNight in hand.28 minutes ago from web
11. 106. Rx3g+ Check.30 minutes ago from web
12. 105. +Bx8d Taking the Rook on 8d.30 minutes ago from web
13. 104. Px6c, Taking the promoted kNight back. It's mandatory.31 minutes ago from web
14. 103. Nx6c+ Taking the Silver on 6c. Seemed natural.32 minutes ago from web
15. 102. P*6b, Protecting such approach to Gote's King.32 minutes ago from web
16. 101. N*5e, Aiming at the quick approach such as Nx6c+ K-4b +Bx5a Kx5a G:5b(mate).33 minutes ago from web
17. 100, S*8e Silver drop blocking the Bishop's diagonal line on 9f threatening to take it.37 minutes ago from web
18. 99. +B-7c, This was a threatmate. The two Bishops worked very well at this position.38 minutes ago from web
19. 98. Sx6c, It's a mandatory move..39 minutes ago from web
20. 97. +Lx6c, Sacrificing the promoted lance not taking the Silver on 6b. This was a very sharp attack to utilize the promoted Bishop earlier.40 minutes ago from web
21. 96. +Lx6i Taking a Silver to have in hand.41 minutes ago from web
22. *96 should read 95.42 minutes ago from web
23. 96. B*9f, Looked like a very good bishop drop attacking the ear of Gote's King and protecting the square of 8g at the same time.42 minutes ago from web
24. 94. R-8d, Intending to play Rx8g in check.44 minutes ago from web
25. 93.Lx7c It's seems natural development. Now the promoted bishop on the edge was starting to work better.about 1 hour ago from web
26. 92. L-7i+ Sente had only two pawns in hand. This was to intend to take the Silver on 6i for piece supplement.about 1 hour ago from web
27. 91. L-8c+ Intending to get rid of the Knight on 7c which gave menace to Sente's King.about 1 hour ago from web
28. 90. R-6d(?), Everybody including me did not know why Gote drop a Pawn on 8e here. It's the biggest mystery in this game.about 1 hour ago from web
29. 89. L*8f, Sente had to drop it. It's threatening to take the Rook on 8d.about 1 hour ago from web
30. 88. R-8d Aiming at Rx8g+. The pawn was isolated by the previous moves of L*7g and S-6iabout 1 hour ago from web
31. 87. S-6i, That's why Sente did not take the Lance on 7g. The Silver had to escape there since L*7g was threatmate to begin with Rx7h+about 1 hour ago from web
32. 86. L*7g, Lance drop here again utilizing the 68th move of P*7f. Please look at the Knight on 7c. It could jump to 8e anytime he wanted.about 1 hour ago from web
33. 85. K-6g.about 1 hour ago from web
34. 85. That's why Sente did not drop a pawn on 4h. If he did that, R-3i would be Gote's good continuation for the next +Rx5i Kx5i G*5h(mate).about 1 hour ago from web
35. 84. R*3h Rook drop in check. Sente's plan here was to let Sente drop a Pawn on 4h to prevent Sent from using it for attacking like P*4dabout 1 hour ago from web
36. 83. G-5i Sente's Gold escaped from the dropped kNight on 4f.about 1 hour ago from web
37. 82. N*4f, kNight drop threatening to take the Gold on 5h. It's a basic tactics to attack the Gold(s) near the King in the endgame.about 1 hour ago from web
38. 81. S*4e, forking the Rook on 5d and Gold on 3f.about 1 hour ago from web
39. 80. Gx2b Taking back the promoted Lance.about 1 hour ago from web
40. 79. Lx2b+ Sente took the Silver on 2b which was lured there by the 61st move of P-2b+about 1 hour ago from web
41. 78. Gx3f Gote took the Rook.about 1 hour ago from web
42. 77. Lx2h, also a natural move of taking back the promoted Bishop.about 1 hour ago from web
43. 76. Gx3f, natural move threatening to take the Rook.about 1 hour ago from web
44. *73. and 74 should read 74 and 75.about 1 hour ago from web
45. 74. L*2i If Gote took it by +Bx2i, then Sente could take the Gold dropped on 4f by Rx4f.about 1 hour ago from web
46. 73. G*4f Forking Gold drop to take the Rook on 3f and kNight on 4e supported by the promoted Bishop on 2h.about 1 hour ago from web
47. 72. Lx7h+ Taking a Gold in check. 73. Sx7h Taking back the promoted Silver..about 1 hour ago from web
48. 71. Bx9a+ Taking a Lance with Bishop promotion. Sente would like to use the Promoted Bishop better since its location of 9a was bad.about 1 hour ago from web
49. 70. L*7g, It's a natural development following to Gote's previous move of P*7fabout 1 hour ago from web
50. 69. B*8b, Bishop drop threatening to take the Lance on 9a.about 1 hour ago from web
51. 68. P*7f, It's a preparation to drop a Lance on 7g. It's powerful attack since N*7c was waiting for jumping to 8e.about 1 hour ago from web
52. 67. S-1f, The Silver had to escape here. But it's not a good location of the Silver on the edge.about 1 hour ago from web
53. 66. B-2h+ Bishop promotion to keep initiative due to threatening to take the Silver on 2g.about 1 hour ago from web
54. 65. R-3f, The Rook escaped from the Bishop dropped on 3g. If it escaped upper, B-4f+ would be a painful forking move.about 1 hour ago from web
55. 64. B*3g, Then Gote dropped the Bishop threatening to take the Rook on 2f and intending to make Promoted Bishop on 2h.about 1 hour ago from web
56. 63. Taking the dropped Pawn on 2f by the Rook, not by the Silver.about 1 hour ago from web
57. 62. Sx2b, As a result of pawn sacrifice with promotion, the Gold on 3b was isolated.about 1 hour ago from web
58. 61. P-2b+ Sacrificing the pawn with promotion threatening to take either of Gold or Silver.about 1 hour ago from web
59. 60. P*2f, Sacrificing pawn drop threatening to take the Silver on 2g. B*1h would wait for S-1f, S-3h or Sx2f.about 1 hour ago from web
60. Please cancel the previous entry. It's an error.about 1 hour ago from web
61. 60. B*3g, threatening to take the Rook on 2f and intending to make Promoted Bishop on 2h.about 1 hour ago from web
62. 59. Sx2g, It's also natural. If Sente took it by R*2g, B*3f would be painful. But there was another hole generated due to Silver transfer.about 1 hour ago from web
63. 58. B*2g+ It's a natural move.about 2 hours ago from web
64. If Gote had a kNight in hand, The combination of P*8h and N*7f would be very good to punish the move of the King to 6h in the opening.about 2 hours ago from web
65. 57. B*2g, Instead, if Sente chose R-4f, then I think Gote would have dropped a Lance on 4d.about 2 hours ago from web
66. 56. B*1h, Threatening to take the Rook on 3f. The kNight on 4e was pinned also.about 2 hours ago from web
67. 55. Px7e Sente took the pawn on 7e.about 2 hours ago from web
68. 54. K-5b Gote thought this would be a better location of the King than 4a at this stage.about 2 hours ago from web
69. 53. R-3f, Sente did not take the Pawn dropped on 2e just before.about 2 hours ago from web
70. 52. P*2e, Intending to lure Sente's Rook to 2e to enable B*3f or Rx5f.about 2 hours ago from web
71. 51. Px5f Natural move of taking back the promoted Bishop. Bishop trades happened twice already in this game.about 2 hours ago from web
72. 50. +Bx5f Gote took it by the Promoted Bishop.about 2 hours ago from web
73. 49. B-5f+ Protecting the kNight on 4e.about 2 hours ago from web
74. 48. +B-5e, Good development of the promoted Bishop threatening to take the kNight on 4e.about 2 hours ago from web
75. 47. P-3e, Pawn advancement to make Sente's Rook work better horizontally It was blocked by his own pawn on 3f..about 2 hours ago from web
76. 46. S-3a, Gote did not take the Pawn. It meant possible R*2a would not be a checking drop in the future.about 2 hours ago from web
77. *23. should read 45.about 2 hours ago from web
78. 23. P*2c, Intending to lure the Silver on 2b to 2c. If Sente had a Rook in hand in the future. R*2a would be severer.about 2 hours ago from web
79. 44. Bx1i+ Gote take back the Lance for the lost kNight. The material balance was kept well.about 2 hours ago from web
80. 43. G-5h, Gote could not allow Sente's Rook promotion on 5g.about 2 hours ago from web
81. 42. B*4f, The Bishop drop on 4f forking Pawn on 5g and Lance on 1i was Gote's plan of attacking.about 2 hours ago from web
82. 41.Nx4e, Sente gained a Knight for a pawn but,about 2 hours ago from web
83. 40. Nx4e(!), Knight sacrifice! If Sente neglected it, Rx5g+ would be waiting.about 2 hours ago from web
84. 39. B*8c, This was to intend to make Promoted Bishop such as B-7b+, B-4g+ or so.about 2 hours ago from web
85. 38. P-7e, Sacrficing the Pawn on the 7th file. Gote already had two pawns in hand, he would like to drop a pawn later on the 7th file.about 2 hours ago from web
86. 37. P-6f, The meanings of this move did not look clear so much. It prevented Gote from jumping his knIhgt to 6e and blocking possible B*5eabout 2 hours ago from web
87. 36. Nx3c, Natural move. Instead, Sx3c would give Rx2a+ and Gx3c would present Rx2b+ to Sente.about 2 hours ago from web
88. 35. Bx3c+ Trading Bishops. Gote would have to take it by the Knight otherwise Sente's Rook could get promoted with material gain.about 2 hours ago from web
89. 34. R-5d, So Gote prevented Sente from taking it by Bx5e since B*4d became impossible then.about 2 hours ago from web
90. 34. P-4e, Advancing a vanguard pawn on the 4th file. If Gote neglect it, then Sente could take the Rook on 5e since B drop on 4d was unable.about 2 hours ago from web
91. 33. P-4e, The reason why Gote did not take it since the following line would be expected. Bx5e Bx5e S-8h B*4d R-2i Bx8h+ Gx8h Bx8h+about 2 hours ago from web
92. 32. R-5e, It looked amazing since Sente could take it by the Bishop.about 2 hours ago from web
93. 31. P-4f, Goda seemed to try to advance the vanguared pawn to 4e. Sacrificing it by P-4d later would be often a vital move in this shape.about 2 hours ago from web
94. 30. N-7c, Natural development following to Gote's previous move of P-7d.about 2 hours ago from web
95. 29. N-3g, Sente chose to use the kNight instead of the Silver for offense.about 2 hours ago from web
96. 28. P-7d, This was to intent to let Gote's left kNight to 7c.about 2 hours ago from web
97. 27. P-3f, Sente opened the path of the Silver on 3h and kNight on 2i to move either of them to 3g.about 2 hours ago from web
98. 26. G-5a, Gote completed building his castle. It's called Nakahara Gakoi since 16th permanent Meijin Nakahara often used it.about 2 hours ago from web
99. 25. S-3h, Goda started to use his right Silver.about 2 hours ago from web
100. *Sente's castle should read Gote's caslte.about 2 hours ago from web
101. 24. S-6b, It's a natural move. Sente's castle will be completed with G-5a in the near future. It would tolerate Rook drop better.about 2 hours ago from web
102. 23. K-6h, It's a little surprising.. Goda showed he would not choose the state-of-art formation such as P-3f and S-4h. It was a bit old.about 2 hours ago from web
103. 22. K-4a, Transferring the King to 4a. The square is considered a good location of the King in this strategy.about 2 hours ago from web
104. 21. R-2f Natural move to prevent Gote from trasferring his Rook to the 2nd file like R-2e.about 2 hours ago from web
105. 20. R-8e, Sente showed he chose R-8e strategy. This is called Chuza Bisha as well since Chuza 7 dan invented this strategy.about 2 hours ago from web
106. 19. P*8f, Threatening to take the Rook on 8f. Sente was asking whether Gote pull back his Rook to 8d or 8e.about 2 hours ago from web
107. 18. S-2b, Protecting the Knight on 2a in advance to Sente's R-2f.about 2 hours ago from web
108. 17. R-3f, It made the Sente's Rook possible to go back to the 2nd file and protect the pawn on 7f with its horizontal line.about 3 hours ago from web
109. 16. B-3c, Symmetry is over with this move. Instead, Gote keeps symmetric move such as Rx7f, then he would lose instantly by Bx2b+about 3 hours ago from web
110. 15. Rx3d, Taking the pawn on 3d. Goda chose Yokogutori(Side Pawn). Instead, R-2f would have been possible but not so many cases.about 3 hours ago from web
111. 12.P-8f 13.Px8f 14.Rx8f Habu traded his Rook pawns, too. It's symmetric.about 3 hours ago from web
112. 9. P-2d 10. Px2d 11. Rx2d Goda traded his Rook pawns.about 3 hours ago from web
113. 7. G-7h 8. G-3b, Protecting the head of the Bishop on 8g and 2c..about 3 hours ago from web
114. 6. P-8e Habu showed he gave up choosing Itteson Kakugawari(Bishop exchange with losing a move).about 3 hours ago from web
115. 5. P-2e, It's a natural move. Next move is the branch of selecting Gote's strategy of this game. G-3b, Bx8h or P-8e?about 3 hours ago from web
116. 4. P-8d, Habu also showed his intention to take Ibisha(Static Rook) strategy. Possible developments are Itteson Kakugawari or Yokofutori.about 3 hours ago from web
117. 3. P-2f, Goda showed he would choose Ibisha(Static Rook) strategy.about 3 hours ago from web
118. 1. P-7f 2. P-3d, Both opened their Bishop's diagonal lines.about 3 hours ago from web
119. I'm getting back to the 3rd game of 67th Meijinsen between Goda(Sente) and Habu. http://bit.ly/16xdclabout 3 hours ago from web

Recent Updates of Worldshogi.com

Here are the links to the recent updates of Worldshogi.com.

US Shogi Championship winner advanced to Shogi World Championship. | worldshogi.com

Preliminary result from Hong Kong | worldshogi.com

Preliminary result from Shanghai, the city with a largest number of Shogi players outside of Japan | worldshogi.com

Hungary preliminary result　 | worldshogi.com

The Netherlands preliminary result | worldshogi.com                                       

Boardlive now - 80th Kisei-sen challenger deciding match

Here is the link.

Sente:Inaba Akira(4 dan) vs Kimura Kazuki(8 dan)

The winner of this game will challenge Kisei Habu. The allotted thinking time per player is 4 hours and less than 60 seconds per move after consuming it.

The toppage of the 80th Kisei-sen broadcasting site is here (in Japanese).

Ustream live of Day1 of 19th World Computer Shogi Championship

The day 1 is on Ustream live now.

wcsc_19 on USTREAM: 19th wcsc. Computers

An interesting article by Prof. Ishikura

You will know something interesting is happening to shogi diffision from Japan through the article linked below.

Yoko Ishikura’s Blog » Blog Archive » Shogi, Japanese Chess and IT