According to Suzuki Hirohiko in Shukan Shogi(Weekly Shogi) latest edition, the winning persentage of Sente and Gote of the combination of the first two moves are the following;
<Fiscal Year 2007>
P-7f P-3d --- Sente = 667 win and 601 loss, 52.6%
P-7f P-8d --- Sente = 276 win and 238 loss, 53.7%<Fiscal Year 2008>
P-7f P-3d --- Sente = 612 win and 671 loss, 47.7%
P-7f P-8d --- Sente = 267 win and 107 loss, 56.3%
Many professional players say they still feel shogi is a game which Sente is more or less advantageous. However, The reason why the winning percentage of Sente with P-7f P-3d became under 50% is due to increase of the options of Gote's opening and Sente did not established countermeasure for all of them yet in the fiscal year 2008. In general, Sente can choose what opening strategy to be used with P-7f P-8d while Gote can do that with P-7f P-3d.
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