Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Boardlives today - 3rd Asahi Trophy Shogi Open

Here are the links to the boardlives of 3rd Asahi Trophy Shogi Open.

• 9-dan Maruyama Tadahisa vs Oui Fukaura Koichi
• 5-dan Sato Kazutoshi vs 8-dan Kimura kazuki
• Kimura vs Sato(Another game due to repetition)

They started at 10:00am. The allotted thinking time per player is 40 minutes and each player will have to make a move less than 60 seconds per move after consuming it.

The winners will play another game this afternoon at 2:00pm.

• Fukaura vs Sato

The official toppage of 3rd Asahi Trophy Shogi Open is here(in Japanese).

Boardlives today - 3rd Asahi Trophy Shogi Open

Here are the links to the boardlives of 3rd Asahi Trophy Shogi Open.

• 9-dan Tanigawa Koji vs 7-dan Akutsu Chikara
• 9-dan Moriuchi Toshiyuki vs 9-dan Yashiki Nobuyuki

They started at 10:00am. The allotted thinking time per player is 40 minutes and each player will have to make a move less than 60 seconds per move after consuming it.

The winners will play another game this afternoon at 2:00pm.

• Tanigawa vs Moriuchi
  

The official toppage of 3rd Asahi Trophy Shogi Open is here(in Japanese).

Boardlive now - 35th Kio-sen Challenber-Deciding match

Today is the day of the 1st game of 35th Kio-sen Challenger-Deciding match between 9-dan Sato Yasumitsu and 7-dan Yamasaki Takayuki. It started at 10:00am.  As a result of Furigoma, Sato became Sente(Black). You can watch and replay the game through the following page at

• Sato vs Yamasaki

The allotted thinking time per player is 4 hours and each player will have to make a move within 60 seconds per move after consuming it.  The toppage of the 35th Kio-sen site is here. And the official blog is here so that you can look at lots of photos of this game.

If Sato wins this game, he will be the challenger against Kio Kubo. If Yamasaki wins this game, another challenger-deciding match will occur on January 4, 2010 since Yamasaki came here through consolation tournament.

OnigiriTV covered the shogi tournament in Peru

InigiriTV, which seems a Internet Broadcasting Group in Peru, covered the shogi tournament in Peru. A female reporter visited the venue to have intervew with lots of people there. If you understand Spnish, this will be a mustsee.

Boardlive now - Kai Tomomi vs Nagasawa Chikako, 3rd Mynavi Joshi Open

Today is the day for the game of 3rd Mynavi Joshi Open between Nagasawa Chikako(Joryu 4-dan) and Kai Tomomi(Joryu 2-dan). As a result of Furigoma, Kai became Sente. It started at 10:00 am in Japan. The allotted thinking time per player is 3 hours and each player will have to make every move within 60 seconds(Ippun Shogi) after consuming it. Here are the links to the live boards.

Kifu for Flash
Kifu for Java

The official blog of 3rd Mynavi Joshi Open(In Japanese) which is uploading many photos is here

Boardlive now - 2nd Tenga-sen, Block-C

Here are the links. They started at 2:00pm. The allotted thinking time per player is 40 minutes and each player will have to make a move less than 60 seconds per move.

1. Watanabe Ai(Sente) vs Nakakura Hiromi
2. Matsuo Kaori(Sente) vs Ono Yukari
3. Yamashita Kazuko(Sente) vs Shimai Saori

The following games started at 10:00am and finished already.

1. Yamahsita Kazuko(Sente) vs Matsuo Kaori
2. Nakakura Hiromi(Sente) vs Ono Yukari
3. Watanabe Ai(Sente) vs Shimai Saori

A shogi video which seems aired in Minsk

This seems a video of TV program about shogi aired in Minsk.

(The link has been exchanged to one on YouTube in response to the Marc's comment.)

Boardlive today - Play-off of Joryu Meijini-sen

The play-off of Joryu Meijini-sen to decide the challenger against Joryu Meijin Shimizu Ichiyo between Tohka Satomi Kana and Joryu 2-dan Iwane Shinoby are on boardlive now.  Iwane beat Chiba on December 7. The winner of this game will challenge Shimizu.

As a result of Furigoma, Iwane became Sente. The game started at 10:00am. You can watch the game through the following link.

• Iwane vs Satomi

The allotted thinking time per player is 2 hours and each player will have to make a move less than 60 seconds per move after consuming it.

SHOGI MAZE - a very interesting Kifu finder has been released

Today I got to know the following Kifu(a record of the moves of a shogi game) finder has become available.  It's a very interesting idea to search for games with a specific opening which you would like to look for by repeatedly clicking the moves which appear right next to the diagram from the first move to the position you desire.

• Shogi Maze Description
• SHOGI MAZE

Here is the screenshot of the top diagram of SHOGI MAZE.  It's a sccreenshot to show you the image so it does not have real links to the clickable positions in the next move.  If  you would like to use it, please click the second link above.

Can we expect Google goggles will become able to suggest a move of a shogi game in the future?

I read interesting articles and watched a video released by Google. Here are the links to them.

• Official Google Mobile Blog: Mobile Search for a New Era: Voice, Location and Sight
• Google Goggles - Use pictures to search the web

At the later half  of this video, the possibility for Google Goggles to suggest a move of a chess  game in the future is mentioned.  If it is possible, why not shogi as well?