Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Sato vs Kubo, 1st game of 61st Osho-sen - Shogi Boardlive Now

Today is Day 2 of the first game of the 61st Oho-sen best of seven match between Osho Kubo Toshiaki and Challenger 9-dan Sato Yasumitsu. The game started at 9:00am yesterday at the Ninomaru Tea Ceremony Room in Kakegawa Castle in Kakegawa City, Shizuoka prefecture. Day 1 finished a few minutes after 6:00pm when Kubo made a sealed move and Day 2 started at 9:00 am today. Many people anticipated that Kubo chose Gokigen Nakabisha(Central Rook) and Sato adopted Static Rook. But nobody predicted Sato's 25th move of K-5e to protect the pawn on 5f by his King itself. It surprised not only boardlive watchers but also professional players and shogi writers in the press room a lot.

Although the allotted thinking time per player is eight hours and it is normally expected to end in the evening, I don't know when it will end since Sato's King looks in peril. You can watch and replay the game through the following liveboard.

• Sato(Sente) vs Kubo

The official blog of the 61st Osho-sen is here. A chat environment with watching a slightly-deferred-liveboard is ready at 81 dojo.

Hirose vs Goda, Kio-sen Challenger Deciding final match - Shogi Boardlive Today

Today is the day for the 37th Kio-sen Challenger Deciding Final Match between 7-dan Hirose Akihito and 9-Dan Goda Masataka. As a result of Furigoma, Hirose became Sente. The game started at 10:00am at JSA building in Sendagaya, Tokyo. Since the allotted thinking time per player is four hours, I think it will end after 6:00pm(JST). You can replay and watch the game through the following link.

• Hirose vs Goda

Here is the official site of Kio-sen. A chat environment with watching a slightly deferred liveboard is ready at 81 dojo.

2nd DenOu-sen(Man vs Machine match) has been announced by JSA

This is the duplication of my post to 81 square universe forum yesterday.

JSA announced today that the second DenOu-sen will be held in the year of 2013, not in 2012. The human player will be 4-dan Funae Kouhei. The computer player will be one of the excellent performers in the coming 22nd World Computer Shogi Championship scheduled in May. The source information in Japanese can be found here.

Funae is twenty-four years old now and he became 4-dan in 2010. He won the Kakogawa Seiryu-sen tournament in 2011 and is one of the leading runners in the current C2 Juni-sen by making seven consecutive victories without losing a game along with 4-dan Abe Kenjiro and 5-dan Nakamura Taichi. His rating is 36th place at the end of December 2011, which is the highest of all the 4-dan holders. An official match between a young and promising professional player and a machine will be materialized at last.