Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Top 10 list based on 2008 earnings from tournaments

Japan Shogi Association unveiled the list of top 20 shogi professional player list regarding their annual earnings from professional shogi tournaments for 2008(in Japanese). I'm picking up the top 10 from that here. The amount of each player is obtained from tournament "fight money" and prize money only and does not include any other income such as royalty of shogi books, fee of shogi lessons, guarantee as a commentator of TV shogi show and so on.

1. Habu Yoshiharu(Meijin,Osho,Oza,Kisei) - 107.1 million Japanese yen
2. Watanabe Akira(Ryuo) - 62.5
3. Sato Yasumitsu(Kio) - 60.8
4. Moriuchi Toshiyuki(9 dan) - 37.8
5. Fukaura Koichi(Oui) - 35.0
6. Kimura Kazuki(8 dan) - 29.6
7. Maruyama Tadahisa(9 dan) - 25.4
8. Kubo Toshiaki(8 dan) - 24.0
9. Namekata Hisashi(8 dan) - 20.7
10. Goda Masataka(9 dan) - 19.9

Habu has occupied the 1st place for 11 consecutive years.

Interesting articles to read

Here is Ryou's challenge as a sho-dan player. I think his effort will bear fruits in the near future.

Ryou's Shogi World: As a 1-dan Shogi player...

I found Nintendo branded shogi sets are on sale on eBay.

Here it is.

+ Kyoto Nintendo Wooden Board Game SHOGI Japanese Chess - eBay (item 120381651027 end time Mar-02-09 19:26:39 PST)

Release about Shogi intution research in English

Today I found the following two articles. 3 mohths has passed since it's released in Japanese.

• RIKEN and Fujitsu host symposium on ‘shogi intuition’ research

• RIKEN and Fujitsu host symposium on ‘shogi intuitio...

I hope a documentary film based on the research results will be made someday. In Western chess world, such documentary film already exists linked below;

My Brilliant Brain - Make Me A Genius

Shogi Groups on Facebook

I observed there have appeared many shogi groups on Facebook recently. Facebook is one of the biggest SNS(Social Networking Service) on the earth. I'm making a list of shogi groups on there as below. You need to be a member of the application to watch the linked page and participate it.

• Facebook | Shogi - Japanese Chess --- Global, in English

• Facebook | Mugen no Hikari --- Chile, in Spanish

• Facebook | Colombia Shogi --- Colombia, in Spanish

•  canadianshogi -  Canadian Shogi Federation --- Canada, in English           

• Facebook | Le Shogi en France --- France, in French

• Facebook | Montreal Go/Shogi Group --- Canada, in English

• Facebook | jeux de shogi et de go --- France, in French

• Facebook | Swarthmore Shogi (Japanese Chess) Club --- USA, in English

• Facebook | Shougi :)  shogi, --- Global, in Spanish and English

Japan launches English NHK World TV

Broadcasting English programs for 24 hours x 365 days from Japan started on February 2.

Japan launches English NHK World TV
Japan's NHK opens 24-hour English channel
NHK begins 24-hour English TV service for overseas viewers+
NHK bows 'Japanese CNN' newsie
NHK Revamps International Channel
JAPAN: NHK World TV - New Kid on Broadcast Block

Though any shogi program has not started yet, I think this is a good news to all the shogi fans on the earth since NHK has and are airing thousands of shogi contents in Japanese such as weekly NHK trophy tournament, lives of Meijin-sen and Ryuo-sen title matches, Yearly Shogi Day by NHK, Special Program of Ryuo Watanabe vs Bonanza, Year beginning holiday shogi variety called "Daigyakuten Shogi(Shogi Big Turnaround)", Feature on the final day of Juni-sen A league called "Shogi Kai no Ichiban Nagai Hi(The Longest Day in the Shogi World)" and so on. I hope they will start to release their shogi programs with English subtitle or dubbing sooner or later. In order for them to do so earlier, I think your long term efforts will be needed to watch NHK world TV programs by yourself, to send them your requests to ask for shogi programs, and increase the number of views of HIDETCHI's How to Play Shogi on YouTube which clearly shows how many non-Japanese shogi fans who like to watch shogi videos in English there are in the world.

WMM plans to develop the world's first online learning environment for mind sports

I found interesting statement by WMM CEO Don Morris is included in the news release WMM made on January 13, 2009.

World Mind Masters Introduces New Monthly Online Tournaments (pdf file)

"We also have plans to develop the world's first free online learning environment for intellectual mind sports - the World Mind Masters Academy - offering online players the opportunity to participate in interactive master classes, and eventually the chance for the best players to compete for university scholarships,"

Although this statement is included in the release of their monthly Xiangqi tournament for 2009, the stated online learning environment does not seem to be limited to Xiangqi only since "intellectual mind sports" are in the plural and their mission is not limited to Xiangqi only.

Kurokigoishiten(On-line shogiboard shop in Japan)

It sells shogi boards, not shogi pieces since it is maily for selling Go stones. Anyway it opens English pages. If you are interested, please visit the following pages.

Direct Sales Manufacturer　KUROKI GOISHI TEN

Go Board / Shogi Board - Kurokigoishi Co., Ltd.

Question from customer

                                  Voice of the customer archive                       

Information of 3rd Shogi World Championship posted on the BBS of brainking.com by Zapara

Though there is no information yet about The 3rd Shogi World Championship Tournament on www.worldshogi.com and www.nyshogi.com, Zapara posted interesting information about the tournament linked below;

BrainKing - Discussion boards (Japanese Chess)

Yomiuri Shimbun's toppage column about Ryuo-sen is now available to read in English

Here it is. It's originally published as the toppage column of Yomiuri Shimbun(Japanese edition) and seems translated into English on Daily Yomiuri on December 24.

Musings / Dec. 19, 2008 : Musings : Columns : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)