Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

The Blog of Club de Shôgi à Genève started

The blog of Club de Shôgi à Genève started on September 28. It's wrtten in French. I hope it will be a base of shogi community in Switzerland.

Club de Shôgi à Genève

Shogi Gathering in San Francisco on October 5

Monthly shogi gathering will be held on October 5 in San Francisco, USA. For more information, please visit the blog of San Francisco Shogi Club linked below;

San Francisco Shogi Club

 

 

Shogi seems to be exhibited in Berlin, Germany on November 14-16

Shogi seems to be exhibited in Japan-Festival in Berlin, Germany on November 14 to 16. For more information, please visit the following pages(in German).

• JapanFestival Berlin 2008 (PDF File)

• Japan Festival 2008 in Berlin - Japan drei Tage zu Gast im Postbahnhof

• Japan-Festival im November im Postbahnhof - Aschaffenburg 24 > Überregional > Kultur

  • Im Postbahnhof gibt es den Angaben zufolge 100 Veranstaltungen mit internationalen Akteuren japanischen Kampfkunst, Taiko-Trommeln, Go, Shogi, Ikebana, Kalligraphie, Origami, Tuschmalerei, Mangas, Cosplay, Anime, Kabuki und Butoh. 50 Aussteller aus allen Bereichen des traditionellen und modernen Japans runden auf zwei Ebenen das Angebot ab.

< Added on September 29 >
According to wannabewatanabe in the comment, Shogi is not on the timetable. Please take care.

Strange, I checked the detailed timetable and there is only Go/Igo mentioned (15.11. and 16.11.), but not Shogi anymore.

Naruto Shippuuden 77(Naruto Episode 297) has shogi scenes

Naruto Shippuuden 77 has shogi scenes which are approximately 3 minutes. Here are some snapshots.

The conversation between Asuma and Shikamaru is about Bogin(Climbing Silver) strategy. They are talking that Bogin is an sacrificing advance party when breaking through the enemy's formation. Does this have anything to do with the destiny of these two guys?

The second snapshot is a bit peculiar to us who are somewhat familiar with shogi. Bogin(Climbing Silver) is a strategy of Ibisha using one's right Silver which aims at breaking though the head of his Rook. But the position shows that a King in Mino castle is in check of Silver. I don't think Kishimoto or the animator know shogi very well.
But anyway, Naruto is a very popular anime not only in Japan but also verious countries. I hope lots of Naruto fans will get interested in shogi through the scenes like this episode.

The title of this Episode is 棒銀(Bogin = Climbing Silver). Climbing Silver is one of the most popular strategies in shogi among from beginners to professional players. Here are some links about Climbing Silver.

• Shogi Atlas --- it has three headlined pages including "Climbing Silver"
• Bogin System
• 棒銀 @wikipedia in Japanese

Go and Shogi workshop to be held in Kansas on September 27

Greater Kansas City Japan Festival will be held on Saturday September 27. It will includes Go and Shogi workshop. For more information, please refer to the articles linked below;

• Central Kansas Japanese Festival 2008 - Click "Go & Shogi" on the left side of the linked page.(Sorry this is the wrong link.)

• www.kansascity.com | 09/24/2008 | Japan Festival offers a full schedule

• Greater Kansas City Japan Festival

You may meet top professional players in Paris

The first game of 21st Ryuo-sen 4-win match between Ryuo Watanabe and Meijin Habu will take place on October 18 and 19 in Paris, France. The reception party is scheduled in the evening of October 17. If you are further intersted, please read the message posted to shogi-l by Fabien Osmont linked below;

RyoO sen final match: the first game will be in Paris! - SHOGI-L

Interesting Articles I read today(September 19)

Here are the likns to the articles I read today.

Anime: But, Does Hayao Miyazaki Play Video Games?!

Question: And video games?
Answer: No. I once played Shogi (note: a Japanese kind of chess) with a computer and lost. The PC checks all approaches. That’s not fair.
Question: ...sigh...
Answer: He is sighing… (laughing).

Miyazaki Hayao is a famous director of Anime. According to the inverview, he seems to dislike to enjoy blessings of civilization. I'm very interested in why he chose shogi in his single opportunity to play a video game in his life. Was it a merely coincidence or was he familier with shogi since he played often in his real life? Unfortunately it's uncertain in the interview.

Alternative opportunities for chess players Part 3, by Ray Keene - Impala Publishers Blog Page

Impala Publishers Blog Page (Search results of the keyword of shogi)

Shogi events in the near future in various areas

* Göteborg Open 2008 is to be held in Sweden on September 20 & 21. For more information, please click the link below;

                                       

                        

                                  Reminder Göteborg Open 20-21st of September 2008

* Thems Festival Japanese Jamboree in London, UK on September 13 and a regular meeting of London Shogi Club on September 27. For more information, please visit the link below;

Shogi London: September 2008 event and meeting

* 14th Colmar Open to be held on September 27 & 28 in France. For more information, please visit the link below;

Reminder: 14th Colmar Open (France) on the 27+28 September 2008

* Shogi in Warsaw, Poland will be held on November 8. For more information, please visit the link below;

Shogi in Warsaw 08.11.08

* Mind Sports Oulu, Finland is to be held on October 11 through 19. For more information, please visit the link below;

Mind Sports Festival Oulu 2008 -- shogi tournament included -

 

A good article on shogi I did not know until today

I found the following good article is avaialbe to read on-line from analyzing access log of this blog today.

A Rival of Chess Takes Wing Abroad : Mysteries of Shogi - International Herald Tribune

This link has been also added to the page titled Basic shogi information in English available on Internet(1)

 

Interesting blog entry I read today

Here is the link to the blog entry I found interesting.

MMW: Chess Improvement

In 2004 I went to Japan, where I took up Shogi, and I noticed a great improvement in my offhand chess games as a result. I also became more agressive, which probably helped me in blitz online.

I read similar stories from time to time. Does shogi has something special to improve your chess? I think the same thing would happen if one learns to play bughouse. The difference between shogi and bughouse to chess players are the followings I think;

• Need to recognize shogi pieces and remember how each piece moves in shogi, while no need to remember pieces and their moves in bughouse since they are the completely same as chess except for dropping.
• Need to use the pieces which does not exsist in chess. Only King, Rook and Bishop in shogi moves as they do in chess.
• Number of  squares are bigger in shogi(9x9=81) than in chess/bughouse(8x8=64).

If shogi has something special to improve your chess comparing with bughouse, the secrets may exist in or around the difference listed above.