Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

My posting log to 81SU Forum(November 4 2012)

Today I posted the following posts in 81 Square Universe Forum. Please click the links if you are interested.

• 7-dan Ito Hatasu's "Tsume Everyone Can Solve" on twitter
• Tesuji(tactical move(s)) that appeared in professional games
• 71st Juni-sen brief updates
• Monthly flash ELOlist based on a fan-site

Funny videos - Shogi vs Go

It's funny to watch if you know the Rules of Go.

Habu recorded 1200 victories at the fastest rate ever

Habu recorded 1200 victories at the fastest rate ever.

• http://forum.81squareuniverse.com/viewtopic.php?p=9736#p9736
• Shogi great Habu reaches 1,200-win milestone - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun

Monthly flash ELOlist based on a fan-site

I just posted the update of Monthly flash ELOlist of the professional players based on a fan-site at 81 square universe forum.

• The 81-Square Universe • View topic - Monthly flash ELOlist based on a fan-site

Toyoshima Masayuki got the highest point among the 7-dan players at the third place.
Nakamura Taichi occupied the tenth place which is the highest among the 6-dan players.
The top 5-dan player is Sugai Tatsuya, who stands at the 21st place. 
Ohishi Dadashi shows the highest point among the 4-dan players at the 31st place.(corrected on July 12)

6-dan Kushida's retirement and 60th Ouza-sen update

I made two posts about captioned topics today.

• Kushida's retirement
• 6-dan Nakamura Taichi becomes Finalist of 60th Ouza-sen

Medaka Box Episode 12 is a story about a shogi club in a high school

According to the following blogs, Medaka Box Episode 12 is apprantly a story about a shogi club in a high school.

• Medaka Box - 12 (END) | Random Curiosity
• Hanners' Anime 'Blog: Medaka Box - Episode 12 (Completed)
• Tenka Seiha » Medaka Box #12 — Blah Blah Blah Blah… » Blog Archive
• Medaka Box Episode #12 | The Anime Rambler – By Benigmatica
• Puer Magi Halfey Magica » [Review] The Melancholy of Medaka Kurokami (Medaka Boo...

It's available to watch on Crunchyroll from the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand base on this article. And Sentai Film licenses it.

Habu drew with GM Nigel Short in two player simul.

On April 22, GM Nigel Short came to Japan after his victory in Thailand and played two simultaneous chess games with Habu Yoshiharu and Japanese current chess champion Kojima Shinya. Habu made a draw. Here is the Mainichi Weekly report on May 11.

• Habu's passion serving as an international bridge between shogi and chess
  

◇Major Mover

 

A recent promotional event in Tokyo witnessed a clash between East and West, ending in a stalemate.

 

Habu Yoshiharu, one of the top players of the Japanese board game "shogi," faced off against chess grand master Nigel Short, ranked 51st in the world, in a chess match. The result was a tie.

 

The event was aimed at making more Japanese people interested in chess. Among the organizers was Kojima Shinya, 23, Japan's chess champion.

 

The participation of Habu, a chess lover, was notable because the event coincided with shogi's "Meijin‐sen," or Masters Game, just as he is trying to take back his master's title.

 

When asked to compare the two games, he admitted there are a lot of similarities, like how some of the pieces move alike. "But they share critical differences as well. One is the presence of a strong queen. Another is that at the end of a (chess) game, when fewer pieces are left, the game tends to be calm and quiet − which is the opposite of shogi."

 

The English language is important to Habu's side interest in chess: he reads English books when studying the game. "Most of the good chess books are in English, so it's best if you know English when studying chess," Habu says.

 

"When I play shogi abroad, a translator sometimes doesn't know the rules of shogi. When that's the case, it's sometimes easier if I talk directly in my own (English) words."

 

Habu is also keen to help spread shogi throughout the world. The International Shogi Forum, whose purpose is to spread shogi internationally, took place in October last year in Rueil‐Malmaison, near Paris. During his stay in France, he played against a French chess champion as a cross‐game event. He also reached a stalemate in that match.

 

The shogi player has cooperated for some English books about shogi to be sold in England, for example by writing commentaries. These commentaries have usually been translated from Japanese. Although he is humble about his English skills, the shogi master is passionate about serving as an international bridge for the shogi world.

 

Habu's accomplishments in both shogi and chess keep inspiring many Japanese, and will undoubtedly help popularize chess in Japan, and shogi to the world.

 

(By Ikeda Maria)

The game is said to be here to play through.

Nigel Short vs Habu Yoshiharu

Two interesting articles if you like both shogi and chess

If you like both chess and shogi, the recent two articles about GM Chernin's visit to Japan will be interesting to read.

• ChessBase.com - Chess News - Chess and Shogi – GM Alexander Chernin in Japan
• ChessBase.com - Chess News - Chess and Shogi – Chernin in Japan (Part 2)

Dan promotion system of JSA professional players

I posted about it in 81 square universe forum. If you are interested, please click the link blow.

• The 81-Square Universe • View topic - Dan promotion system of JSA professional players

Interesting articles and blogs I found these days

Here are links to the articles and blogs I found interesting to read these days. I'm copying a few first sentences of them under each link. If you are interested, click one or some of them to read full stories.

• ChessBase.com - Chess News - Chess-playing Japanese Shogi champions

The Japanese chess variant Shogi is the most popular board game in the country. In recent years some of its greatest contemporary champions have started taking up chess, and two intersting experiments were recently conducted: a top GM played a chess simul against two Shogi masters, and the top Shogi champion a three-board Shogi handicap against chess masters. Illustrated report with games.

• Internet site listing added « Shogishack's Blog

One could call this a bug. My site never listed a link to online shogi playing sites.  This is partially because when I started this site, I myself knew only one place to play shogi, kurnick.org. This site since changed its name to PlayOK.com.  In the meantime, we have seen the birth of 81dojo.com.

• Beginners' News » Interview

“Shogi” or “Japanese chess” is the two-player board game. Playing chess can improve players’ logical thinking skills because the players will plan for invasion ingeniously. Surely, it can make them joyful and excited with the result when the game ends. Moreover, playing chess brings to a good relationship between them, so the players will have many new friends.  Koranat Saengwat, my friend, love playing Shogi. I see he always play Shogi on websites although he must prepare for the final exam. Therefore, I decide to interview him because I would like to know more details about his experience.

• Dates Set for Brooklyn Botanic Garden 2012 Cherry Blossom Festival - Windsor Ter...

Sakura Matsuri will take place April 28- 29, with or without the blooms.

• Playing Shogi Online | Japan and Korea: Life, Language and Religion

The topic of Shogi, or Japanese chess, is something I haven’t written about in a long, long time in this blog.¹ Search the blog for “Shogi” and you’ll see what I mean. In fact, most of the posts I’ve written were imported from my previous blog, the Level 8 Buddhist. I played avidly for years with people in my office (all non-Japanese like me), and sometimes with Japanese friends and family. However, when I moved to Dublin, I had fewer opportunities to play, and when I came back to the US, I lost all opportunities because I moved to a different team within the same company. So, my posts about Shogi died off. I was never very good anyway.

• This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1447, March 28th 2012) - SHOGI-L | Google Groups

In this Shukan Shogi report the fourth game of the Kio match between
Kubo and Goda. Here is the game with comments:

• This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1445, March 14th 2012) - SHOGI-L | Google Groups

In this Shukan Shogi report two title match games: the fifth game of the
Osho match between Kubo and Sato and the third game of the Kio match
between Kubo and Goda. Here are the games with comments:

• Pole vies to make 'shogi' history | The Japan Times Online

Kyodo

WARSAW — Karolina Styczynska, a 20-year-old Polish university student, is dreaming of an unlikely career in Japan: becoming one of only a handful of foreign professional "shogi" players.