Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Shogi Game Hall in Second Life

On November 2, Fujitsu unveiled a press release titled as "Fujitsu Islands" Open in Second Life . According to it, there are three "Fujitsu Islands" there. FUJITSU3(the 3rd island) seems to be a so-called SHOGI ISLAND. Here is the description.

"FUJITSU 3"
Results of collaborative research on brain functions undertaken with Riken and Japan Shogi Association, exhibition space on shogi history, shogi game hall, etc.

I would like to add some links with the shogi related photos regarding this matter in other Japanese net-medium.

Playing Room
Playing Room with simultaneous game setting.

This Fujitsu's release is covered by PRdomain BUSINES REGISTER in India. I guess this is caused since there are many good programmers who can create Socond Life contents in India.

Japanese chess(shogi) Group in Chicago, USA

According to Japanese Chess (Shogi) Group posted in Chicago Reader Classfields, shogi gathering takes place regularly on 2nd and 4th Saturday. For more informaiton, please click the link above.

Chicago is the place where the next US shogi championship will be held next year.

The Shogi Foundation now accepts payment by PayPal

According to a shogi-l posting,  it turned out that The Shogi Foundation now accepts payment by PayPal to be delivered worldwide.  It has published the following shogi books with good reputation;

THE ART OF SHOGI
HABU'S WORDS
CLASSIC SHOGI

You can order those books there cheaper than in major online booksellers.

 

Discussion about size of shogi pieces in Boardgamegeek

There was recently a discussion about the size of shogi pieces in Boardgamegeek launched by a US geek who would like to make do-it-yourself shogi pieces. I took part in the discussion. If you are interested, please visit it.

Game: Shogi ≫ Forum Index ≫ General  Subject: Size of Pieces

A schoolboy in Borneo Island spreads shogi

I happened to know there is a schoolboy in Borneo Island who introduced shogi to his classmates recently with his homemade shogi sets. If you are interested further, please have a look;

A Big Discovery

Official Website of Shion No Ou is renewed

Anime "Shion No Ou(The Flowers of Hard Blood)" will be aired weekly from Octorber 13 in Japan. It is the Anime in which shogi is an important motif. The official site of the anime program has been renewed. You can see the trailer through the link below;

Shion No Ou(The Flowers of Hard Blood) (In Japanese)

Honma 6dan sent to France as Special Advisors for Cultural Exchange

Honma 6dan, a retired professional shogi player, has been sent to France since the end of last August as Special Advisor for Cultural Exchange sponsored by Agency of Cultural Affairs in Japan.

According to the post by Eric Cheymol to the shogi-l, his rough schedule is as following;

　Naturally, we have discussed about his planning in Europe, here is
what is planned up to now :

up to end of october                        -> in Paris
from the 1st to the 20th november           -> in Germany
from the 21st to the 30th november          -> in Alsace
from the 1st december until end of february -> in England
from the 1st march to end of april          -> in Paris
a week at the beginnning of may             -> in Madrid
then until end of may                       -> in Paris

This is the first case of sending Special Advisor for Cultural Exchange abroad from the shogi world. I hope this will succeed and the followers will come after him.

Final presentation of AISEP will be open to public on Aug. 21

From August 17 to 21, AISEP(Asian Intercultural Shogi Exchange Program) is being held in Tokyo. The students and researchers from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan gather together and share times concentrating on the intercultural shogi exchange program. 
Their presentation including a constructive proposal of "the Future of shogi" to the public is scheduled on August 21(Tue.). If you are in Japan and are interested, please visit it. The details of the time and place is as below;

Date: August 21(Tuesday)
Time:6:00-8:00(pm)
Place:Yayoi auditorium in Hongo Campus of Tokyo University
Entry free

For those who are not in Japan, the part of their deliverabls are and will be available at youtube.  They can be found under the tag of AISEP there.

For those who can read Japanese, you can read the Updates of the program under progress now in their staff blog.

Video of making DIY shogi sets

I found an interesting video of making DIY shogi sets. This seems to be posted by a Spanish shogi fan.

Study started how Shogi players judge the current situation and determine the next move

According to Press Releases of Riken, the following annoucement was made on August 3(Japan Time).

Brain Science Institute, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., and Fujitsu Japan, in collaboration with Japan Shogi Association, launched a joint research project in order to understand the intuitive thinking mechanism characteristic to human beings by elucidating the neural information processing network in the Shogi game through detailed analysis of how Shogi players judge the current situation and determine the next move.

Computer Weekly.com folows this news.

Chess computer to get inside players' minds