Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Sad news about George Hodges

I read Phill Holland's post to Shogi-l and got to know the sad news.

•  Sad news about George Hodges

I am sadly announcing the death of George Hodges, who died on 3 August
after a short illness. He introduced Shogi to Europe in the 1970's,
running The Shogi Association (TSA) and published The Shogi Magazine in
the 1970's and 1980's. His funeral will be in Bedford on 16 August, and
I will be attending on behalf of the BSF.

If you have any messages of condolence you would like to send, his widow
is monitoring his email address, george.hod...@talk21.com.

He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him. 

If you'd like to send any messages of condolence to his email-address, the above one will not work since it's shortened. The complete one can be found here in BSF page.

George Hodges started promoting shogi in 1970's long pefore the Internet became popular. According Aono(9-dan) who visited London and met him in 1980,  he was very surprised, at that time, that there was a person who was much more than a shogi fan, publishing a shogi book for beginners, issuing bi-monthly shogi magazine in English, studying not only shogi but also old shogi variants, making those shogi sets by himself, and so forth.

May he rest in peace.

FESA updated its ELO List

FESA(Federation of European Shogi Associations) updated its ELO list. The latest one is as of 2010-07-01. Thank you, Oliver, for letting me know this update.

• The 2010-07-01 Elo list

Hirohiigo's offer to American shogi players.

Hirohiigo has offered to American Shogi Players as quoted below;

• The 81-Square Universe • View topic - Incentive to start American clubs

Hi everyone.

Are you an American shogi fan, but don't have access to the supplies or reading material needed to start American club, even though you want to spread the idea of shogi? Well, I'm so serious about spreading the idea of shogi, that I'm willing to personally help you get your club started.

So what do you need to do? Start a NEW shogi club with at least 5 members, including yourself. When your club has 5 members, take a photo of your club and post a picture of it on The 81-Square Universe. Once you have posted your club photo, contact me at [email protected] with an address you can receive packages at, and I will send you a shogi set for free. All you have to do is gather 4 other shogi fans to form a club and I'll give you a free shogi set to use at your club meetings.

But one shogi set isn't enough, right? That's why my offer doesn't end here. After recruiting 5 more members (so you have a total of 10 members in your club), I'll send you ANOTHER free shogi set. After 10 members, for every 10 more members you get (20, 30, etc.) I'll give you one more free shogi set.

That's not all! When you have 15 members in your club, I will send you a free copy of Shogi for Beginners by John Fairbairn (if available) to use at your club's meetings.

So if you're only worried about not having the supplies to form a club, here's your chance to get absolutely free supplies, straight from the 81-Square Universe, with absolutely no obligations on your part. So get out there and form your club, and help give shogi a bigger influence in the US.

Lady-6dan Nakai will visit Ludwigshafen, Germany

Lady-6-dan Nakai will visit a tournament to be held on July 4 in Ludwigshafen, Germany. For more information, please visit the following article  in German.

• Hiroe Nakai 2010

Blogs about Shogi at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia

I would like to share interesting blogs with photos I read recently.

• Shogi at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia - Chess.com

The 150th Anniversary of the Japanese Embassy was celebrated at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia June 5th, 2010. Local chess players were invited to this event to be taught Shogi.

The 1860 Japanese delegation came to the Philadelphia Chess Club, which no longer exists, to teach Chess players the great game of Shogi!  This was the first recorded game of Shogi outside of Asia!

• 150th Anniversary 'East Meets West' Chess Event, Philadelphia, June 5 2010 - Shogi Miscellania

In 1860, following two centuries of cultural and economic isolation, Japan dispatched its first ever diplomatic delegation to the U.S. In June 1860 the Japanese delegation arrived in Philadelphia, and some members were invited to visit the Philadelphia Chess Club. The Japanese turned up in full samurai regalia and proceeded to demonstrate the hitherto unknown Japanese version of chess, or Shogi, to the city's top chess players.

For full stories, please click the links above. I hope you'll enjoy reading them.

There seems to be a first Indonesian shogi championship this year

According to 81-Square Universe Forum, there seems to be a first Indonesian shogi championship this year.

• The 81-Square Universe • View topic - Shogi in Indonesia

I'm happy to tell you that shougi popularity in Indonesia is slightly increasing from day to day. We have about 20 player in Indonesia. Shougi in Indonesia organized by one national community called Komunitas Kishi that spread in several city, for example Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, and Jogjakarta.

I'm from Komunitas Kishi Semarang, while Metz from Komunitas Kishi Jakarta

Soon....we planning on organizing a national tournament. I will update you as soon as possible......

I'm happy to read this news and hope the national tournament will be held successfully.

Hayashiba will take part in the coming NRS Cup

LPSA announced this news in Japanese.  Mainichi Daily News covered it in English. Hayashiba Naoko will come back.

• Women's shogi star Hayashiba to return to game after 15-year hiatus - The Mainichi Daily News

According to LPSA, Hayashiba's opponent will be Nakakura Akiko and it will be played someday in the coming July.

Dr. Gralla's interview with Fujita Maiko - the co-designer of Let's Catch the Lion(Dobutsu Shogi)

Here are the links of the interview.

• Let's catch the lion
• Spieleautorin Fujita über den Erfolg ihres Brettspiels in der Heimat Japan

The arricle I found yesterday

I found the following article yesterday.

• Shogi, The Game of Generals « YomoYama Magazine

The author is Matthew Dowd. He seems to live in Toyama prefecture, Japan. He spoke some words about shogi like this;

What I found was the game was actually much more complicated and rewarding than I had expected it to be, and what was an initial curiosity has turned into a pastime.

Please click the link ab bove if you would like to read all his article.

A comment to HIDETCHI's latest shogi video from an English teacher

I found the following comment from an English teacher who seems to visit to Japan to teach English today.  Interesting.

Thanks to you lessons I am winning a Shogi competition between me and a Japanese English teacher I work with :D It's good too because now he is studying Shogi more because he doesn't like being beaten at his own countries game. Actually we are a really good level for each other. We play games after school in the teachers office :)

Here is the video with the comment above.