Notice

I'm switching to the space for my writing about shogi to Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World. Thanks for reading this blog and I would be happy to meet you there again.

Interesting article - "Searching for Bobby Fischer, Japanese style"

Lauren Stokes wrote an article about Alan Baker, philosophy professor, who visited Japan to attend the 3rd International Shogi Forum hold by Japan Shogi Association in the Swarthmore College' online student newspaper called The Phoenix. According to the article, he started a shogi club before his trip to Japan and it is said the only college Shogi club in the U.S. The club meeting is held every Thursday at 4:00 PM at the Kohlberg coffee bar.

*Remark(added on Nov.12)
Alan Baker said in the shogi-l that there are a number of factual inaccuracies concerning the recent International Shogi Forum in the article. However, the shogi club in the colledge is flourishing.

Title Match Result - 2nd game, Ryuoh

On November 7 and 8, the second game of 18th Ryuoh title match between Ryuoh Watanabe and Challenger Kimura 7dan. Watanabe made a first move and won the game with 71 moves following to his win in the first game. Now Watanabe leads the score by 2-0. 4 wins in advance will decide the next Ryuoh title holder.

The left diagram shows the position when Kimura resigned seeing Watanabe's last move of S*4c. Here are the possible variation after Challenger's resignation.

P-7g+ N-5c=(mate)
G-5b N-5c+(!!) Gx5c Rx2b+ Bx2b S*4b(mate)
G-4b N-5c+(!!) Gx5c Rx2b+ Gx4c S*5b(mate)
G-4b N-5c+(!!) Gx4c +Nx4c R*8b P*3b Rx3b G*5a Kx5a +Nx3b(White is hopeless)

Kimura had no defence and no effective approach to Watanabe's King. This is why he resigned at the position in the resignation diagram.

The full gamerecord is available to see here(Java capable browser is required to see it). If you can read Japanese, Ryuoh-sen blog will be very amusing.

I hope Kimura will manage to show his strength in the coming 3rd game on November 17 & 18.

Number of shogi players exceeds 100 in Brainking.com

According to the ratings page of provisional BKR players in Brainking.com, the number of shogi players who has provisional BKR exceeds 100 today. The site has added shogi to its wide variety of game line since August 12, 2005(JST). The details by country are as follows;

Czech --- 28 players
USA --- 15
Netherlands --- 6
UK --- 5
Russia --- 4
Sweden --- 4
Bergium --- 3
Slovakia --- 3
Sweden --- 3
Australia --- 2
Germany --- 2
Portugal --- 2
Austria --- 1
Canada --- 1
England --- 1
Finland --- 1
France --- 1
Guatemala --- 1
Hungary --- 1
Italy --- 1
Korea --- 1
Latvia --- 1
New Zealand --- 1
Northern Ireland --- 1
Norway --- 1
Spain --- 1
Turkey --- 1
Unknown--- 9

101 players in total from at least 27 countries have provisional BKR as of today.

Online Shogi Forum for French Speaking People

Today there was an announcement distributed in the Shogi-l mailing list that an Online Shogi Forum for French Speaking People has opened. I hope a lot of French speaking shogi fans come together there.

To my knowledge, there are the simlar ones for Russian and German speaking people. If you know any other shogi forums in non-Japanese language, please let me know.

Title Match Result - Kurashki Tohka

According to the sources in Japanese, On November 1, the first game of the 13rd Ohyama Meijin's Cup - Kurashiki Tohka was played between Kurashiki Tohka Ichiyo Shimizu and Challenger Rieko Yauchi ladies 4dan in Kurashiki city in Okayama prefecture. Shimizu won it with 133 moves. Two victories in advance will decide the 13rd Kurashiki Tohka title holder. The second game is scheduled on November 27. If Yauchi brings the score tied, the final 3rd game will be held on November 28.

Kurashiki city is famous for the birthplace of the Great Meijin Ohyama among shogi fans. SHOGI MASTER OYAMA MEMORIAL MUSEUM was built after his death.