European Championship of Shogi 2011 and with regard to the WOSC 2011 at Ludwigshafen, Germany; POKÉMON-SHOGI

Today I have the great pleasure to inform you that I have published an interview with regard to the European Championship of Shogi 2011 and with regard to the WOSC 2011 at Ludwigshafen, Germany.

I have published that interview in the German daily "Neues Deutschland" (ND).

The interview has a special focus:

+ the innovative POKÉMON-SHOGI that has been developed by the young German college student DOMINICK PICKHAN (16) from Ludwigshafen, Germany.

+ The thesis of the interview: That colourful and entertaining set of POKÉMON-SHOGI - that consists out of 80 pieces - is about to start a CULTURAL REVOLUTION in SHOGI since - by creating SHOGI IN 3D - it has a great appeal for kids.

+ The greatest dream of inventor DOMINICK PICKHAN ist that NINTENDO will call him in order to realize POKÉMON-SHOGI together with him on a great scale. Though DOMINICK PICKHAN clarifies: "I am not going for the money, in the first place. I would like my idea to get realized, that is my dream!"

Herewith the link that will lead you to the interview:

www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/202740.kleine-kulturrevolution-bei-japans-klassiker.html

That POKÉMON-SHOGI has created a little sensation - apart from the events of sports at Ludwigshafen.

+ Winner of the ESC 2011: Jean Fortin, 2-dan, France; 2nd place: Boris
+ Mirnik, 3-dan, Germany Winner of the WOSC 2011: Kawato Makoto, 4-Dan,
+ Japan (living in Hong Kong)

Dr. Rene Gralla
GG Production
Herbert-Weichmann-Str. 90
22085 Hamburg
GERMANY

Chess players initiation to shogi

It held saturday the 25 of june, a shogi meeting in Abidjan Cocody Angré, with the Ivory Coast shogijin and the best national chess players. This meeting was the idea of Simplice Armel Degondo, a 2 dan chess player.

Degondo is the best chess player of Ivory coast who take part in many international chess tournaments for Ivory Coast. Recently initiated to shogi, Degondo has been fascinated by this wonderfull game. Amazingly, he played more than hundred games on playok, just some weeks after his initiation. Now he has already played 111 games on 81dojo since he has been initiated one month ago.

27 people came at this meeting. Among them, commandant Diomandé Moustafa, the first president of Ivory coast chess federation; Edoukou Ernest, champion of Ivory Coast in the past...That was a great shogi event. After the initiation, we have both chess and shogi game, and talk about a partnership between chess and shogi players

MEDIA SENSATION - TV FEATURE ON SHOGI ON MUSIC CHANNEL MTV (GERMAN EDITION)

The current year of 2011 is a very important year with regard to the
international promotion of Shogi - as a consequence of the
groundbreaking decision that has been taken by NIHON SHOGI RENMEI in
order to stage the International Shogi Forum 2011 outside of Japan for
the first time, namely at Paris, France.
With regard to the ambitious goal of popularizing Shogi globally, it is
very good news that the German edition of music-channel MTV plus the
German-language music channel VIVA, both have aired a feature on Shogi!
Please check out the link as follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9eZ373GS1g


There you will see the Hamburg-based author Dr. Rene Gralla who makes
the case for Shogi by outlining the historical background of that great
strategic game - the BATTLE OF SEKIGAHRA that has marked a watershed in
the history of Japan on October 21st, 1600 - and by demonstrating the
rules of Shogi on a three-coloured big board that is crowded by figurine
pieces in 3D. That innovative set has been hand-made by Dr. Rene Gralla
himself; you can watch some close-up views of board and chessmen
Japanese style after 2:04 minutes running time of the Shogi-clip on
Youtube.

The creator of that prototype of SHOGI IN 3D is convinced that his
version of Shogi with eye-catching figurine pieces complies with the
viewing patterns of the Manga- and MTV-Generation. "Figurine SHOGI IN 3D
is the perfect tool to get modern kids to turn to Shogi - be it in Japan
or outside of Japan", says Dr. Rene Gralla.

At least that set of SHOGI IN 3D has been very helpful for the purpose
of convincing SIMON and BUDI - the popular presenters of that very
TV-magazine GAME ONE that has featured Shogi on MTV and VIVA - that they
should produce a TV-reportage on Shogi. And BUDI gets that thrilled by
Shogi that he even sits down at the board of SHOGI IN 3D and battles out
a match against Dr. Rene Gralla.

That feature on MTV and VIVA is a QUANTUM LEAP with regard to the
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION of Shogi, since GAME ONE - that TV-magazine that
has now featured Shogi - normally covers EGames only but NO BOARD GAMES!
Therefore the very fact that Shogi, the board game par excellence, has
been featured by GAME ONE, that is a real media sensation: Shogi has
succeeded in getting accepted by the young and modern community of
Egamers.

Now SHOGI has become POP itself - by having been covered by music
channels MTV and VIVA!

And that is the perfect prelude for the ESC/WOSC 2011, this year's
second big event of Shogi in Europe from July 14th, 2011 to July 17th,
2011, at Ludwigshafen/Germany!

Handmade shogi by shogi kenya

The newest shogi players from kenya have decided to go ahead again. After their game meeting with chiaki Ito, they now have decided to handmake shogi boards to be able to initiate people there Kenya; not only through internet. So Charles Ngariuya, after some hours of working has made its own shogiban. When I ask how much boards have you made he answered that he started with one but after he will see the way to forward with its friends. That's sure, those guys do really like shogi. And as possible we must think the way of sending them materials to help spreading shogi i, Kenya.

Just to add; yesterday, a south african has been initiated to shogi by charles and me at 81dojo. Now the 4 sides of the continent have at least one player: South Africa, East Africa, West africa, and North africa with Mido from Morroco...

Article of George Githui from Kenya

SHOGI FROM A CHESS PLAYER POINT OF VIEW. Learning Shogi has not only been fun but also interesting. I have played chess for about four years now and I thought it was the greatest game I had and would ever play. At times I did agree with some quotes from some men of long ago claiming that man must have been a demigod to have invented such a great game. Indeed, chess is a great game to play, however learning Shogi has shown me that chess is not necessarily the greatest game in the world. In the past few weeks when I have been learning Shogi, it has dawned to me that Shogi is a really sweet, interesting and mind-racking game, better than chess, if I may say so.In chess you have only sixteen chessmen to coordinate in order to win you the game and only another opponent’s sixteen to beat. This is quite different from Shogi where you have twenty pieces to deal with on both sides of the board. A Shogi board is also far much bigger than a chess one. In chess, castling and other moves like en passant are so easy to play as compared to Shogi where you require quite a number of moves to safely castle and protect your king. One of the most fascinating features in Shogi is ‘dropping’. Whereas in chess, you have to think over both your moves and the opponent’s moves based only on the pieces on the board at a particular stage of the game, in Shogi you have to push your concentration, imagination and thinking a notch higher to accommodate for the captured pieces which are potential enemy ‘soldiers’ as they can be dropped any time.In chess, one can get a checkmate in very few moves indeed if you are playing a weaker player which I have noted is not the case with Shogi. Despite being a beginner in Shogi, the games I have played much more experienced players over 81-dojo have not been a walk in the park for my opponents. It requires quite a number of moves and some time to finish a Shogi game hence I think you have to cultivate a lot of patience if you are to play Shogi. Chess is a rather straight-forward game with only one type of chess men (pawns) to promote. You may consider it bit boring as with only a slight advantage you can easily win the game. Many a chess master nurse only a pawn advantage to the very end of the game in order to promote it and eventually win the game but in Shogi, as I have come to observe, advantages are gained and lost which gives players a reason to always have a fighting spirit as it is never over till one is checkmated. I am not against chess but all these, to me, show that Shogi is one great game. It commands patience, ‘laser-sharp’ focus and concentration and above all a fighting spirit.Kudos to Ivory Coast for taking their initiative and forming a Shogi federation in their country. As for us Kenyans, we should follow their example. I have had fun playing this game and it would be very selfish of me and anybody else out there here in Kenya to withhold this game from others. Therefore I think we should make it our obligation and put our best foot forward in spreading this game all over Kenya. I am most grateful to Lionnel Kouassi from Ivory Coast and Charles Ngaruiya( my former classmate and fellow chess club member) for initiating me into to this wonderful game. I am reciprocating that by trying to initiate some more people here in Nyeri to Shogi. It is my belief that we have what it takes to play really well; hence we should form a Kenyan Shogi federation soon. With the leadership of Charles Ngaruiya, help from Chiaki and Lei and much of our practice and hard work, we can do it and we will do it!!!Finally, I appeal to all who wish to learn this game to contact me or Charles (via FB) and we will do our level best to initiate you into this game. You may also visit 81-dojo or read the enormous material there is on Shogi on the net. Now I have to go. I need to visit 81-dojo for my daily practice. I have to get myself accustomed to the Japanese Kanji characters as I have been using the ‘chess-like westernized’ Shogi characters. BYE!!!

Shogi in Kenya soon

Good news for Shôgi!! a kenya young man has discovered that game and already played a game. He has been fascinated by this game and is challenged to lead shogi spreading in his country. Will Kenya become the second shogi nation in africa after Ivory Coast? We all hope that. He will probably be at 81dojo the 8th of may for the Kyosha online tournament. Welcome Kenya. As follow a message he wrote recently on facebook:

PROMOTION OF SHOGI(JAPANESE CHESS) IN KENYA

Shogi is an exciting and fascinating game. I invite you to become a member of Shogi Africa. Contact me if interested and train for free as we look foward to make history as the second country in Africa(after Ivory Coast) to form a Shogi federation. Sh...ogi is the Japanese cousin of Chess. It is very similar to Chess in some respects, differing from it mainly by allowing players to keep captured pieces and replay them as their own. While still very much like Chess in the object, the general rules, and some of the pieces used, this one difference makes the experience of playing Shogi quite different from the experience of playing Chess. It allows players who are behind to more easily get ahead, and it can keep the outcome of the game more uncertain until the very end. Compare this to Chess, where the difference of a single Pawn can decide the outcome of the game between equally skilled players. This difference from Chess helps keep the game interesting and exciting until the end. Shô means general and Gi means board game. Shogi (rhymes with yogi) means general's game.Afficher la suite

Par : Charles Ngaruiya

first january kyosha result

1° KYOSHA Ligue Sente 30/01/11

Ligue Sente

1° Karolina Styczyńska (oneye) +0 +5 +4 +3 +2 5

2° adrien levacic (sharingan/koryaku) +0 +6 +9 +5 -1 4

3° alexandre schneider (alex94s) +0 +7 +14 -1 -6 4

4° sylvain ferrieres (greges2mlv) +0 +10 -1 +9 +7 4

5° guillaume feigenwinter (Gy1l0om) +0 -1 +11 -2 +9 3

6° david gonzalez (amaebi) +0 -2 +13 +8 -3 3

7° julien coll (shonounours/facteurix) +0 -3 +10 +11 -4 3

8° jf hastir (morion) 3/4 points +0 -9 +12 -6 +10 3

9° alexandre montecaggi (yukitakahashi) +0 +8 -2 -4 -5 2

10° gregory isambourg (isambourgg) +0 -4 -7 +12 -8 2

11° sven madji (chiyotaikai) -0 +17f -5 -7 +13 2

12° lionel kouassi (lionnel gla/ shikamaru senpai) -0 +13 -8 -10 +14 2

13° yannis medjaba (kagemane68) -0 -12 -5 +14f -11 1

14° philippe dovetta (kenayu) -0 +16 -3 -13f -0 1

15° lei saarlainen (lei saarlainen) -0 -0 -0 -0 -12 0

16° martin champel (nasoupo) -0 -14 -0 -0 -0 0

17° ??? (bonaparta) -11f -0 -0 -0 -0 0

2° KYOSHA Ligue Sente 13/03/11

2° KYOSHA Ligue Sente 13/03/11

1 jean fortin (tellmarch) 5 paris +0 +15 +7 +2 +4

2 adrien levacic (sharingan) 4 nice/cannes +0 +5 +3 -2 +7

3 eric cheymol (futokin) 4 paris +0 +4 -2 +5 +6

4 marco milone (mella) 3 italie +0 -3 +14 +8 -1

5 lionel kouassi (lionelgla) 3 abidjan +0 -2 +11 -3 +9

6 david gonzalez (amaebi) 3 liege +0 -12 +10 +7 -3

7 gregory isambourg (isambourg) 2 saint barth +0 +8 -1 -6 -2

8 alain caplat (nara) 2 (3 parties) reims +0 -7 +13 -4 -0

9 jonathan cayla (jchess06) 2 nice/cannes -0 -13 +15 +11 -5

10 emmanuel ardachvili (bilbo) 2 nice/cannes -0 +16 -6 -9 +13

11 rudy henry (raytslyn) 2 dijon -0 -14 -5 +16 +13

12 lei saarlainen (lei saarlainen) 2 (3 partie) paris -0 +6 +16 -11

13 ghys lain (tihocan) 1 nice/cannes -0 +9 -8 -11 -10

14 martin champel (nasoupo) 1 (2 partie) paris -0 +11 -4 -0 -0

15 christophe weimann (christophew) 1 (1 partie) lille +0 -1 -0 -0

16 alexis lourtois (misteralex) 0 paris -0 -10 -9 -11 -12

les parties decisives

adrien levacic - eric cheymol 1-0

jean fortin - adrien levacic 1-0

groupe 2

1 jonathan cayla (jchess06) 2 nice/cannes

2 emmanuel ardachvili (bilbo) 2 nice/cannes

3 rudy henry (raytslyn) 2 chambery

4 lei saarlainen (lei saarlainen) 2 (3 partie) dijon

5 ghys lain (tihocan) 1 nice/cannes

6 martin champel (nasoupo) 1 (2 partie) paris

7 alexis lourtois (misteralex) 0 paris

Some kind words for Japan after the earthquake disaster

He felt one vibration, then another one and suddenly all began moving aroud him
Once more, the earthquake devil has spoken and all became suddenly darkness forever for more than hundred people
Senkai, Tokyo, Fukushima,
What a destruction!
What a pain!
I pray almighty God so that never more nature stirs so tragically.
Dry your tears Nippon, we are with you
Like Sakura flower withers and shines after, dry your tears.
You are in fact the always rising sun hopefull nation.
(from Dry...nation) x 2

Your hapiness is mine, your sadness is mine too.
I promise that one day we will both find the way of a better world where nature will never more create such a pain.

(from Dray...nation) x2

Courage Nippon and let me clean your tears cause your are my friend.
Courage, courage, courage, Nippon, every sun rising is a new hope day for you.
Courage, courage,courage, Nippon, all will be alright

Shogi Kyosha monthly game on playok

1° KYOSHA Ligue Gote 20/02/2011

grille americaine

Ligue Gote

1 alexandre schneider (alex94) ..... +0 +5 +4 +3 +7 5

2 alain caplat (nara10) .................+0 +6 -3 +8 +4 4

3 adrien levacic (disidiend) ........... +0 +7 +2 -1 -5 3

4 christophe weimann (christophew)+0 +8 -1 +5 -2 3

5 marco milone (mellart) ...............+0 -1 +6 -4 +3 3

6 david gonzalez (amaebi)......... +0 -2 -5 +11 +10 3

7 alexandre montecaggi (yukitakahashi) +0 -3 +14 +10 -1 3

8 jean francois hastir (morion) 3 +0 -4 +11 -2 +18 3

9 lionel kouassi (lionelgla) 3 -0 +14 -10 -0 +17 +12 3

10 ghis lain (tihocan)...................-0 +15 +9 -7 -6 2

11 mido bouytatos (new sherlock) -0 +17 -8 -6 +15 2

12 philippe dovetta (kenayu) -0 -0 -0 -0 +14 -9 +18 2

13 lei saarlainen -0 -0 +17 -0 -0 +18 2

14 martin champel (nasoupo) 1 -0 -9 -7 +15 -12 1

15 gregory isambourg (isambourgg) 1 -0 -10 +17 -14 -11 1

16 ????? (chessbiker) ...-0 -0 -0 +18 -0 1

17 yannis medjaba (kagemane 68) -0 -11 -15 -13 -9 0

18 geoffroy dubs (lemage68) -0 -0 -0 -16 -8 -13 -12 0

Alexandre schneider affrontera Karolina Styczyńska pour le premier Kyosha

2nde serie

1 lionel kouassi (lionelgla) 3 -0 +14 -10 -0 +17 +12 3

2 ghis lain (tihocan)...................-0 +15 +9 -7 -6 2

3 mido bouytatos (new sherlock) -0 +17 -8 -6 +15 2

4 philippe dovetta (kenayu) -0 -0 -0 -0 +14 -9 +18 2

5 lei saarlainen -0 -0 +17 -0 -0 +18 2

6 martin champel (nasoupo) 1 -0 -9 -7 +15 -12 1

7 gregory isambourg (isambourgg) 1 -0 -10 +17 -14 -11 1

8 ????? (chessbiker) ...-0 -0 -0 +18 -0 1

9 yannis medjaba (kagemane 68) -0 -11 -15 -13 -9 0

10 geoffroy dubs (lemage68) -0 -0 -0 -16 -8 -13 -12 0

Lionnel Kouassi jouera en premiere serie Macmahon pour la prochaine ligue de selection

Shogi spreading in Africa: Morroco

At the second kyosha game of french speaking people on playok, I met a young Morocco man who plays shogi. His nickname is : newsherlock. I also met after the link on facebook: shogimaroc@groups.facebook.com

That is a really great news for the Shôgi path in Africa. We hope that this young guy will help to set up next a shogi federation in Morocco.

So we are ready to work with him to reach that goal.

To finish we have a new way of introducing Shôgi in Nairobia, when that way will be sure, we will also try to have a shogi club there.

Shôgi, more than a game, a real life philosophy.

First day of preliminaries for Indonesia vs Ivory coast online tournament

Yesterday we have a meeting at Manabu Terao new Shôgi Dojo of yopougon sideci.

Unfortunately no much people came. Only six people: Hermann, Adanmo guy, Konaté Idrissa, Kpangny Constant, Koutouan Curtis and me.

Anyway we began preliminaries. Curtis was ill so he did not play and each one of the 5 players played two games which results are:

Herman vs Konaté: 1-0

Adanmoh vs Lionnel: 0-1

Lionnel vs Constant: 1-0

Konaté vs Adanmoh: 0-1

Herman vs Constant: 1-0

It was a 20 min +30 s byoyomi time çwith cel chrono, sometimes really diificult when you are called at the same time lol).

So Herman and Lionnel have 2 pts

Adanmoh 1 pt and Konaté and Constant 0 pt.

Games will continue next sunday and after a certain number of games for all players, we will chose the four men players who will compete for Ivory Coast. It will be the same for women.

It has been a great day, and we finished at 6 PM.

Let's enjoy shogi cause it is a real life philosophy

Invitation of Ivory Coast for ISF 2011

Since the 31th of January our national federation received a mail about an inviation of Ivory Coast for the next International Shôgi Forum (ISF)

This new has been really welcomed by our Shogijin.

So now the great challenge for and my team will be getting a subvention from authorities to be at this world Shogi meeting. Anyways it is already a great happiness for us and all the community of Ivory Coast Shogijin.

Let's all enjoy Shôgi

Ivory Coast-Indonesia online frendship tournament

It hold recently a meeting of the staff of shogi Ivory Coast. The decisions are:

1- A new dojo called Manabu Terao dojo will be opened sunday the 6th of february, where players can meet all sundays for shogi playing. This decision is due to the fact that Shôgi activities can't longer be stopped because of political situation. So the next 3 sundays will hold preliminaries to choose the 6 players who will face the Indonesian Shogi team for the tournament which has been posponed from the initial date of 9th of January.

2- It will be propose to Shôgi Indonesia the new date of 6th of March for the tournament.

e-Shôgi.fr tournament

The 30th of january will hold a tournament for shogi french speaking person on playok. Normally i must take part to this tournament, that's why I have began training with Hidetchi's videos, I hope I will make a good Tournament.

Also we will talk this week end about the way to find a new date for the ivory-indonesia 81dojo tournament of the 9th of january, postponed because of the political situation.

A break in activities

Due to the political situation in the country, our shogi activities have been oblige to take a break. But Shôgi must continue his road that's why, next sunday we have a staff meeting to discuss about what way we should take for shogi to continu going ahead in spite of this crisis situation. Never give up is my way of Shôgijin, because " Suki koso mono no jouzu nare".