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!!!