it seems that there are more and more 'Go players' trying to learn Shogi from me. Everytime I have a game with them, I would give them a handicapped of two lances, bishop and a rook.
It is a great honour to teach Hock Doong, who was one of the strong Go players in the club. My last game with him has been memorable and special, as he purposely neglected giving Go lectures to his students just to play a Shogi game with me. After playing so many handicapped games, I felt that it was this last game with him that I have learn alot more about Shogi's tactics and 'direction of play'.
This is the actual position shown in the picture.(In case you're wondering why I have an extra gold in hand is because I've managed to capture his silver and then I trade it off for his gold.)
Hock Doong's main strategy is to break into my base at least once, and also to make my gold on 3f retreat back to my base, since I always use the gold as my main attacking piece in handicapped games. Therefore he drop his pawn in 3e, which I have to retreat my gold to 4f, and he drop another one in 4e. Although I felt that the pawn in 3e is a free capture for my gold, I retreat it back to 4g, as I fear he would play P4f! The move itself may not look threatening, but if I retreat my gold back to 3f again, he would have played P4g+, which lures my king into a more vulnerable square. Therefore I played G4g (main move lines: P'3e, G4f, P'4e, G4g). Therefore his strategy of making my gold retreat back to my base is a success. EDIT: Even if I do capture the pawn on 4f with the silver, my position in the center would be weaken too much and there would be more opportunities for white to break into my base, especially when he has a silver in hand. Sorry for not including this information.
Now that my gold won't be able to advance up the board to get into his territory, I managed to find a vulnerable spot in his territory that I might still be able to win the game - the 7b square. I drop my gold in the 7b square, hoping I could capture his silver. "Why would you trade off your gold for a silver?", you might asked. Since the only way for the silver to escape is 5a, I capture it with my gold and at the same time check the king. And if the king recaptures the gold on 5a, I can drop my silver in 3b, threatening to capture either a knight or a gold, or even the bishop in the future. Unfortunately he thought I would try to capture his bishop by moving Sx3a+ so he move away his bishop after I've dropped my silver, but to his surprised I was aiming to captured the gold on 4c, threatening to checkmate his king and kill the bishop at the same time. (main move lines: G'7b, S5a, G6a, P'8f, Px8f, Rx8f, P'8g, R8e, Gx6a, Kx6a, S'3b, B4d, Sx4c+)
To his disappointment, I've won the game without him entering my base once.
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Yesterday my best friend Chen Xinwen decided to challenge Alex in a game of Shogi. To my surprise, this is their last position of their last game.
(Left player: Xinwen, Right player: Alex)
Due to verbal information from Xinwen, Alex did not make any effort of mating Xinwen and only aim for entering king. However Xinwen resigned the game, which he shouldn't have since Alex has made 5 illegal moves in this game without the both of them noticing!
The pawns at the end of the board MUST be promoted since it is a forced promotion. Failed to do so is an illegal move. Also, he dropped two pawns at the same column twice! Alex would have been lost a long time ago...
Despite the 5 illegal moves made by Alex, I would like to honour this game as the "Great I-Go Escape", as this long game has been played by two strong Go players who both have made a rare double entering king.
Alex is really a great player that I have looked forward to play Shogi with. I remember that my second handicapped Shogi game with him has been a great horror to me - he immediately played a complete Anaguma, which I don't think I have a chance at all since I don't have a bishop, rook and lances to break his Anaguma! He is also the first player who managed to beat me in handicapped Shogi games twice in a row. However he tends to make an illegal double pawn drop in the game. If he can overcome this bad habit, I'm sure that he will be a greater player in Shogi.
I will be returning to Brunei this Friday for two months so I'm feeling a little sad that I couldn't play Shogi with them. Nevertheless I'm looking forward to play Shogi with them again two months later!
Regards,
Ryou Takehito
Now that my gold won't be able to advance up the board to get into his territory, I managed to find a vulnerable spot in his territory that I might still be able to win the game - the 7b square. I drop my gold in the 7b square, hoping I could capture his silver. "Why would you trade off your gold for a silver?", you might asked. Since the only way for the silver to escape is 5a, I capture it with my gold and at the same time check the king. And if the king recaptures the gold on 5a, I can drop my silver in 3b, threatening to capture either a knight or a gold, or even the bishop in the future. Unfortunately he thought I would try to capture his bishop by moving Sx3a+ so he move away his bishop after I've dropped my silver, but to his surprised I was aiming to captured the gold on 4c, threatening to checkmate his king and kill the bishop at the same time. (main move lines: G'7b, S5a, G6a, P'8f, Px8f, Rx8f, P'8g, R8e, Gx6a, Kx6a, S'3b, B4d, Sx4c+)
To his disappointment, I've won the game without him entering my base once.
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Yesterday my best friend Chen Xinwen decided to challenge Alex in a game of Shogi. To my surprise, this is their last position of their last game.
(Left player: Xinwen, Right player: Alex)Due to verbal information from Xinwen, Alex did not make any effort of mating Xinwen and only aim for entering king. However Xinwen resigned the game, which he shouldn't have since Alex has made 5 illegal moves in this game without the both of them noticing!
The pawns at the end of the board MUST be promoted since it is a forced promotion. Failed to do so is an illegal move. Also, he dropped two pawns at the same column twice! Alex would have been lost a long time ago...
Despite the 5 illegal moves made by Alex, I would like to honour this game as the "Great I-Go Escape", as this long game has been played by two strong Go players who both have made a rare double entering king.
Alex is really a great player that I have looked forward to play Shogi with. I remember that my second handicapped Shogi game with him has been a great horror to me - he immediately played a complete Anaguma, which I don't think I have a chance at all since I don't have a bishop, rook and lances to break his Anaguma! He is also the first player who managed to beat me in handicapped Shogi games twice in a row. However he tends to make an illegal double pawn drop in the game. If he can overcome this bad habit, I'm sure that he will be a greater player in Shogi.
I will be returning to Brunei this Friday for two months so I'm feeling a little sad that I couldn't play Shogi with them. Nevertheless I'm looking forward to play Shogi with them again two months later!
Regards,
Ryou Takehito
1 comment:
stop corrupting go players with shogi !
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