Life In 19x19

This is an excerpt from the famous Hikaru No Go

This is an excerpt from the famous Hikaru No Go

Yes -- in some circles, Kaga-kun could be considered a troll.

Do you have to learn all those Japanese signs or is there an English way to play? I would be very interested in learning Shogi, however, I'm worried it will be too similar to western chess and therefore throw off my game because of confusion. One player said that because the pawns move differently, for instance, its hard to go between games and keep them strait.

Joelnelsonb wrote:Do you have to learn all those Japanese signs or is there an English way to play? I would be very interested in learning Shogi, however, I'm worried it will be too similar to western chess and therefore throw off my game because of confusion. One player said that because the pawns move differently, for instance, its hard to go between games and keep them strait.

I know the kanji, but I got this set for playing at work, since it shows the way pieces move for chess players, and it makes people laugh.

http://shop.nekomado.com/products/detai ... oduct_id=8

There is something like this as well, but it's a lot more boring than cute animal characters.

http://shop.nekomado.com/products/detai ... uct_id=126

Joelnelsonb wrote:Do you have to learn all those Japanese signs or is there an English way to play?

Those are Japanese Kanji characters.
There are Shogi sets that are internationized.
This particular iOS app, for example, come with 6 different sets,
two of which with the Roman alphabet:

The slightly more difficult part about Shogi pieces is not recognising, what piece they are, but knowing/remembering in which ways they move. It was for me at least. Solving a lot of one-move-tsumeshogi helps a lot though ; )

SoDesuNe wrote:The slightly more difficult part about Shogi pieces is not recognising, what piece they are, but knowing/remembering in which ways they move. It was for me at least. Solving a lot of one-move-tsumeshogi helps a lot though ; )

Indeed! Btw SoDesuNe, if you come to the NGA Summer Camp I'll bring my shogi set (would be my first game against a human... so far I still have trouble remembering the moves & recognising the shapes, too)

SoDesuNe wrote:The slightly more difficult part about Shogi pieces is not recognising, what piece they are, but knowing/remembering in which ways they move. It was for me at least. Solving a lot of one-move-tsumeshogi helps a lot though ; )

I would imagine like Chess that losing a good 15 or 20 games ought to make it pretty concrete. More difficult you think?

Joelnelsonb wrote:

SoDesuNe wrote:The slightly more difficult part about Shogi pieces is not recognising, what piece they are, but knowing/remembering in which ways they move. It was for me at least. Solving a lot of one-move-tsumeshogi helps a lot though ; )

I would imagine like Chess that losing a good 15 or 20 games ought to make it pretty concrete. More difficult you think?

Definitely more. Keep in mind shogi has normal pieces, promoted pieces and the "weird" kanji. I've tried my hand at the game from time to time, and I still find remembering which piece is which hard. Remembering how they move is somewhat easier to handle, the problem though is seeing them in actual play: it's then really, really hard to know what the hell you are doing.

Joelnelsonb wrote:

SoDesuNe wrote:The slightly more difficult part about Shogi pieces is not recognising, what piece they are, but knowing/remembering in which ways they move. It was for me at least. Solving a lot of one-move-tsumeshogi helps a lot though ; )

I would imagine like Chess that losing a good 15 or 20 games ought to make it pretty concrete. More difficult you think?

For one you have a bigger board (9*9 instead of 8*8) and more individual pieces (8 or 10, if you count promoted pieces, too, instead of 6). But I guess, we make it out a bit more difficult than it really is. I got the Kanji and the specific movements within two days with occasionally hickups, but I did sit down to memorise them (Anki!). So it's more a question of wanting and time.

I have to admit right now - I have absolutely no clue about how to actually shogi. But I have seen this game before, here and there, and one thing always puzzled me: is there any reason the pieces are all the same color, and sides can only be differentiated by which direction the piece is facing?

Bantari wrote:I have to admit right now - I have absolutely no clue about how to actually shogi. But I have seen this game before, here and there, and one thing always puzzled me: is there any reason the pieces are all the same color, and sides can only be differentiated by which direction the piece is facing?

If you capture a piece, you can return it to the board on a later move (instead of moving an existing piece) as one of your own pieces. Hence the need for the same color.

HermanHiddema wrote:

Bantari wrote:I have to admit right now - I have absolutely no clue about how to actually shogi. But I have seen this game before, here and there, and one thing always puzzled me: is there any reason the pieces are all the same color, and sides can only be differentiated by which direction the piece is facing?

If you capture a piece, you can return it to the board on a later move (instead of moving an existing piece) as one of your own pieces. Hence the need for the same color.

Oh yeah, cool. This explains that nicely, thanks.

Personally, I'd be a fan of an American version with black and white reversible pieces such as in othello and english characters for piece identification. But this would probably kill the nostalgia of the game, no?

Joelnelsonb wrote:Personally, I'd be a fan of an American version with black and white reversible pieces such as in othello and english characters for piece identification. But this would probably kill the nostalgia of the game, no?

You can't do reversible, since you flip pieces to indicate promotion status.