My hope after reading Riken Research's release of ‘shogi intuition’ research

[takodori]

I hope a similar tv program to be created some day to "My Brilliant
brain" based on the results of the joint project of reseaching brains
of shogi professional players among RIKEIN, FUJITSU, and Japan Shogi
Association. Here is the release of the project in English.
http://www.rikenresearch.riken.jp/roundup/683/

My brilliant brain is available to watch at
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6378985927858479238

Takodori

[Alan Baker]

At the end of February I had the opportunity to visit Shanghai for a week
to attend an academic conference. For the last three days of my stay I was
hosted by the Shanghai Shogi Club. I thought that some members of this
list might be interested in the information I gathered about shogi in
Shanghai.

I had heard rumors for several years about the growth of shogi in China,
and I became more curious after last November’s 4th International Shogi
Forum in Tendo, Japan was won by the Shanghai representative, Tang
Shunjie. The growth of shogi in Shanghai began in 1995 when a man named Xu
Jiandong returned from many years working in Japan and decided to start a
shogi program in some of Shanghai’s schools. Since then, over 600,000
school children in Shanghai have been taught to play shogi. Activities are
coordinated by the Shanghai Shogi Club, which has 18 local centers in
different districts of the city. The Club has eight full-time employees
and an estimated 5,000 active members. The most promising junior players
are brought to the central branch of the Club where regular training
sessions are held every weekend. There are many shogi tournaments, both
team and individual, held in Shanghai each year, and also tournaments for
different age groups and ability levels. Many of the shogi sets they use
are manufactured in China, and the plastic sets look distinctive because
they have white calligraphy on a black background.

Both the scale and the level of organization of shogi in Shanghai is very
impressive, as is its focus on developing interest in shogi among junior
players. They already have some very strong players in their early
twenties, including the 4th Shogi Forum winner, Tang Shunjie, who is one
of the full-time coaches at the club. (One can get a sense of the strength
of shogi in Shanghai from the fact that apparently Tang did not even reach
the final of this year’s Shanghai shogi championship … .) They also have a
crop of very promising younger players. During my visit I played informal
games against four of the top under-14 players, winning three hard-fought
games but losing one game to an impressive mating combination. My
opponent, 12-year-old Zhang Xin, will travel to Japan in August and
attempt to win a place in the training system for future professional
players.

Based on what I saw and heard during my visit, I would not be surprised if
within the next decade the Shanghai shogi system produces the first
non-Japanese player to enter the professional ranks.

Alan Baker

[DARREN PAULL]

Hi Allen,
 
I really enjoyed reading your article, thankyou for telling us about the scene in Shangai.
 
I had no idea , it's fascinating to hear how the game has really caught on!
 
I wish something like that would happen in Australia!
 
Darren Paull
 
> Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 06:13:00 -0400
> Subject: shogi report from Shanghai
> From: aba...@swarthmore.edu
> To: sho...@googlegroups.com