I met Habu Yoshiharu at the World Open in Philadelphia on Sunday
Sam Sloan
For those of you who do not know, Habu Yoshiharu is one of the most
famous people in Japan. Habu is the Tiger Woods of Shogi, which is
Japanese chess. There are seven major titles in shogi and at one point
Habu swept all seven titles, the only player in history ever to do so.
Habu is down to only four of the top seven titles now.
So great is the fame of Habu that he has the reputation of being the
smartest person in the entire country of Japan. So great is his
reputation that the daily newspapers in Japan have been filled with
articles about Habu's brain. The newspapers are wondering why Habu's
brain is so superior to all the other brains in Japan. One theory
concerns the fact that most people have a left-sided brain, whereas
Habu has a right-sided brain.
I waited for my chance and bravely went up and introduced myself to
The Great Habu. I told him that I have a website about him.
http://www.samsloan.com/habu.htm I was surprised when the man who
accompanied him, Mr. Ishii, knew exactly who I was. "Are you Mr. Sam
Sloan", his companion said.
Habu speaks some English. Mr. Ichirou Ishii immediately offered to
take a picture of me and Habu together. I gave him my address and I
hope that Mr. Ishii remembers to send me the picture. Will somebody
remind him?
Somebody asked why the top shogi player in Japan would be considered
the smartest person in Japan, as opposed to the top go player. One
answer is that the Japanese are no longer the best in go. The Koreans
are now the best in go, followed by the Chinese. The Japanese are only
number three in go now.
I told Habu that we have an outstandingly beautiful Russian girl shogi
player in New York who would be very interested in meeting him. I was
surprised that Habu did not know her already. I was sure that if
Rachael had known that Habu was in America, she would have made a
beeline to Philadelphia right away.
This was the second chess tournament for Habu in America. His first
was the 2000 Chicago Open. Habu has a USCF rating of 2351/07 from that
tournament. http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12775433 This rating might
not seem that impressive, until one considers that Habu is a beginner
at our kind of chess.
At the World Open in Philadelphia, Habu won his first two games and
then had a draw with grandmaster Joel Benjamin in Round 4. Habu had a
credible performance of 5-4, to finish number 67 in the 238 player
field. He defeated two players rated over 2200 and probably gained a
few rating points. http://www.worldopen.com/2003Results/open.htm
I asked Habu if he could play go. He said that he is an amateur shodan
in go. This is about the equivalent of a Class A player. So, chess is
Habu's game, not go.
Sam Sloan
Scott
in college back in around 1995 my school had a large contingent of
japanese students (studying english) - knowing this and knowing that
they were often overworked - I managed to set all the library
computers so that they would load a dos-based Shogi program at boot -
and consequently you would find hoards of japanese students gathered
around the computers shouting "ohhhh Shogi! Shogi Shogi!" and playing
non-stop for hours at a time - it took the librarians at least a week
to get all the systems back to normal academic function. The
aforementioned japanese students had limited english and the shogi
game was in all japanese characters, therefore, no one had a clue what
they were doing and students and faculty alike were completely baffled
by this - suffice it to say it was a hilarious situation to witness!
-Scott
sl...@ishipress.com (Sam Sloan) wrote in message news:<3f0c761d....@ca.news.verio.net>...
StanB
"Scott" <scotty...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e6fcd9a.03070...@posting.google.com...
> The mention of Shogi triggered a very funny memory for me - when I was
> in college back in around 1995 my school had a large contingent of
> japanese students (studying english) - knowing this and knowing that
> they were often overworked - I managed to set all the library
> computers so that they would load a dos-based Shogi program at boot -
> and consequently you would find hoards of japanese students gathered
> around the computers shouting "ohhhh Shogi! Shogi Shogi!" and playing
> non-stop for hours at a time - it took the librarians at least a week
> to get all the systems back to normal academic function. The
> aforementioned japanese students had limited english and the shogi
> game was in all japanese characters, therefore, no one had a clue what
> they were doing and students and faculty alike were completely baffled
> by this - suffice it to say it was a hilarious situation to witness!
College is a lot of fun. I used to put ketchup and mustard packets in the
microwave. When they got hot enough they would explode. Some fun.
StanB
Jane Adams
Jane
"StanB" <stan...@comXXXcast.net> wrote in message
news:Y_2dnVjAO6y...@comcast.com...
Duncan Oxley
school. I think she was a substitute teacher.
She had a nice all white outfit including white jeans.
The kids put taco sauce in her seat during a break and she sat in it.
BTW Stan the microwave was not invented when you were in
school. I think they still used coal to heat that one room school house. <G>
james
server (like IGS, KGS etc. for Go) to try out. Can anybody provide some
info?
james
Magic_BumWind
have the displeasure of meeting a slimebag such as Spam Scone. What a
great representative, a little taxi monkey that writes tabloid trash.
By the way, why would you mention there is a beautiful blonde? I know
you are a greasy little man who believes that all Japanese men are in
love with blond women especially white. Did you forget he is married?
I think they knew your name by the distinctive sttench coupled with
rumpled clothing and greasy hair, not to mention the beady eyes.
> I met Habu Yoshiharu at the World Open in Philadelphia on Sunday
. I was sure that if
> Rachael had known that Habu was in America, she would have made a
> beeline to Philadelphia right away.
>
> in go. This is about the equivalent of a Class A player. So, chess is
> Habu's game, not go.
Does he breathe air too?
Spam "Big Pimpin'" Scone
David J Bush
A hub site for links is http://www.shogi.net/shogi-links.html
The "Shogi club 24" server is free outside Japan:
http://www.shogidojo.com/eng/engindex.htm
Shogi is also on the Yahoo server. Sorry, I don't have a URL for that.
Two of my favorite shogi sites are Reijer Grimbergen's site:
http://www.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp/~grimberg/SHOGI/shogipage.html
(Reijer's SPEAR program is a free download)
and Eric Cheymol's site, which is in both French and English, and has
Larry Kaufman's series on handicap play: http://echeymol.free.fr/
David
drahmiel
>By the way, why would you mention there is a beautiful blonde? I know
>you are a greasy little man who believes that all Japanese men are in
>love with blond women especially white.
When did Sam say anything about a blonde? Maybe YOU are the one with issues
about Japanese men and blonde women!
RSHaas
Miriling
>On 10 July 2003 rsh...@aol.com (RSHaas) asked in
>Message-id: <20030710144453...@mb-m21.aol.com>
>
>Isn't habu the Japanese word for snake?
>
>The usual word for snake is "hebi," but "habu" is a type of poisonous snake.
It and the "mamushi" are supposedly Japan's only poisonous snakes ("dokuja").
>
>George Mirijanian
>
>
RSHaas
===============
I'm impressed that you'd know that. Mamushi is sold in butcher shops as a food
item. The mamushi is in the "moccasin" group of pit vipers. (RSHaas)
StanB
"Duncan Oxley" <marin...@redshift.com> wrote in message
news:vgq70r1...@corp.supernews.com...
> BTW Stan the microwave was not invented when you were in
> school. I think they still used coal to heat that one room school house.
<G>
I've cleaned coal bins in my day.
StanB
Roger
Sam Said:
"I told Habu that we have an outstandingly beautiful Russian girl shogi
player in New York who would be very interested in meeting him. I was
surprised that Habu did not know her already. I was sure that if
Rachael had known that Habu was in America, she would have made a
beeline to Philadelphia right away."
Maybe this person knows the Rachel is a blonde?
EZoto
>College is a lot of fun. I used to put ketchup and mustard packets in the
>microwave. When they got hot enough they would explode. Some fun.
>
>StanB
>
roaches with it. So in a way I was killing roaches with a gun. Also
I got the occasional fly. Yes, college was fun.
EZoto
sandirhodes
We just sat around getting stoned, with the occasional matchbook fight (like
bottlecaps, only safer -- sort of).
drahmiel
>Sam Said:
>
>"I told Habu that we have an outstandingly beautiful Russian girl shogi
>player in New York who would be very interested in meeting him. I was
>surprised that Habu did not know her already. I was sure that if
>Rachael had known that Habu was in America, she would have made a
>beeline to Philadelphia right away."
>
>Maybe this person knows the Rachel is a blonde?
>
>
>
>
>
>
Even if he did, Sam did not mention it. The next poster inserted it in the
story, suggesting it was important to him, even if not to Sam.
Bommel
I tried shogi about a year ago online... I played on
http://www.shogidojo.com/eng/engindex.htm
*hth*
Bommel
"james" <jame...@excite.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
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