Famous shogi youtuber HIDETCHI has posted another famous games video. This is a very interesting game with an unusual aggressive attack with all four generals.

Famous Shogi Games: HABU vs YONENAGA (May 12th, 1994)

5 years... that's how long since I created this website. I think it's time I start using it! :D

So let's face it, I don't really know that much more about shogi than I did 5 years ago which is almost nothing. But I want to get started again. There is no doubt that shogi is a really cool game and it would be a shame not to play more of it.

So what have I been up to recently?

I've been playing mostly against the computer using Shogi Level 100 on my Android phone during lunch breaks and commutes and the iOS version on my iPad at home. The best thing about this game is that it has a very fine control over the level of play in the beginner range so I have no problem getting games that are challenging yet winnable.

Playing against the computer has the advantage of being more relaxing. I can just take my time and think things through. When playing online it's just more stressful as the games are always on relatively short time limits so I just play rushed moves without understanding what's going on.

The same company that makes Shogi level 100 also has a nice tsumeshogi app. And while using an app for tsumeshogi might be not be necessary when books will do just fine, I can use it in situations when I wouldn't have my shogi books with me (such as coffee breaks). A word of warning though, the tsume app is in Japanese only but it's not difficult to use.

Also I've been playing on Brain King (user: Codexus invite me for a game ;)) another way to play more relaxed games but also prone to playing without thinking when trying to quickly play some shogi in between other activities.

I've also played on 81Dojo but I will write a full post about that later.

I had the idea to create a shogi blog about 8 months ago but due to my infinite laziness, I never took the time to do it. But for some strange reason, I finally did it and here it is: a nice empty blog. I've also created my go blog so now I just need some content.

And for those who might not know that already, Furigoma is the traditional way to determine who gets to play the first move in an even game. It's done by throwing five pawns and if most of these fall on the unpromoted side, the person who did the throw goes first.

It's been quite a while since I last played a game of shogi but I'm still interested in that game and I've been doing a few tsumeshogi problems occasionally.

So I guess that's all for now, hopefully more interesting posts will follow this one soon...