Customer Reviews

Better Moves for Better Shogi

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I'm a strong chess player who has been looking for instruction in the theory of shogi. My only recourse until I found this book has been to get shogi periodicals in Japanese and follow the game scores (for which you only need to recognize the symbols for the pieces and the numbers 1-9 in Japanese). Of course, this taught me some things, but was frustrating for many purposes because I could not read the annotations.

I was very happy to come across this book. It is the only one I've found in English that covers substantially more than just how to move the pieces. The format took a little getting used to but became quite comfortable after I worked with it for some time. The book is a collection of lectures by a Japanese 9-Dan written in Japanese for Japanese players. The bottom of each page has an English translation of the game score and/or notes for that page.

I have worked through chapters 1, 2, and 4, and I am already satisfied with the return for my investment of time and money on this book. The first chapter treats "shape" (what we chess players call position) and how to evaluate it, and Chapters 2 and 4 treat different aspects of pawn play. For chess players: the introduction to Chapter 2 reads like it was written by Philidor ("The pawn is the soul of [Shogi]"). In my opinion, the author does a very creditable job of explaining how pawns create the conditions for attack and defense in the game. Chapters 2 and 4 alone are worth the price of the book.

When faced with seeking an english text on shogi, it seems that only basic texts are locatable. This text is, therefore a great find. Each section encompasses lectures, and involve detailed analysis on such topics as the importance of the pawns for defense, when the other pieces, such as the gold or silver generals prove ineffective. From my limited ability to describe the game, the step move forward process, coupled with having to anticipate the open areas in front of the wall, and behind the wall, for drops by your opponent (the fun of shogi is your opponent can drop on the board your pieces that he has captured, as his own pieces), require quite the effort of space analysis. This text addresses this area, superbly. I rate this text a must have.