jadarite:
Hey man, that's pretty good.

Fencer:

!

DragonKing: I tried to play it too, with no success. I'm just not Japanese.

DragonKing: I like the idea about shogi revival and its subsequent teams, but isn't that what BrainKing essentially is beginning? In Canada I rarely even see anyone playing chess in public, let alone Eastern games. I play go almost everyday in cafes with my girlfriend, and people can be heard in speculation, muttering "pente". I've never seen anyone playing shogi in Canada. In fact I've lived in most cities here, and I couldn't find a shogi board. I had to buy mine in New York, so it is unlikely that Shogi variant teams will be forming in Canada in one city in my lifetime. But I love BrainKing for that. It's something...

DragonKing: Hi DragonKing: I found that reference link about tenjiku shogi and its GNU source:
gnu

I will find that source for the excerpt on tenjiku shogi... For now check out the below link. Once you go to it, scroll down for a SUMMARY table of shogi variations and their stats. I'll follow up on this soon, but now I am playing two games of Xiangqi...

shogivariations

Tenjiku (exotic) shogi, is played on a 16x16 board with 176 pieces. This game is possibly the most complex tactical game in existence. There are many astoundingly powerful pieces, including one (the Fire Demon) that can capture up to eight opposing pieces in a single move! Despite the size of the game, checkmates can occur very suddenly (and often very early on) if one player makes a wrong move. (...taken from the GNU Shogi Manual)

DragonKing: I haven't heard of S.Evans'S.V. software, but I'll look it up on Google. Interesting stuff.

I found the answer to my own question. Check this out:
mddshogi

In his diary, the piece maker Minase Kanenari (1514-1602) says that he had produced with his son 618 sets for Sho Shogi, 106 for Chu Shogi, 2 for both Dai Shogi and Dai-Dai Shogi, 3 for Maka-Dai-Dai Shogi and 4 for Tai Shogi between 1590 and 1602.
Are there more contemporary terms for these shogi variants? (because I've never heard of Maka-Dai-Dai shogi before...)

Has everyone read Headius' suggestion concerning BK getting Tori, Wa and Chu variations? What do you think? His suggestion can be seen on Discussion Boards - Requested Features...

Fwiffo: Those links provided an excellent response. Thank you Fwiffo...

This is a question regarding Shusai (Takodori, maybe you can answer it...)
In Kawabata's "Master Of Go", he writes of go master Shusai (Kitani Minoru), who is described as "twenty-first in the Honnimbo succession". I was not sure what the Honnimbo succession exactly was. I looked it up in Google, and found only two references (to the Kawabata novel). I also looked it up in Wikipedia and got nothing. I think Honnimbo was the original go master. Is that correct?

ughaibu: Are chess clocks used in professional shogi matches? What is the standard length of one tournament game for professionals?

I am happy to see that you joined the stairs, lukulus. 23 players is a healthy competition. Already I have given out Takodori's blog address to four or five people, and have been supplied with some valuable insight into the game. I love to see a supportive and challenging group interact. Cheers to BrainKing, supplying us with an international common language: the game.

<Now there are 23 players on Stairs>>Standard Stairs>>Japanese Chess! The chess standard stairs has 30 competetors. We should get more people to make the Shogi stairs become a real forum for BK shogi players.

<Does anyone have an opinion about the "Stairs" feature on BK? I recently joined the Standard Stairs>>Japanese Chess stairs, and there were only six players including myself. I emailed about 30 players inciting them to join, and now there are 16 players on those stairs. Does anyone else want to join?