mahavrilla

My advise is a bit too practical.

1 First move? (When you are Black)
There are a number of move choices but three moves are oustandingly popular.

A P-7f: Making a way for the Bishop diagonal.
B P-2f: For quicker use of Rook and aiming for a pawn exchange.
C P-5f: Suggesting the use of Rook at fifth file aiming directly for the king.

..To be continued.

fukuhara

While waiting for my account to be activated, I took a look at Kurnik. I liked their interface, easy to use, but there was no customization or community that I see here. One thing though, they had regular Japanese pieces. I understand that Japanese chess is not well known, and many won't learn the Chinese characters (plus one Japanese character they use when a pawn is promoted). I would like to see brainking.com give an option to choose a piece set which has Japanese pieces.

If you need help making these these, I would be happy to create a set or 2. A general suggestion would be to have the color of the character on each piece red when promoted. Another set could stay black if people prefer. The background color for each piece should be an off white.

If the board size can be edited (which I assume would be applied to both chess and shogi), the bigger pieces could take on a more wooden look.

As for changing the name to Shogi on the front page, I think people new to Shogi won't be able to relate to it as easily. I think it is good to keep it Japanese Chess. I didn't say "kanji" when I mentioned Chinese characters because people may not know Chinese characters are called "kanji" in Japanese. It's harder to relate to. Same with the word "Shogi". Those that do know can just use it in discussions.

jadarite: There are already two sizes of Kanji piece sets available for use here on BrainKing. You can switch to using them from the Settings page.

TKR101010:

Does the color of the characters change to red when promoted? Is the background of the pieces off white? I suggest making the pieces look more realistic and less star trekky.

jadarite: Red promotional characters would be immensely helpful; not sure why they're not that way right now...

jadarite: I think they'd look better that way too. Especially the red for the promoted sides, even if the background color of the pieces didn't get changed.

jadarite: Just make them and I'll be happy to add them to BrainKing.
By the way, would you create pieces for >Tori Shogi as well? I would like to add more Shogi variants but I cannot do that without a good graphics.

Fencer:

!

Fencer:
I have done some initial pieces and color adjustments.
http://marcuswebsite.googlepages.com/brainkingwhole.gif

The promoted pawn in the center has a larger character than the one at f2. Personally, I think f2 looks better.
Please compare this with the gold piece on e4. They match in size, but the other pieces seem to have a better look being bigger. I put a matching gold one at f5 for comparison. This would mean the promoted pawns would look a little smaller in size than the rest, but I don't think it will look off. It will be easier to determine if it's up and running.

I put up a light wooden background, but the color could be a default light color. What I was thinking to get the background wooden look with the 4 black circles, was to have an option in settings to choose a background image (people just browse their computer to select it). This could then be set as the background for the table. So, even if you don't like the background I have up (which I would like to tinker with more), you could always add your own. Also, I would like to see the table border color change from grey.

The background color of the pieces match the sides of the site. I have kept the border black look, but if I have time I'll see if I can enhance it a bit.

The characters now are "SimSun", but they could be thicker like the characters at http://www.japanesechess.org/notation/traditional_shogi_notation.html

As for making Tori Shogi pieces, it looks doable. I don't think small pieces will be worth making due to the complex characters involved.

jadarite: Nice work.

jadarite: Barter the pieces for a two-year rook membership. ;-)

jadarite:
Hey man, that's pretty good.

http://marcuswebsite.googlepages.com/torishogipieces.html

I hope I did these right. I don't know the Chinese characters yet of these birds. Please correct me if I made any mistakes. I see only 2 pieces which get promoted. How do you keep track of the right and left quail?

jadarite: Normally, you're "just supposed to remember" which is the left and which is the right. For those of us who prefer not to be so vague, look at the following image: http://www.chessvariants.com/shogivariants.dir/toripieces.gif

You will notice a (very) small character in red above each of the quails, which differy very slightly. The left has a serif'ed "I" part on the bottom, while the right has a box.

Also, you can see that only the swallow and falcon promote (to goose and eagle, respectively).

This is a very different shogi variant, with most piece movements not found in any other variants (L/R quail, pheasant, eagle, & goose).

http://www.chessvariants.com/shogivariants.dir/tori.html provides a run-down of the rough rules; at least, what their differences are compared to normal shogi.

«Click on a piece you want to promote the pawn to.»
That's what shows up, when you're promoting a piece.
Any piece, not just a pawn.

Simple, easy to fix bug that has been reported back on March - perhaps it was just overlooked.

kthxbai (sorry, i'm really grumpy today)

jurek and jadarite: The difference in the quails is the kanji [japanese character] that shows up on the top of the piece.
右 = "migi" = right
左 = "hidari" = left

鶉 = uzura = quail

I suggest you use nihongoresources.com to search for the characters. :)
Very good work so far.


Sorry, i didn't read more than a few posts down.
If you need any help hunt me on msn: andre_c_neves [AT] hotmail [DOT] com


fencer: Taikyoku shogi? Heh, joking. ;)

portugal:

To make space, I moved the main kanji down a bit, and then instead of adding 右 and 左, I put katakana ロand エat the top of the pieces. Same address http://marcuswebsite.googlepages.com/torishogipieces.html

jadarite: Could you maybe make those katakana characters red, like on the chessvariants image? Typically, the left/right kanji characters are on the back side (since they don't promote) of the pieces and in red.

jurek:

I can make them red. "Typically, the left/right kanji characters are on the back side", but how do you see that while playing a game? Wouldn't it be more convenient to see it on the front?

jadarite: Eep!
You can't break the kanji, then it'll be a different one! ;)
Those two katakana are the katakana for the sounds "ro" ( ロ ) and "e" ( エ ).
Any Japanese would go wild if he saw such changes. =P

It's like breaking a word in half: instead of "castle" you write "cast", and it's a different thing.

---

It looks great with the whole kanji.

( side note: 口 is also the kanji for "mouth" - kuchi ^_^)

portugal

I think it depends on the person. Someone could be equally upset that we have letters for pieces as the default set. My intention is to make a simplified version for people to learn the game.

Also, there is nothing wrong with what I did. I was referencing the radicals for each piece. They just happen to look like katakana characters as well.

http://japanese.about.com/blkod2.htm - migi
http://japanese.about.com/blkod24.htm - hidari

Ah, never mind me, then. :)
And blah, you're Japanese. If anyone knows it's you, i guess.

I still prefer the whole kanji though, as you have it now. ;-)

portugal:

Actually, I am from America (Detroit area), but I am living in Kyoto. When Japanese order at McDonald's, they don't say small and large, but rather the letters "S" and "L". I don't think I have ever heard anyone in America or in London when I was there say S and L. They always said small and large. Another example of abbreviating is "pasocon" which is a combination of "personal" and "computer". A German student in my Japanese class in college was surprised to hear "arbaito" for "part-time job". She would say, "It's arbeit, no o at the end". However, the only consonant Japanese use to end words with is "n". So, I guess, as long as you have a reason you are free to mangle the language to fit your needs LOL

portugal:

I like the kanji too, it wasn't centering unless I wedged it up to the top to get space in between. So, instead I made the character for quail smaller and that gave room for the kanji.

I am not sure if I picked the right flag. I am living in Japan, but I am not Japanese. Should I change my profile so it reflects where I am originally from instead?

jadarite: Do you think you could make a set of "westernized" tori shogi pieces for those who cannot read Japanese characters? Similar to the standard Shogi set.

Fencer:

Yes, I can. The question is, what do people want on it? Since there can be letters which aren't as complex, there are more options. I can add arrows also or leave them out if people prefer. Another thing is which letters to use. At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tori_shogi they show abbreviations for the pieces and instead of goose they have "+Sw" for promoted swallow and "+Fa" for promoted falcon instead of eagle.

I haven't played the game, but if it's the same as regular Shogi, I would want to see "G" instead "+Sw" just like I would prefer to see "H" for horse instead of "+B" for promoted bishop. Feedback on this would be appreciated. Another note, do people want the lettering to be capital and then lower case "Ph" or "PH" for phoenix? Since there are two pieces which have "P", I'll keep it to 2 letters for consistency.

jadarite: To my opinion, it's better to write "+Sw" than "G" or "+B" than "H" as shogi western players don't always know the name of the promoted pieces, but just know them as "promoted".
As it is so in "regular" Shogi, I would also do it so in Tori Shogi.

jadarite: I would prefer pieces that indicate movement, just as currently with Shogi and MiniShogi. On chessvariants, I've seen pieces that uses dots and arrows to indicate movement (arrows for rook and bishop like moves, different coloured dots for moving/jumping one or two spaces in the indicated diretion).

jadarite [flags]: the right flag is the one you feel suits you better.
It never crossed my mind that one could be of a country and live in another - and as such, i read nationality rather than location. :)
Nationality makes a bit more sense inside my head, but that's a personal choice i guess. :)

---

[Western Representation]
About the promoted pieces and their representations...
It might become a tad harder for people to remember what it promoted from if the piece changes name.
For the less experienced players, that is.
Still, it's part of the game, i guess. To know the pieces and what they promote to/from.
If the objective is to have the original game represented fairly, i think one ought to use the "real names".
(Although that would, in all honesty, make the process of learning the game harder.)

I like to see the movement indicators on the pieces.
I hope that is something to be kept in the more "exquisite" games.
Though i'm curious how we'll manage to represent Tori Shogi's exquisite movements - namely the Eagle's back moves. =]

There could be 2 sets of westernized pieces for Tori Shogi. One set is the same size as the Japanese set, it would have "G" for goose, "E" for eagle. You would be expected to know how the game is played, but not the Chinese characters.

The other set would have bigger pieces and could have the word "goose" under "+Sw", "eagle" under "+Fa" along with movement indicators.

portugal: One way to show the Eagle: arrows up-left, up-right, down. short lines up, right, left. longer lines down-left and down-right.

This is closest to how the current Shogi/MiniShogi pieces are: straight arrows for slides, curved arrows for jumps, lines for steps. (Mini)Shogi doesn't have pieces that can step two places though, hence the short/long lines.

Alternatively, I'd settle for images of falcons, geese, quails, eagles, cranes, swallows and phoenixes.

Another option, that I would like, would be to have pieces with movement indicators along with the Chinese/Japanese characters. That way people who didn't know the characters could play the game and also learn the characters.

Long/short arrows seems a good option, if they don't look too similar. :)

harmy:

If there is interest in learning the characters, I can make something to help learn them. I think that aspect is better to be kept separate from the actual playing of the game.

portugal: Different colors to go along with the different lengths would help differentiate them, too. For example, if the short lines were blue and the long ones red.

jurek:

"short lines were blue and the long ones red", can you tell me what you mean by that? Lines seem to be the same length, it's just a matter of showing and arrow "->" for multiple squares (rook, bishop move) compared to just a "-" for one square (king, pawn, silver, gold). That already seems to be solved from the wiki page which has a circle instead of a line for single squared moves.

jadarite: from AbigailII: "One way to show the Eagle: arrows up-left, up-right, down. short lines up, right, left. longer lines down-left and down-right."

Yes, my suggestion has short lines for the directions the piece can move one square; long lines for directions where the piece can move one or two squares to.

Now, I think there are Shogi variants with pieces that may move (as opposed to jump) two squares in a direction, but not one square. We'd need something else if Fencer would ever implement such a Shogi variant.

I thought I should post here instead of the feature request area cause people are more likely to give more pertinent feedback for this suggestion. I hope it's ok, I want to post the same one in the European chess forum also.

I think it would be a neat feature to be able to interact some way. One suggestion I made before was to add chat. Another idea would be to allow "game polling". This would be applied to strategic games like chess and shogi, and NOT to games like card games.

People would NOT be allowed to suggest moves, but they could have an overall vote on the position/progress of the game. A simple example of this would be, "Who do you think has the advantage? Black or White?" Each person has one vote, which is seen anonymously. As the game advances, you may switch your position or keep it if you think the same person still has the advantage.

End result would read something like, "60% think white has the advantage out of 10 total".

Ok, so, I pose the same thing in a different way, is this a good idea or completely dumb? Sorry, you can't be anonymous in this poll LOL

jadarite: LOL.. I think this would actually be a great suggestion for the Feature Requests discussion board. But hey, it works here too, as far as I'm concerned.

I think polls of many sorts would be very useful and fun for the site.

rod03801:

I don't regularly play other games besides shogi and chess. I go to Yahoo Pool when I don't want to not think, lol. So, I don't know how this would be used in other games. If you think it is a "feature request" for the site as a whole, please post it there. Another thing to be aware of is, if someone comes on this server to play shogi, it is more likely that they would have visited the shogi forum and have it linked than the feature request forum. In that case, I think it would be beneficial to list non-specific game forums below the banner. If there are too many list, my question then is, does there need to be that many? Is it possible to condense if there are too many?

I am happy to introduce two new Taiwan players that could in future be the regional champion.

They mainly play at shogidojo and their current rating is about
qswdefg: 240
siydira: 220

I guess their BKR rating could be around 1600-1900

I will invite both to brainking and I hope they will do well here.

fukuhar

I have a set of Westernized Pieces. Does anyone know a good site (besides wwwYutopian.com) to buy a board to go with them; as well the approximate cost? I live in The United States and do not know foriegn currency exchange rates; so could a responder let me know prices in United States Currency. TED

ABSTRAKTA SHOGI TOURNAMENT 2008

6 players out of min. 16 until now.

any more takers? :)

ABSTRAKTA SHOGI TOURNAMENT 2008

For shogi players being interested in meeting the best shogi players of the world, I would like to inform you that the first match of the RyuO sen will take place in Paris on the 18+19 October 2008.
An eve cocktail is open to everybody on the 17.10.2008. There you'll be able to meet many well-known shogi players.
All details in french at http://www.shogi.fr/ryuo2008.html.
document in english to downloaded at the same place.

bakashogi:
Wrong link. All my apologizes.
The right one is: http://www.shogi.fr/web/shogi/shogi_fr.nsf/ryuo2008.html

They are for complete novices/beginners. So far today, there appeared 18 lessons. It's still ongoing.

Playlist: How to play Shogi(将棋)
Description: Shogi lessons in English. I will teach you how to play Japanese Chess, Shogi.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=587865CAE59EB84A

HIDETCHI continuously released his lessons. Each of them is approximately 10 minute long.

Lessons#1-10
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=587865CAE59EB84A&page=1


Lessons#11-20
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=587865CAE59EB84A&page=2


Lessons#21-30(29&30 will be upcoming soon)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=587865CAE59EB84A&page=3

Have fun.

Does anyone know where I can find the Ryu-O final game online?