Shogi Game 21 (amateur - professional modem-to-modem, some comment). On Saturday 29-th October 1988 a unique event happened. For the first time Shogi was played from modem to modem from Japan to Europe. The Shogi newspaper "Shukan Shogi" (= Shogi Weekly) had organized and they payed all the costs. This included hotel expenses for the Dutch players because they had to come from all over Holland the day before. This first "Computer Network Shogi Match" was a simultaneous event. Four Dutchmen, ranging in strength from 1-dan to 3-dan played handicap games and one even game (!) against Murooka Katsuhiko, 5-dan professional. In our ignorance, we in Holland did not realize that this match was the first of its kind and that at the Japanese side over 50 people were attending the event. We only thought it was good fun to play Shogi in this way. This was a good thing because it made us play freely and calmly, but we did not realize that at the Japanese side over 50 people were present ! We used time limits of 1 hour each. The way it worked was as follows: Every move was sent by a computer-operator to the other side of the world. The operator there received the move, executed it on the board and pushed the player's clock. Below you find the game that I played on rook handicap. Pieter Stouten 18-th July 1990. Corrected 17-th August 1990. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Black: Pieter Stouten (3-dan ama); White: Murooka Katsuhiko (5-dan pro). Rook handicap. 1. ... P3d 2.P7f P4d 3.P4f G3b 4.S4h S4b 5.S4g S4c 6.S5f P5d 7.R4h N3c 8.K6h K6b 9.K7h K7b 10.G6h S6b 11.G4i-5h S5c 12.P3f G5b 13.N3g P9d 14.P9f P6d 15.B7g P7d 16.S8h G6c 17.P8f N7c 18.S8g P8d 19.P1f P1d 20.R4i P6e 21.P7e Px7e 22.P4e Nx4e 23.Nx4e(A) S6d 24.P3e P8e 25.Px3d Px8f 26.S9h P7f 27.B8h Px4e 28.Bx2b+ Gx2b 29.Sx4e P6f(B) 30.Sx5d Px6g+ 31.G5hx6g Sx5d 32.R4b+ P'6b 33.+Rx2b N'7e 34.+Rx1a S'8g 35.K6i B'4g 36.G5h(C) Nx6g+ 37.B'6a K8b 38.L'8d Resigns (A) After 23.Nx4e S6d, I thought that my attack had already come to a stand-still before it had even started. I thought at the time I should have played 23.Sx4e. However, with 24.P3e I created good attacking chances. (B) I think 29. ... P'4f would have been more difficult for me. After this move I am in "byoyomi" (I used all my time and now have a limited time for each move). (C) Being in byoyomi, I played 36.G5h in a hurry and was not sure if it was correct. It looked very dangerous. Then I realized that, no matter what happens, I can always force the bishop on 4g to recapture on 8c and capture the promoted knight on 6g, if I do not manage to mate my opponent.