From: atkinson VAXROM CERN CH Date: 29 apr 1991 Subject: Dossena Ok. I have just posted a letter to Giampaolo Dossena. I told him that the Chess King computer wasn't quite as "available" as he had suggested, and enclosed a Hodges price list and a copy of the ADDRESSES file from Shogi-L. I know he knows the rules of the game, since it is one of the games in a book he wrote of "Great games of the world." I also know that he is in contact with the Associazione Italiana di Scacchi Eterodossi (Italian Heterodox Chess Assoc.). Has anyone out there had an contact from any Italians? I know Maurizio Paolini and Agostino Guberti have written to Reijer and Phil Holland respectively. AISE worries me a bit, since it once printed an article saying that Shogi moves were too hard to remember, and so proposed Chessgi, which was normal Chess with drops. However, I think this is ancient history. Dossena's column is about the only GENERAL games thing in Italy. There are bridge and chess columns elsewhere, and wargaming publications, but only Dossena writes about "The Royal Game of Goose" one week, crosswords the next, Abalone and hula-hoops the next and so on. I even think he has mentioned things like falconry, stamp-collecting, etc. I get the impression that his column is followed by those few Italians who play games. Getting FESA etc addresses into his column could produce, oh, 2 or 3 enquiries, or even more. (Let's not get carried away...) Actually, I am also a bad boy as I have not replied to a lettere that Guberti wrote me ages ago. I will reply today. I am about to phone Technoesis again. (This morning they told me to phone again later as they were in a meeting.) I will try to get hard facts from them. Adam Atkinson Rome (where Chess is "obscure", in the considered opinion of university profs)