From: Pieter Stouten <Pieter.Stouten <at> EMBL-HEIDELBERG <dot> DE>
Date: 19 oct 1992
Subject: Gradara Report (forwarded posting from Adam Atkinson)

>From: ATKINSON <at> ROMA1 <dot> infn <dot> it (Adam Atkinson)
 
The 1992 "Gradara Ludens" was a bit of a disappointment. The weather was
grim, and there were fewer people than I had expected. I was in the program
this year as "I giochi fuori dal programma - l'angolo di Adam Atkinson".
(Games not in the program - the Adam Atkinson corner). 50 copies of my
20-page "Introduzione allo Shogi" got taken by people, but I think some of
those were just people who take any leaflet they can get their hands on,
as a matter of principle. I did try NOT to give copies to these people.
As usual, most of the chess players stayed in the chess area and didn't
even look at the rest of the festival, and most of the people who wandered
past were equally specialised (RPGs for example) or middle-aged Italians
who think that "French" playing cards are exotic and only use Neapolitan
ones.
 
Giampaolo Dossena (La Repubblica's games journalist) was NOT there, but
Alex Randolph was. It turns out he lived in Japan once, and at least used
to be a shodan at Shogi. He beat be hollow a couple of times. Mind you,
a 5-kyu could beat me hollow so this doesn't prove much. Mancala generated
more interest than Shogi did.
 
I am spending some of my mornings in the Rome University Physics faculty,
in a "study room" where some people play chess. I take go, shogi and
xiang-qi along, and can now usually count on finding someone who knows
me and is willing to play. Go seems to be attracting most interest, with
shogi a close second. I don't think any of these people are likely to become
serious players, though. The most promising newcomer here is Tullio Marinelli,
almost a chess IM (five IM norms, but hasn't quite got a high enough ELO yet).
The problem is that neither I nor Shogi Master can provide him with credible
opposition at Shogi.
 
"Avvenimenti", a left-wing magazine about which I know almost nothing, must
have mentioned me recently as I got a letter from an Argentinian mathematician
in Turin who said she had read in it that I was founding an Italian Shogi
Federation. I have sent her my booklet, but have said that there is no
point setting up a federation just yet. Francesco Tosi in Rome appears to be
selling quite a lot of cheapo Shogi sets (800 yen ones with really nasty
wooden pieces and a paper board) but quite where they are going I do not
know.
 
One gauge of my lack of success is that although I get through quite a lot
of copies of my introduction, almost no-one wants the sequel (which is
basically just all the games from SHOGI-L, with the comments translated into
Italian.) This suggests that the unknown shogi players in Italy are mostly
very casual ones. Amongst the chess players here, xiang-qi is having more
success than shogi (Marinelli is almost the only exception), and I have no
idea why.
 
If anyone out there is planning on visiting Rome, give me a ring on
Rome 7026741 and let me know. We could perhaps play shogi somewhere very
visible.
 
Adam Atkinson