From: THE EYES OF GO ARE WATCHING YOU <92brown <at> GW <dot> WMICH <dot> EDU>
Date: 22 feb 1993
Subject: re:shogi problem

>Opps, it seems my analysis was too quick. I not only assumed that the
>only king on the board was white's, but also the night and the lance!
>So, let's take a look once more at the position
>
>    9    8    7    6    5    4    3    2    1
> +--------------------------------------------+       White in hand:
> |    |    |    |    |+bB |    |    |    |    |  a   +----------------+
> +--------------------------------------------+      | N N L P P P P P|
> |    |    | wG | wS |    |    |    |+bR |    |  b   | P              |
> +--------------------------------------------+      |                |
> |    | wK |    | wP |    |    |    |    |    |  c   |                |
> +--------------------------------------------+      +----------------+
> |    |    | wP |    |    |+wB | wR |    |    |  d
> +--------------------------------------------+
> |    | bN | bL |    |    |    |    |    |    |  e
> +--------------------------------------------+
> |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |  f    Black in hand:
> +--------------------------------------------+      +----------------+
> |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |  g   | N L G S P P P P|
> +--------------------------------------------+      | P P P          |
> |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |  h   |                |
> +--------------------------------------------+      |                |
> |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |  i   +----------------+
> +--------------------------------------------+
>
>As was pointed out earlier, what is the rest of the board like? This is
>important, because that will to some extent determine the play. At this
>point in the game the material is not important, mating the king is.
>There is no Tsume (forced mate) that I can easily find for Black, so he
>should look for Hishi (brinkmate). It is important to hem the king first
>in order to deliver mate (otherwise he simply runs away). One example of how to
>procede (assuming that black's king is not under threat of mate) is to drop
>a silver at 9e. This threatens mate with the next move of G'9c. Also, even if
>white tries to open up a line of escape with px7e, then G'8d forces the white
>king back to 9b or 8b where it will soon be trapped and mated: for example,
>K-8b, G-9c, K-7a, N'8c, K-8a, +Bx6b (not a check, but continues forced
>response with threat of +Bx7b mate or S'9b mate), Gx6b, S'8b, K-7b, S-7a+ mate.
>There are other variations, but the important aim here is to keep the king
>hemmed in preferably with checks or forcing (albeit non-check) Hishi type moves
>until you can deliver the coup de gras. This is a fun position to analize,
>and is well worth looking at in terms of one of the shogi proverbs which
>a fellow Shogi-L member and friend as often used against me, "squeeze,
>then mate".
>                John.
>                InterNet: Kenney <at> EMBL-Heidelberg <dot> DE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for all of the expert opinions on the above problem.  I was
gote in the above scenario against Chris and felt that I was in the
fortunate position of either being able to take his rook or his bishop
on the next move.  Thanks to John and others, I now see that I was in
no way, shape or form ready to deal with a series of drops which would
inevitably, due to my limited experience, have led to my downfall.  I
guess that I am still stuck in the mentality of John Wayne Shogi
(Chess), where to drop a captured piece is to wimp out!  It is hard to
break out of this trap which prevents a truly deepened understanding
of the strategy and skill that goes into preparing and performing a
successful series of drops (emphasis on preparing).  For us beginners
I believe it is one of the more problematic aspects of the game and
which provokes a number of questions; when is it proper to drop?, can
I drop any time in the game or only in the endgame?, where can I
drop?, and so on...  I think perhaps a major hurdle is overcome when
dropping becomes as much a part of thought process for making a move
as just effectively moving the pieces that are already on the board
instead of just an afterthought when you get into a tight spot.
 
Thanks again for all those who responded, and be prepared for more.
Chris and I get into some pretty weird configurations where we just
look at each other and laugh, with one of us, usually me, saying "how
did I ever get myself into this."
 
Sean Brown
Department of Anthropology
Western Michigan University
92brown <at> gw <dot> wmich <dot> edu