From: Troy Conner <conner <at> CAIS <dot> CAIS <dot> COM>
Date: 24 oct 1995
Subject: Re: chess and shogi

> Jonathan Tisdall writes:

> I am currently writing a book on chess psychology and training techniques.
> One thing that interested me was the possibility of using one game to learn
> the other. I would be curious to know of people's feelings about this, and
> particularly those who know shogi better than chess -  that is to say shogi
> was thir first "language" - to see if there are useful points of contact in
> that direction.

I'm not sure if Shogi is my native language (I learned Chess first but my
peak strength was far higher in Shogi), but I'd say that the two games
complement each other.  In my own case, my sense of King safety in Chess
improved a lot as a result of Shogi handicap games, and improving my Chess
endgame technique also had the result of helping me order candidate moves
in Shogi.  Among chessplayers in general I've always seen the following
improvements from playing Shogi:

  * Piece coordination (in Chess a piece that isn't working will usually
    get into play eventually.  In Shogi a piece that isn't working is
    essentially the other guy's piece).

  * The technique of learning Shogi openings (especially handicap openings)
    improves the technique of learning Chess middlegames.  For example,
    you would optimally set about learning Chess IQP positions in much the
    same way that you would learn edge attacks in 4 piece and Rook+Lance
    odds.

> I am interested to hear anything - I'm curious about the stronger emphasis
> in shogi of learning from proverbs - is this analogous to the beginner's
> advice in chess, or do they have a greater influence?

Actually, I use Shogi proverbs in Chess a lot, especially:

  "The passed pawn moves faster than you think", and

  "With 3 knights there is always a mate" (works in Blitz if you're quick...)

> I already have some clear examples of shogi tactical themes that have
> analogs in chess, but for which chess has never bothered to give a name,
> preferring to mis-index it under some existing theme. But more abstract
> issues would be of interest. Thanks!

"Aji" is a term that should be in every Chessplayer's vocabulary.  There
are a few terms (such as the "Bishop Pair" and "Controlling the Centre")
that are aspects of Aji, but no general term.  Even experienced Chessplayers
let enemy pieces accumulate around their kings to degrees that no Shogi
player would allow; maybe if there were books about "Dynamic Potential"
or "Kinetic Energy" it would not happen as much.

-Troy