From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 22 apr 1996 Subject: Re: Apology to George Fernandez and yes, more on rules Douglas J Dysart UCUNIX SAN UC EDU> writes: > Yes, I do have the official chess rules, but I am not sure that > I can say that the shogi rules are not as good. I don't have the same > booklet that you have. > I also believe that the Japanese have a nice system of trust in > those who are more experienced or wiser. They don't always have big > disputes over rules, but it's not because of what's written, but because > what's not written. They simply trust those who should be worthy as such. > That's just my impression. Feel free to ask further on the chess > rules, or even send a copy of the booklet to me so I can better evaluate it. I see that my question has not been specific enough. My point is that I cannot believe that all rules of Shogi fit into a booklet that is as big as your hand and has only 95 pages. Could you tell me if you the official rules are those in the "Chess Competitor's Handbook"? If you have a different source, could you tell me how many pages it has and what the chapters are about? In the Chess Competitor's Handbook a large part of the book is devoted to ELO rating rules, which of course are not part of the Shogi Rule Book. I tried to think up some situations that are not covered by the Shogi rule book, but they are rather artificial and I have not had the time to read the rule book again to see if these cases might be covered. Old problems are the moment when counting for jishogi is decided (how to decide that there is no more mate and the losing side can not get the material he needs to pass the 24 point mark?) and when a illegal move can still be claimed (if it is still visible on the board?, if you can prove that the position on the board could only have been reached if an illegal move was made? can you claim an illegal move after having resigned? can you claim an illegal move if your king is mate? can you claim an illegal move after you played an illegal move yourself?). I would be very surprised if the rule book covers these borderline cases. Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Electrotechnical Laboratory Palcious Tsukuba 302 1-1-4 Umezono 1-24-8 Ninomiya Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305 JAPAN 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp Tel: 0298-59-1606 WWW: http://www.etl.go.jp:8080/etl/suiron/~grimberg Tel: +81-(0)298-54-5080 extension: 67431 Fax: +81-(0)298-58-5918