From: Eric Cheymol IMAGINET FR> Date: 8 jul 1997 Subject: My trip in Japan To all shogi players, I just finished my report on my trip in Japan. I hope it will be interesting for many players. Everyone needs to travel to Japan and to live such an experience ! Eric Cheymol -------------------------------------------------------------- My trip in Japan Some months ago, I was selected by the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nihon Shogi Renmei to be the representative for Europe in the 10th amateur Ryu-O sen. So I am the fifth european to play in this tournament after Stephen Lamb, David Murphy, Reijer Grimbergen and Arend Van Oosten. I had the chance to stay two weeks in Japan, this gave me the possibility to play many games and to do some sightseeing too : Japan has many beautiful places, temples and gardens. Two weeks are not enough to visit a town such as Kyoto, are they Reijer ? But two weeks are just enough to give a look at some places, to meet old and new friends and to wish to travel again to Japan in the future. My trip was divided into two parts : Osaka and Tokyo. The first part was devoted to my preparation for the Ryu-O sen, directed by Kisho Nakahira, 6 Dan amateur. Kisho is a very strong amateur player : he played three times in the amateur Ryu-O sen and won an even game against Masataka Goda, 4 Dan at this time (the game is analyzed in Shogi Sekai, the december 1990 issue, pages 39 to 45). When I landed in Osaka, Kisho's family and Patrick Davin waited for me at the airport. Patrick publishes the professional shogi news on the web and organizes the tsume shogi challenge : I wait for the tsume each wednesday and I try to solve every one, composed by Hiroshi Honma, 5 Dan. When we arrived at Kisho's house, what was the first thing we did ? Guess ... yes, that's it !! We played a game, Patrick and I. On the day after (sunday 15 june), Kisho Nakahira organized a tournament at his house : four players, two strong friends of Kisho, one is in the shorekai. I finished third out of four. I was quite happy with this result, the other players were very strong, I won 2 games out of 7 ! Not an usual score for me in Europe ! This was the first real opportunity for me to see that the european style of playing shogi is different of the japanese style. If you are in the Osaka area, take a few days to visit Kyoto with its temples and gardens. Choose a not too crowded day (yes, it exists, the 16 june was one, but you missed it) and you will be able to enjoy the beauty of places such as Kinkakuji, Kiyomizu or Ryoanji and to take some photographs with nobody on them. The Japanese like to be photographed and kindly propose to take a picture of you with your camera. They sometimes don't understand why I prefer not to see my face on the picture but to take a picture of the monuments alone !! If you want more details on Kyoto and its nice places, please ask Reijer, he knows this nice town far better than me. Back to my shogi preparation in Shogi Kaikan on tuesday and wednesday. I played several games in Shogi Kaikan, Osaka, about 150 players can play there at the same time. It should be very impressive on saturdays and sundays when a lot of people plays. I met strong players and played some tough games. My level was 4 Dan at this place, the grades seem to be equivalent to the european ones. I played against a 3 Dan female professional : I have not the kifu yet. The game showed me again one of my many weaknesses : I managed to get a very good position in the middle game, and threw the game in two moves with a bad tactical idea. This happened again in the first game of the Ryu-O sen. Patrick took me to the Juso Shogi Kidokan Dojo, the world's toughest shogi club. It is a very different place than the Shogi Kaikan : a very small area, at most 30 players can play at the same time. And with a "private" grading system : there is about a difference of 3 grades between this club and Shogi Kaikan. When you arrive there for the first time, you play a handicap game with the owner of the club. I played a rook handicap game, and I was rated 2 Dan after the game : this grade is quite high in this club. I played 3 other games there, I was completely crushed in the first one, I won the second tough game and lost on time in the third one (I had a tsume when my flag fell). In this place, the players you meet really want to beat you !! All games are played here with clocks, on the opposite to Shogi Kaikan. I keep a very good feeling of the Osaka part of my trip, I especially thank Kisho and his family for his kind hospitality. He organized everything to prepare me in the best conditions for the Ryu-O sen. I played many games against him and he managed to win every game (with one jishogi). In the end, I say to myself : you reached your incompetence level, your many weaknesses prevent you from improving further. But I really like playing shogi and I will study shogi to be prepared for all future tournaments. I thank Patrick Davin for his great help. And I am very happy to meet him after having exchanged many mails. Keep on doing your great work, Patrick ! Shogi Nexus is very well apreciated. After a 3 hours travel between Osaka and Tokyo with the Shinkansen, guess who waited for me at the station ? ... Two known faces in Europe, Yoshihisa Suzuki and Reijer Grimbergen ! Yoshihisa played in european tournaments about ten years ago when he was living in Germany. Yoshihisa reminded me a loss by nifu in a french open championship, but I have completely forgotten it (well it is better not to think at such games :-) ) !! In the first evening in Tokyo, a reception party was organized in a little restaurant : they are many restaurants like this one in Japan, with about 15 to 20 places. You can have a very friendly diner in these small restaurants. Later in a bar, Toshio Miyata, 7 Dan proposed me to play an even game for the preparation of the Ryu-O sen which was only two days later !! I played rather well : I could have the upperhand if I had the idea to make an entering king. On friday, a typhoon forced Reijer and I to go from one big store to the other, it was a perfect day to buy souvenirs. But if you want to visit Japan, choose another date : june is the rainy season, it is hot and wet at the same time ! Choose the october-november or march-april periods, you will have a better weather. During the 5 days we spent together, we used more time to speak than when we were both in Europe for many years !! The opening party of the Ryu-O sen was held in the presence of Koji Tanigawa, Ryu-O. Later, we drank japanese sake with Koji Tanigawa, Reijer, Kiyoshi Onogi and Kisho Nakahira who took the plane to attend the tournament. Saturday 21 june 1997, so the critical day arrives. The first game begins at 9 in the morning in the Urashima Hotel. It is very early for me !! In the tournament hall, 56 players concentrated and determined to win, 55 Japanese and me who wished to be the first european player to win a game in the Ryu-O. We played with very beautiful shogi sets and pieces. The time limit is 40 minutes per player and 40 seconds of byoyomi. There is a big difference between 30 and 40 seconds for the byoyomi. We should perhaps adopt a byoyomi of 40 seconds in Europe, which helps to improve the quality of the games and can help to limit the number of blunders in the endgame. The 56 players are separated in 14 groups of 4 players. Everyone plays 2 games : in each group, the winners of the first game play together. At the end of the 2 rounds, the players with 2 wins are automatically qualified for the knockout tournament. The players with 2 losses are eliminated. And all players with one win and one loss play a third game to get a final chance to be one of the 28 players to enter in the knockout tournament. At the end of each round, many famous blue clocks tick, the byoyomi period can be very long in some games, a player in byoyomi usually waits the final 10 seconds to play his move. Black : Eric Cheymol White : Michiaki Yamazumi, Tottori prefecture 21 june 1997 10th amateur Ryu-O sen, first round Tokyo, Japan 1.P2f P3d 2.P7f G3b 3.P2e B3c 4.G7h P4d 5.S4h R4b 6.G5h K6b 7.K6i K7b 8.B7g P3e 9.S6h P4e 10.P5f K8b 11.S45g S7b 12.P6f R4d 13.K7i R3d 14.S6g S4b 15.P4f Px4f 16.Sx4f P3f 17.Px3f Rx3f 18.S3g R3d 19.B6h S5a 20.P*4e B2b 21.P*3e R3c 22.S4f R4c 23.R2f P5d 24.N7g P6d 25.P9f P9d 26.P1f P6e 27.P5e Px5e 28.Px6e P*3h 29.B5g R5c 30.B7e After the game, I regreted that move, the rook is has less possibilities on the 3th line than on the 4th line. R5d 31.B6f S5b 32.R3f P2d The critical position is reached. My position is very good, my three vanguard pawns put a pressure which gives me a positional advantage. The move R2f forces my opponent to exchange pawns and my chances remain very good. But I want to remove the 5e pawn from the board at once. The minutes run away from my clock, I choose a line without calculating far enough, the end comes rapidly. 33.P4d Rx4d 34.Bx5e Rx4f 35.Bx2b+ R4i+ It is over now. 36.P*5i Gx2b 37.B*3a G3b 38.B7e+ B*8d 39.+Bx8d Px8d 40.P6d P*4f 41.B*6e P4g+ 42.Bx4g P*5g 43.Resigns For the second game, I decide to play a patient game and to observe my opponent manoeuvres. This is not my style of play, I usually like to take the initiative. But the players in the Ryu-O are among the best amateurs in the world, some of them went in the shoreikai. So I have to take care. My second opponent seems nervous and concentrated, he doesn't say anything before the game. In the saturday afternoon, and on the sunday, we played games together and spoke a lot (with the great help of Reijer, I definitely should learn to speak japanese). He was friendly and very strong. Black : Keiji Omatsu White : Eric Cheymol 21 june 1997 10th amateur Ryu-O sen, second round Tokyo, Japan 1.P7f P3d 2.P6f P8d 3.R6h S6b 4.K4h K4b 5.S3h K3b 6.P1f P1d 7.S7h G65b 8.G65h S4b 9.K3i P5d 10.K2h S45c 11.P5f G44b 12.P9f P9d 13.B7g P6d 14.P4f P7d 15.G4g N7c 16.P3f S6c 17.N3g P4d 18.L9h P8e 19.P2f R8a 20.S2g G44c 21.G3h R8b 22.P2e S4b 23.R6i R8a 24.R6h S5c 25.L9g S4b 26.S6i S3c 27.S5h B3a 28.S6g B4b 29.R8h B5a 30.B6h B6b 31.R7h B5c 32.P7e Px7e 33.Rx7e P*7d 34.R7f B4b 35.G44h R8b 36.S5h R8a 37.P9e Px9e 38.P*9d Lx9d 39.Lx9e P*9c 40.Lx9d Px9d 41.R9f R9a 42.L*8d P7e 43.R9h S7d 44.L8b+ R9c 45.+L7b B5a 46.P*9e Px9e 47.Bx9e S6c 48.+L6a B4b 49.R9g P*9f 50.Rx9f P6e 51.Px6e B5c 52.P4e S7b 53.P*7d Nx6e 54.+L5a In this position, it seems that the variation Gx5a Bx5a+ Rx9f gives balanced chances for both players. But I didn't like the horse near my king. So the game continued with G54b 55.P*9g L*4f 56.Px4d Bx4d 57.P*4g P5e 58.P*6f Px5f 59.Px6e B8h+ 60.B6b+ Rx9f 61.Px9f +Bx8i 62.+L5b P5g+ 63.Sx5g Lx4g+ 64.G4x4g R*5i 65.P*4d Gx5b 66.+Bx5b Gx4d 67.R*5a Resigns During the 2 days of the tournament, I was a bit surprised that only a few japanese spectators came to see the games. We are in Tokyo, and millions of people play shogi in Japan, so there should be a lot of spectators. The playing conditions are somewhat different in Europe : in the Ryu-O sen, when a game is finished, both players analyze the game loudly, without wondering if their commentaries can bother the still playing games near them. Anybody writes down the scores. Reijer offered me to write them down for me, so that I can concentrate fully on the games. When the second game finishes, it is about midday. And I am already eliminated from the tournament ! This gives me a strange feeling : a several months preparation, and all is done in 3 hours !! During a knockout game, a strange thing happens : a lot of Japanese have a portable phone with them. One of them is ringing in byoyomi. The player takes the phone and says loudly "I can not speak now, I am playing shogi". The other person doesn't seem to understand and continues to speak. Then the player replies (still loudly) "I really can not speak, I am in byoyomi" and closes his phone. Playing in such a tournament is a great experience, even if you are eliminated in the first stage of the tournament. A first participation shows you the style of the players who play more patiently than in Europe, the games are a bit longer in the number of moves and in the duration too. Even if in Europe games are usually played in 1 hour for each player and only 40 minutes in the amateur Ryu-O sen. Many european games are finished before the byoyomi. If we want to win against such strong players, we need to practice more the byoyomi. Why about playing some club games in 40 seconds of byoyomi only ? After the Ryu-O sen, I devoted most of my time to the sightseeing. On monday, Reijer took me to Asakusa Kannon temple and the gardens of the ancient palace which is very nice. If you want to have a good rest with many trees and flowers around, the ancient palace gardens are the place to visit. We were invited to an ISPS party on the evening, the ISPS is an organization which helps spreading shogi around the world. At the end of the day, I saw the beginning of the commentaries between Yasuaki Tsukada and Yasumitsu Sato on a private channel in Shogi Kaikan. So I went to the playing room, both players were surprised that I asked to attend the commentaries at 11h00 pm ! There is usually no spectator at this very late hour. On tuesday, I visited the very nice town of Kamakura with the great help of Yoshihisa Suzuki. Kamakura is on the sea side, the air is very mild. If you like walking and doing some sightseeing, go to Kamakura, you can see many temples such as Hase Kannon temple, Daibutsu, Sasuke-Inari, Zeni-arai-benten and Hachimangu. I need to go back to this town and to spend some days there. Then Yoshihisa showed me his town Yokohama. On wednesday, Kiyoshi Onogi and Toshio Miyata took me to the Toshogu shrine in Nikko, a very nice place to visit. Toshio gave me some advices which can be useful for every player. the two main advices are : 1, writing down the moves only after the game and 2, thinking globally, looking at the whole board, not to make any loose piece. If one of your pieces is out of the game, how can you beat a stronger opponent with a piece less in the attack ? Thursday 26 june is an important day for my shogi experience. I went to Toshio Miyata's dojo. In his dojo, there is more than 50 boards on two levels. This place is different than the other shogi clubs I visited in Japan : you play on the floor with big boards, almost like a professional !! But this detail is very important : the distance between the board and the eyes is wider than when the board is on a table. And it is better for the whole board perception, you look naturally at the whole board. Takayanagi 9 Dan gave me a lesson, he was the teacher of Makoto Nakahara 10 Dan and gives many lessons in this dojo. This trip in Japan gave me new ideas about the shogi and corrected some ideas I had about the game !! One of them is that shogi is a more patient game than I thought, this is a bit difficult to play patiently when you like to attack ! My Japan trip really renewed my motivation to play and to study shogi. It showed me that I definitely need to correct my weaknesses if I want to improve and to beat such strong players who participated in the amateur Ryu-O sen. I encourage every player to travel to Japan, to play in such a very strong tournament. The shortest way to play there is to win the european championship and the next edition is only in a few weeks !! Finally, I would like to thank again all persons who helped me and particularly Kisho Nakahira, Kiyoshi Onogi and Reijer Grimbergen. -------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Get the last european Shogi news at ----------------------------------------------------------------------