From: Sam Sloan <ishipres <at> BEST <dot> COM>
Date: 16 mar 1997
Subject: Re: "The Art of Shogi"

I believe that the purpose of such a book is or should be to teach how to
play shogi.

Getting involved in long discussions about theoretical possibilities which
almost never come up except in composed problems does not serve any teaching
purpose and will only discourage those who really want to learn.

Sam Sloan


At 08:25 AM 3/14/97 +0000, you wrote:
>My copy of "The Art of Shogi" arrived today. VERY impressive!
>
>Minor quibble:
>
>Page 65 claims "There is never any positional advantage in not promoting
>rook, bishop or pawn." Wouldn't it be better to mention that not promoting
>rook/bishop/pawn could be necessary to make an illegal pawn-drop mate into
>a permitted pawn-drop check followed by a later mate? I've seen this in
>tsume-shogi quite a bit, though I'm prepared to believe it's rare in actual
>play. Or is such a reason not a "positional" one? Perhaps worth explicitly
>mentioning, though.
>
>Adam Atkinson (ghira <at> mistral <dot> co <dot> uk)
>"That's the biggest shark I've ever seen" he said, superficially.
>
>