From: Naohiro Nishiguchi <nni585 <at> NWU <dot> EDU>
Date: 21 mar 1997
Subject: Re: Spreading shogi in the west - another anecdote (1)

This is very interesting...I wonder how many nationalities are
participating into this group? Looks like there are some Europeans,
Americans and some Japanese. I would like to know how people started to
playing Shogi in each country.  It would be very interesting to know,
perhaps for other members, too.


At 21:23 97/03/21 -0500, you wrote:
>Probably few people know how Shogi started in Belgium. Maybe even the
>Belgians on this list don't know. There was this FIDE referee and chess
>coach who attended many international Chess tournaments. His name was
>Richard Verkouille. Once he met a Japanese player during such a tournament
>and he asked the Japanese why so few Japanese seemed to play western Chess.
>The Japanese answered that they have their own version of Chess, called
>Shogi. Intrigued, Verkouille immediately wanted to know what this game was
>all about that it kept Japanese from playing Chess. Verkouille fell in love
>with the game the moment he learnt it. He started a Shogi club, organized a
>Shogi tournament and the rest, as they say, is history.
>