From: Ralf Lundberg <ralf <at> CS <dot> CHALMERS <dot> SE>
Date: 11 oct 1997
Subject: Re: teaching youngsters

Richard Jones wrote:
> Hi
> I am new to the list (have ben lurking for a while) and have got back into
> shogi after about a 8 year lay off (due to lack of opponents down here).
> However a Japanese friend we have staying has got me going again. My
> daughter (she is 10) has recently been playing a lot of Go at school and
> against myself. She has expressed an interest in learning Shogi and I
> wondered if anyone has any tips as to how I can go about it especially
> with regard to what handicap system we could use.
> Sorry to take up your time.

Hi Richard!

I have three kids (tvo girls, Liv 10, Linnea 8, and one boy, Lennart 6),
all of which I play board games with. They have different talents, but
they all like it. All three play Go. Liv and Lennart play Shogi & Chess
as well. So even 5 or 6 year old kids can learn the rules, if they
are interested, no doubt.

As for handicaps, I started by 8 piece, that is removing all my pieces
except for King, both Golds and all Pawns, then I go first. It is hard
for white to win with such a handicap, but he can defend against naive
attacks, so black has to think a little, and learn some simple attack
tactics.

When black wins that, you add one or two Silvers, then the Knights,
then the Lances, then Rook or Bishop. I currently give 6 or 7 pieces
to my kids.

It is amazing how few pieces a strong player needs to win against
a significantly weaker player!

You can read a lot more about handicap Shogi in Tony Hosking's book
"The Art of Shogi".

Hope this serves you:-)

  Ralf
___________________________________________________________________
Ralf Lundberg           http://www.cd.chalmers.se/~ralf/index.html