From: "Rogalski, Timothy" <Timothy.Rogalski <at> CWI <dot> CABLEW <dot> COM>
Date: 27 may 1998
Subject: Re: Gold is better than silver.

Larry,

Thanks for your reply.  If your climbing gold idea refutes all published
4-piece josecki and is a viable plan against all white systems, then
you'll make history, being non-Japanese.  Decades (if not centuries) of
research went into formulating the existing black systems, with
conclusions remaining unclear since improvements are continually being
found to allow white ways to confuse the issue and prevent a clear black
win.

I remember reading several years ago a critic's book review on the
King's Gambit written by Korchnoi and some lesser master.  The critic
complained that chess professionals who write chess opening books
purposely omit key lines, which they apparently save for a point in a
critical tournament.  When I read this, I also thought of why published
shogi handicaps contain similar analogies. Yet, why would a shogi
professional purposely withhold key 4-piece handicap information (which
Nada apparently did since he never published the best black system
against his 4-piece white system) when he plays his fellow professionals
in professional tournaments and matches without any handicap?  Is it
because the upcoming starving student who desires to become a Shogi
professional before age 30 finds advancement too difficult and
competitive to share information with an amateur, and this trend
continues even after he becomes a professional?

Plus, I always wondered why Shogi, which translates into world's
greatest game, was developed in a culture which for centuries was
isolated from the rest of the world.  Even GO professionals admit that
Shogi is a superior game, but they choose a GO profession versus a Shogi
profession because GO is more popular and more lucrative.

Tim
Timothy.Rogalski <at> CWI <dot> CABLEW <dot> COM

        ----------
        From:  Larry Kaufman[SMTP:lkaufman <at> WIZARD <dot> NET]
        Sent:  Wednesday, May 27, 1998 1:43 AM
        To:  SHOGI-L <at> techunix <dot> technion <dot> ac <dot> il
        Subject:  Re: Gold is better than silver.

        -----Original Message-----
        From: Rogalski, Timothy [mailto:Timothy.Rogalski <at> CWI <dot> CABLEW <dot> COM]
        Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 1998 5:55 PM
        To: SHOGI-L <at> techunix <dot> technion <dot> ac <dot> il; 'Larry Kaufman'
        Subject: RE: Gold is better than silver.


        Larry,

        I really loved your article!  It's true, a Bokin (climbing
gold), as
        opposed to a Bogin (climbing silver) makes all published
material on
        4-piece handicap rubbish, just like Nada said.  Like you, I have
a
        fondness for the 4-piece handicap, and I'm still kicking myself
for
        losing against you at 4-piece last year, when years before I
beat you at
        2-piece.  Go figure!?  If we were to play a handicap match, I'd
rather
        that it be 2-piece instead of 4-piece.  I don't fear 2-piece,
but I do
        fear 4-piece, especially against you.  So please, show me how to
beat
        you at 4-piece by climbing my gold.  This I really want to see!

        But, wasn't there a fourth main strategy (P-9f and B-9g) where
the
        bishop is threatening to exchange itself for the silver on 5c,
bypassing
        the traditional Nada setup (K on 3b, S on 2b, G on 3c)?  Or was
this
        just a variant of one of the three main strategies?

             This is a variation on the climbing silver.  It does work
very well
        against the Nada, but is perhaps less effective against some of
the other
        strategies, such as Iida's line in which white plays an early
p-6d instead
        of p-5d.
         I thought that you
        said at one time that this was a bust of the Nada, and that Nada
himself
        considered white's 4-piece play to be smoke-and-mirrors because
no one
        knew the best josecki for black, including the professionals?
             Yes, of course Nada would admit that black should win
easily at four
        piece if the true Josekis were published.  The problem has been
to find a
        method that does not require black to memorize reams of
analysis.  I wanted
        to find one plan that works against all white systems.
             Also, although I did not mention this, I always hoped to
find a method
        that worked even with a white lance on 9a, so that it could also
be
        considered the Joseki of three piece left handicap (admittedly a
handicap
        that is very rarely used).  Any system with B-9g does not meet
this criteria
        as white could attack it by p-9f-9e.
             Larry