From: George Jost <shoegi <at> HOTMAIL <dot> COM>
Date: 23 jun 1999
Subject: Re: Promoting shogi - Two small Canadian Clubs

I am glad about the success of your Vancouver Shogi club.
>From: Kerry Handscomb <conniekerry <at> SPRINT <dot> CA>
>Last Wednesday a group of shogi players met at my office in downtown
>Vancouver after work. There were six players including myself,

I have been in touch with two of your club members now. So far
it appears we have two clubs in Canada; one in Vancouver and the
other in Ottawa-Hull. (The Vancouver club is older but recently has been
meeting less regularly.) So far I see no signs of a Shogi club in Toronto or
Montreal. I would be interested to hear if anyone knows of the existence of
one in either of these or any other Canadian cities other than Vancouver and
Ottawa-Hull. So far the Canadian Shogi presense is small but "growing fast".
(When you have a club with one member a new member represents a 100%
increase in membership!!! The odd thing about our club is we have no
Japanese members yet. Almost none of the Japanese in Ottawa I know admit to
playing Shogi or knowing someone who does. This includes the many Japanese
who come here to learn english. George F. mentioned there is a ?4-dan player
in Toronto.)

Some America  clubs (I think mainly it was the Ohio club) have previously
invited us to participate in an open tournament in ?Cinncinati. For my club
there was some interest but it was not feasible at the time for someone to
go; I hope we will be able to participate in the future. Your club may also
want to explore the possibility of having members participate in some
American tournament initiatives. Also it would be nice to
organize/participate in some Weekend Java-Shogi tournaments. Some of my
members are interested in getting a rating although many like not having a
rating to keep it fun. (Some of our players enjoy Shogi because their chess
rating is not at stake; it is fun but there is no pressure.) We may perhaps
adapt the Washington clubs system or attempt to use the Japanese system
depending on how we calibrate ourselves. So far the logistics of organizing
calibration games has eluded me a bit; need to either make arrangements
on-line or travel somewhere... Anyway we may discuss the rating issue among
ourselves off-line. (George F. and Dick I. have both provided some helpful
information to me about this rating stuff.)


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