From: George Hodges <george.hodges <at> TALK21 <dot> COM>
Date: 6 sep 2000
Subject: Re: MSO

----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart Patterson <stuart <at> HIPPOCAMPUS <dot> SCREAMING <dot> NET>
To: <SHOGI-L <at> TECHUNIX <dot> TECHNION <dot> AC <dot> IL>
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 9:33 PM
Subject: MSO


> Unfortunately for myself, I was only able to attend the MSO Shogi event
for
> one day (Thursday) as a spectator.  One of the reasons for not entering
the
> tournaments was that I consider myself to be particularly weak in my Shogi
> playing strength.  Ater discussing this with various people at the
> tournament, I think I'm convinced that I will attempt to enter some of the
> competitions at next year's MSO.
>
> In relation to this and Chiaki Ito's comment on tutoring 1 Dan players, I
> wonder if any of you have any suggestions how I can increase my Shogi
> playing strength?  At present I have Tony Hosking's book 'The Art of
Shogi'
> which I'm working my way through, but as previously mentioned, teaching
> yourself from a book cannot compare to one-to-one tutoring.
>
> I currently play almost all my Shogi matches on the ShogiDojo site (name
> 'Stuart') and wondered whether anyone would be prepared to give me a
little
> of their time to enhance my Shogi playing ability.  I live in England and
I
> am currently rated as 14k, although it does fluctuate widly.
>
> If anyone is prepared to spend a bit of time sharing their knowledge of
> Shogi with me, please drop me a line.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Stu
>
Hi Stu,

Thought I would reply to your mail privately.

Have you seen the SHOGI magazine published by me for 12 years or John
Fairbairn's book Shogi for Beginners?

If you send me an address I can send you a bundle of info.

SHOGI magazine was the beginning for Larry Kaufman and the back issues of
this which ran from 1976 until 1987 can help anyone become a dan player,
since we covered almost every aspect of the game.

The two things you must do anyway are play through a professional game
daily; it matters not if you understand it and study mating problems (Tsume
Shogi) because ALL amateurs are weak in the ending and they can teach you so
much on how to finish and the art of sacrifice.

Best wishes

George Hodges