From: "Secelle Johannes F.L.A." <johannes.secelle <at> MINFIN <dot> FED <dot> BE>
Date: 6 sep 2000
Subject: Re: MSO

Hey Stuart,

I completely agree with George Hodges.

Apart from the fact that I played zillions of skittles games with
Frank Schrickx in the beginning of my Shogi career, I did something more
"unsusal".....

During my honeymoon (I was a shodan at the time) , I replayed ALL
ranging rook games from two japanese yearbooks, at high speed, just
to get "the feel" (while my wife was getting a tan at the swimming pool :).

Five days after my honeymoon I became the first ever European Champion,
having played 4th file rook in most of my games.

I did the same in chess (playing through Chess Informants by the dozen)
and this got my Elo up to 2150.

But still, you can read and study as much as you want, actual play
will always be more important.

Cheers,
Hans Secelle, FESA Chairman

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Hodges wrote

> 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