From: Chiaki Ito MAIL COM> Date: 20 feb 2001 Subject: Re: Shogi rank In general, you go to a Shogi club in Japan and play several games with the players there. You are usually paired with kyuu players first and then with dan players. For instance, if you won all games with the kyuu players, but lost against, say, a 2 dan, you are probably asked to play a 1 dan. If you then lost to the 1 dan, then you are probably ranked as either 1 kyuu or 1 dan. This is up to the manager of the club who has the solo authorities to rank you. Some clubs have a bit more clear rules than others, but basically there is no universal way to certify ranks for the first time player and many people admit this system is ambiguous. When you get your rank, there are ways to get promoted to a higher rank. The most common way for promotion is to win a certain number of games consecutively. The number depends on the club. But in many clubs, it is a smaller number for kyuu players than dan players. In general, there is no demotion. I dont remember quite exactly but I think that to get promoted from 4 dan to 5 dan at the club Shogi Renmei (Japan Shogi Federation), you have to win something like 20 games straight. Of course, you dont have to do this within a day, but it still not easy. Some clubs have higher or strict promotion rules than others. The one of the most strict clubs known is the Okachimachi Club in Tokyo, the less strict one is the club at the Shogi Renmei. The medium strict may be Shinjyuku Club. I dont know if it is true, but many people say in Japan that clubs in the West, such as in Osaka, are more strict than those in the East, such as in Tokyo. There are also few other ways to get a rank. The most popular way is to get from newspapers and magazines in Japan where you accumulate "points" by solving Tsume Shogi or Tsugino Itte problems that they issue on their publications. There are also some cases where the Shogi Renmei gives ranks to celebrities, politicians, businessman, Sumo wrestlers, baseball players, whoever like Shogi, for a publicity purpose. This includes the former Prime Minister Obuchi. Obviously, the dans that were given away in this way tend to be higher, (5,6, and even 7 dan!), despite their true strength is upper kyuu or lower dan. I think the most reliable kyuu or dan one can get is from the Internet because the Shogi Club 24 (http://www.shogidojo.com/eng/engindex.htm) attracts the most number of Shogi players anywhere in the world and uses a rating system. I will leave others for how this is made outside Japan... Best Chiaki At 06:17 01/02/20 +0100, you wrote: > Dear Shogi friends, > > does anyone know, how one gets a shogi > rank like kyuu or dan? How is this made > outside of Japan? > > Yours, > Bernhard Rulla > -- > berlin.de - meine stadt im netz. Jetzt eigene eMail-adresse @berlin.de sichern! > http://www.berlin.de/home/MeineStadt/Anmeldung >