From: Eiki Ito <eiki <at> HAL <dot> COM>
Date: 20 mar 2001
Subject: Re: About the name of the pieces

Hi All,

Regarding B33 vs B3c issue: I'm not insisting that every single player
should use the same notation for daily use.  If people with chess
background find B3c notation more comfortable and use it within their
circle, I have nothing to say against it.  Any existing database that
already use B3c system need not be changed.  The question is, if *one*
worldwide standard is to be established, what should it be?

Per Pieter-san's suggestion, I read the old discussion circa 1996.
There Reijer-san wrote:

> :During the Osho-sen I had a discussion with Aono about the notation of
> :games. It seems that the Renmei is planning to make an international
> :standard for Shogi game notation. I have already spent some time thinking
> :about this and have some very clear opinions about it. However, Aono
> :rightly suggested to have an international discussion before making
> :any decisions.

Then sometime in 1998 or 1999, the article "Shogi Brief Lesson" that
I mentioned in my previous posting appeared in Shogi Sekai magazine
from Renmei.  Judging from that, it seems Renmei has already made the
decision on game score notation, and the result is being used in the
article.  (This is just my guess, though.  I have no insider information
whatsoever on Renmei.)

That, in turn, makes me think that we should all follow Renmei's notation
as much as possible.  As a Japanese shogi player, I regard Renmei as
"the Vatican" of shogi.  I hope that other people on this list also will
have the same respect for Renmei.

Again, let me iterate that whatever Renmei decides doesn't have to be
strictly enforced in everyday games or email discussions.  I guess it's
like feet-inch system in USA as opposed to the metric system.  "Officially,"
the US has adopted the metric system, but in everyday life feet-inch is
still dominant.  I was used to the metric system in Japan and then moved
to the US, having trouble with feet-inch.  But it's ok, it's a bit annoying
but not a big deal.  Compared to feet-inch to metric, converting B3c to B33
occasionally is not a problem at all.

So my conclusion is: it's ok to use B3c, but if you do, please be generous
to other people who use B33.  And please bear in mind that Renmei is using
B33 and respect that fact.

thanks,
eiki