From: Eduard Werner <edi.werner <at> GMX <dot> DE>
Date: 13 nov 2002
Subject: Re: A cultural difference?

From: DANERUD MARTIN <martin.danerud <at> TELIA <dot> COM>
Subject: Re: A cultural difference?
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 04:15:40 +0100

> Dear all,
>
> > I have played many times in competitions with sudden-death style.
> (What
> > do you say in english?) And each time I see players(including me)
> > strugling to push clock button,I feel this system is against spirit
> of
> > Shogi.
>
> I agree completely with you. It is very difficult to play
> constructively with just a few seconds left in shogi. It is a little
> different in chess, since in the end of a chess game there is often
> either a race for pawn promotion or some way of forcing a mate or a
> draw. In shogi, you can often be in a middle game position close to
> sudden death, where both players are far from check mating. But of
> course, the reasonable idea is then that you are the better player if
> you used less time to reach that playable position.

For me, the main problem is grabbing a shogi piece with trembling
fingers w.o. dropping it (unless I intend a drop, of course :-) With
chess pieces, this is *much* easier: For a Shogi move, I need about a
second (If I can't simply shove the piece but have to lift it and put
it down), in chess, I have successfully mated K + Q against K with 5
secs overall (ca. 12 moves). On the other hand, with byoyomi the
advantage of the player with more time is much smaller than in
sudden-death. Perhaps it would be an interesting idea to start byoyomi
as soon as the first player uses up his time with more time given to
the player who has not used it up yet? (Hmmm, did I make myself
clear?!)

Just my 2c

Edi