From: Larry Kaufman COMCAST NET> Date: 13 nov 2002 Subject: Re: Need advice for improvement ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dana B Moreland" RAYTHEON COM> To: TECHUNIX TECHNION AC IL> Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 1:07 PM Subject: Need advice for improvement > I am just a beginner at Shogi. I have been playing for about one year. I > live in the Denver CO USA area. > I have played face to face vs some of the college students at the Teikyo > University here in Denver. When playing vs a casual player (someone who > knows how to play but doesn't play much) I win most of the time. When I > play vs someone who plays fairly regularly I win 1 out of every 2 or 3 > games. So I beleave my level is something above the true beginner level of > 15 kyu. > However I have tryed to play on Shogi Dojo 24 and I get killed in every > game I have played. I have tryed playing both in the free room and in the > regular room vs those rated 14 or 15 Kyu, and have lost every game, badly. > In some earlier posts to this list someone mentioned that the ratings of > the players on Shogi Dojo 24 did not reflect "true" strength ratings > especialy at the lowest levels. For example someone rated 15 kyu on Shogi > Dojo 24 was not a true beginner but was more like a 10 kyu "club" player. The difference may be even more than that. Nearly all of the players on Shogi Dojo 24 are Japanese, and normally they would not even try to play there without having some real experience with shogi. My research indicates that among strong kyu players, the spread is 4-5 ranks, but the lower down you go, the wider the spread. So probably the 14 kyu players there are really about 6-7 kyu by normal club standards. Of course there must be a few much weaker players on there (if only westerners like yourself), but only rarely will you play one. > So my question is, as a true beginner, how can I improve my Shogi play to > where I can compete on Shogi Dojo 24 at the 15 Kyu level? Are there some > books you can recommend that I can study. There are several books in English; Tony Hosking's "The Art of Shogi" is an excellent one. Or a computer shogi program I can > play against. Here too there are several choices, some of which are free. I think Pieter Stouten's shogi page can point you in the right direction for shogi software. Or another online game area where I can play vs other true > beginners. Probably Yahoo would have weaker players (just a guess), but it might be harder to use for you. Or should I just stay on Shogi Dojo 24 and try to learn from the > games I always loose (for now) and hope that I will learn this way. You can request handicap games in the free room. I highly recommend doing that. As for > playing face to face, the only players I know of are the Teikyo University > students, however I get very few opportunities to play vs them, only about > once per month. > > Thank you for your help, > Dana Moreland Larry Kaufman, 5 Dan