From: Larry Kaufman <lkaufman <at> COMCAST <dot> NET>
Date: 27 oct 2002
Subject: Re: Oriental players?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Sams" <rjfs <at> PARKCITY <dot> NE <dot> JP>
To: <SHOGI-L <at> TECHUNIX <dot> TECHNION <dot> AC <dot> IL>
Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2002 9:48 PM
Subject: Oriental players?


>    In his recent report on the Tokyo International Forum (posted on
October
> 23), Larry Kaufman made the following comment on the results:
>
> "The remarkable thing about the results was that not one of the
> Oriental players made it to the four-way tie for first!  The Japanese
> and Brazilian (ethnic Japanese) players were thought to be among the
> favorites, and there were also Oriental players from China, Thailand,
> and Paraguay.  So the results were a great success for Shogi in the
> West.  Furthermore, even among the players with 3-2, the two top
> finishers on tie-break were non-Orientals!"
>
> I am rather surprised that Larry should put all "Oriental" players in the
> same category. While the Japanese and Brazilian (ethnic Japanese) players
> have an obvious cultural advantage regarding Shogi, the players from China
> and Thailand are essentially in the same situation as players from the
West.
> Both countries have their own versions of chess - Chinese chess
(shiang-chi)
> and Thai chess (makruk) - so they are not much more likely than Westerners
> to encounter Shogi. The Japanese tend to think that Chinese people have an
> advantage over Westerners in learning Shogi because they can read kanji
> (Chinese characters), but I haven't met any players from Europe who had
much
> difficulty remembering or identifying the eight Shogi pieces!
>
>
> Richard Sams

     I believe that the Chinese have a big advantage over us Westerners in
terms of being able to access Japanese literature.  It's true that spoken
Japanese and Chinese have little in common, but since they use many of the
same Kanji I would imagine that a Chinese person could somewhat understand
what a Japanese magazine or book was saying about a position without having
to know any Japanese at all.  Also, many more Chinese now play shogi than
all westerners combined, perhaps because they are not discouraged by the
Kanji.  Regarding the Thai written language, I must plead ignorance.

     Larry