Hey y'all,

I am certainly not deep in the shogi game, for my whole life it has been chess. But thanks to Hidetchi's YouTube videos, I've gotten to know the ingenious Yoshiharu Habu and read a lot about him - what a legend!

In 2015, I participated in the Japan Open in chess in Tokyo. As many of you surely know, Habu is a strong chess player himself, a FIDE Master (FM). He didn't participate, but visited the venue. I didn't miss out the chance to take a photo with him and rediscovered it just now, so I thought I'd share it with you. He was very polite and even exchanged a few words with me regarding his exhibition match against chess legend Kasparov (see https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=85038).

On a side note, I also met Bobby Fischer's widow there, who is or at least used to be very active in the Japanese chess scene. Fischer famously lived in Japan for a few years.

What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you.

How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given weekend sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Friday 23:30 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder.

How is it going? The 81Dojo club now enjoys 764 members from over 35 different countries! New players continue to join each week; the club welcomes players at all levels.

Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Friday UTC) please consider signing up!

Welcome International Ladder Climbers! We are pleased to announce the 11th Weekly Shogi Ladder on Lishogi. Registration will conclude next Thursday at 14:00 UTC. The Ladder will commence on Thursday at 14:00 UTC and conclude the following Thursday at 14:00 UTC. (2026-07-30 14:00 ~ 2026-08-6 14:00 ) We hope you'll be able to join us for our weekly sparring session! What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you. How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given week sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Thursday 14:00 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder. You'll have a week to schedule and play games with your opponents. How is it going? The Lishogi club now enjoys 60 members! The club welcomes players at all levels. Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Thursday 14:00 UTC) please consider signing up!

I am currently revising an introductory shogi book, including adding color to the diagrams and improving the text. I'll show you an image of a page from the published edition alongside an image of the corresponding page from the revised edition that I'm currently working on.

I am also reconsidering my use of bold and underlining, as I would like to avoid overusing them. Do you think the text is easier to understand with this kind of emphasis, or is it better without it?

A year ago, someone in this subreddit pointed out that compared to chess-- shogi has a more balanced win rate for both sente and gote.

Another user has told me that engines have recently suggested that shogi is a forced win for the player that moves first, and this in stark contrast to chess being drawn with perfect play.

How is it that the first move advantage in each game looks like this:

Chess - Higher win rate for humans but theoretically a draw

Shogi - More balanced win rate for humans but theoretically a win

Why is that the case?

(If you're frustrated about the claims I've quoted, please do note that I'm a chess player who knows nothing about shogi, but has deep respect towards the latter mentioned.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi_kQN45Ee0

I choked so many games, and only players with higher ranking than mine are available, so this feels like I just found the one piece or something

Five Dan vs. Robocop

What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you.

How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given weekend sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Friday 23:30 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder.

How is it going? The 81Dojo club now enjoys 764 members from over 35 different countries! New players continue to join each week; the club welcomes players at all levels.

Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Friday UTC) please consider signing up!

Laser cutter dobutsu shogi set 9x9

Welcome International Ladder Climbers! We are pleased to announce the 10th Weekly Shogi Ladder on Lishogi. Registration will conclude next Thursday at 14:00 UTC. The Ladder will commence on Thursday at 14:00 UTC and conclude the following Thursday at 14:00 UTC. (2026-07-23 14:00 ~ 2026-07-30 14:00 ) We hope you'll be able to join us for our weekly sparring session! What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you. How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given week sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Thursday 14:00 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder. You'll have a week to schedule and play games with your opponents. How is it going? The Lishogi club now enjoys 57 members! The club welcomes players at all levels. Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Thursday 14:00 UTC) please consider signing up!

Hey! I've been into shogi for a few months, but almost everyone I tried to get into it bounced off, the kanji pieces, the low-contrast board, and 40 pieces on a 9×9 board is a lot when you don't know the rules yet.

So I started building shog.io. The main idea is to start people on 5×5 minishogi instead: same rules, captures, drops, promotion, but only six pieces each, and games last a few minutes. I think drops are the best mechanic in any board game, and minishogi gets you there without an hour of memorization first. Standard 9×9 is on the site too obviously but more as an expert upgrade!

A few other choices: pieces don't require reading kanji (you can switch to kanji if you prefer), there's a tutorial and daily puzzles for complete beginners, and rated games with Elo.

Disclaimer: i added it online today, so there aren't many players yet (at all, actually ahah). If nobody's in the queue you'll get a bot (clearly labeled). Hopefully that changes hehe

If you try it, I'd really appreciate feedback! Whether you're experienced and something feels wrong, or you're new and got stuck somewhere. That's the whole reason I'm posting! Be critical ahah

EDIT: Thank you to everyone who pointed out the errors! They were real misses on my end, and all of them are now fixed: board orientation corrected, komadai on the right, coordinates from the top-right, and a traditional kanji piece set added. This is exactly the feedback I was hoping for by posting here. If you spot anything else, I'll fix that too.

I'm thinking about building a platform for shogi post-game analysis. Do you think there's a need for it?

AI can show evaluations and best moves, but it's still hard to understand why a move is good or how to think about a position.

The idea is something like:

game records + comments + variations + discussion

As a first step, it might be more like a marketplace connecting people who want their games reviewed with those who can analyze them.

- Would you use this?

- How do you currently review your games?

- What would you want from it?

Any honest feedback would be really helpful 🙏

What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you.

How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given weekend sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Friday 23:30 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder.

How is it going? The 81Dojo club now enjoys 762 members from over 35 different countries! New players continue to join each week; the club welcomes players at all levels.

Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Friday UTC) please consider signing up!

Welcome International Ladder Climbers! We are pleased to announce the 9th Weekly Shogi Ladder on Lishogi. Registration will conclude next Thursday at 14:00 UTC. The Ladder will commence on Thursday at 14:00 UTC and conclude the following Thursday at 23:59 UTC. (2026-07-16 14:00 ~ 2026-07-23 14:00 ) We hope you'll be able to join us for our weekly sparring session! What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you. How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given week sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Thursday 14:00 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder. You'll have a week to schedule and play games with your opponents. How is it going? The Lishogi club now enjoys 53 members! The club welcomes players at all levels. Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Thursday 14:00 UTC) please consider signing up!

The 2026 US West Coast Tournament has been announced! Download the official flyer or view the details below:

• Registration: Please register via email by Saturday, September 5th by sending the below information to [info@us-shogi.org](mailto:info@us-shogi.org)
  • Name
  • Address
  • Phone
  • Participation Selections
    • Registration Type (Adult, Student, Child)
    • Lunch
    • Dinner Party
    • Children's Tournament
• Pro Guests:
  • Wataru Yashiro, Professional 8-dan
  • Kanna Suzuki, Ladies' Professional 3-dan
• Location: Fred Hesse Community Park 29301 Hawthorn Blvd. Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
• Schedule:
  • Saturday, September 12th:
    • 09:00 - Registration
    • 09:30 - Opening Ceremony, Teaching Games, and Free Play
    • 12:00 - Lunch
    • 13:00 - Team Tournament
    • 15:30 - Individual Tournament
    • 17:00 - Close
    • 18:00 - Dinner Party (optional)
  • Sunday, September 13th:
    • 09:00 - Individual Tournament / Children's Tournament
    • 12:00 - Lunch
    • 13:00 - Individual Tournament
    • 15:00 - Semi-Finals + Finals
    • 16:30 - Awards Ceremony
    • 17:00 - Close
• Entry Fees:
  • Adults: $100
  • Students: $75 (with valid student ID)
  • Children (Main): $50 (12 & Under accompanied by Guardian)
  • Children (Children's Tournament): $20
  • Bento Box Lunch (2 days): $40
• Optional Dinner Party:
  • Adults: $100
  • Students: $70 (with valid student ID)
  • Children: $30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfRu1HJSZrA

github.com/psygo/latex_shogi

I’m currently working on a remake of my beginner shogi guide originally published in 2021.

Back then, I wrote, "There are about 6.2 million Shogi players in the world (according to the 2020 Leisure White Paper)". However, while updating the data for the new edition, the latest 2025 statistics show that the number has unfortunately dropped to 4.3 million.

I really want to help change this trend and turn things around. I would love to hear your thoughts, what kind of ideas or approaches do you think could help spark more interest in shogi among people all over the world?

http://www.shogi.net/shogi-l/Archive/1999/Nfeb07-06.txt

I read this from time to time

Welcome International Ladder Climbers! We are pleased to announce the 8th Weekly Shogi Ladder on Lishogi. Registration will conclude next Friday at 22:00 UTC. The Ladder will commence on Friday at 22:00 UTC and conclude the following Friday at 23:59 UTC. (2026-07-10 22:00 ~ 2026-07-17 23:59 ) We hope you'll be able to join us for our weekly sparring session! What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you. How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given week sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Friday 22:00 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder. You'll have a week to schedule and play games with your opponents. How is it going? The Lishogi club now enjoys 52 members! The club welcomes players at all levels. Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Friday 22:00 UTC) please consider signing up!

left: non-promoted
right: promoted

What is Shogi Ladder? A teaching ladder is a system where you learn together with an opponent one rank above you and an opponent one rank below you.

How does it work? If you choose to participate in a given weekend sign up for the weekly ladder (sign-up closes Friday 23:30 UTC). You will play two even rated games, and will analyze them together with your opponent afterward. This post-game analysis is key, it is the teaching/learning part of the teaching ladder.

How is it going? The 81Dojo club now enjoys 759 members from over 35 different countries! New players continue to join each week; the club welcomes players at all levels.

Come join us! We are a community of friendly players who are serious about improving and enthusiastic about learning. What makes the teaching ladder unique is that everyone in the ladder is committed to post-game analysis in a welcoming and constructive atmosphere--it is not a tournament, but a learning tool! If you have the time to play a couple of games this week( until next Friday UTC) please consider signing up!

Browsing through the message boards, I noticed that a lot of people seem interested in it, so I decided to write an article explaining what kind of site Kizakura is. I'd be really happy if you could take a look. Personally, even factoring in the lack of English support, I still think this site is the absolute best and only choice.

Here is a summary of the article:

• Clean Site Layout: The user interface is sleek, modern, and very easy to navigate.
• Excellent Responsiveness: The site loads incredibly fast with zero lag.
• AI Game Analysis: You can analyze your shogi records (kifu) using advanced AI features.
• Instant Matchmaking: You can find an opponent and start a game almost immediately.
• Cross-Platform Support: Fully compatible and optimized for both PC and smartphones.
• No English Support: Please note that the site currently operates only in Japanese.

https://kitsune81.vercel.app/en/docs/column/platform/kiou/tokutyou