14: Andulien (1125) ☗0☗1☗12018-03-02 16:36

Thank you for the load of information :) I doubt I'll be good enough as well to beat anybody but just like you it will be a nice learning experience :) Maybe we get to challenge each other as well at some point.

13: Ronyk (1025) 2018-02-27 00:39

Thank you for sharing your story Andulien! Congratulations on your little one!

The length of the game differs from player to player in person, but it's usually about the same as a chess game (Mine usually last between 15-20 minutes, unless I go out of my way to play a long game, which I set aside an hour for, but usually doesn't take more than 30-45 minutes).

In Shogi, the time is split up between "Thinking Time" and Boyomi (I don't know if there is an english word for Boyomi, but I might call it "sudden death time"). At our experience level, Shogi games are comparable to chess games, but at higher levels with evenly matched players, the Boyomi can allow games to go on for a very long time.

The "Thinking Time" is like a chess clock. It constantly counts down from a pre-determined number while you're making your moves, and pauses during your opponent's turn. When it reaches zero, your Boyomi starts, which is a set amount of time you're allowed to take for every move, and it starts over for every move. It's usually 30 or 60 seconds.

Because of all this, it makes guessing how long a game of Shogi will last more difficult than chess.

I do speak some German - Ich bin ins Baden-Württemberg drei Monaten gelebt... ins eine klienes Stadt heissed Crailsheim. Mein Deutsch ist besser auf der Mund. Doenner Kebab von Deutschland ist meine Lieblingsessen, und Ich kann das nicht in Amerika Finden.

Haha, when I speak German in person, I am much more confident than when I type it out. My wife and I are slowly learning Japanese, but we're very busy and don't have much time. We'll travel to japan one day I'm sure.

I don't remember how I "discovered" shogi... I've known about it for a long time, but I didn't decide to learn to play it until last august. I was doing well with Chess, and got a feeling - something like "I want to play Chess like I did before I was good, still learning, and everything's new".

Now I'm in an in-between place... I'm skilled enough to teach Shogi to my friends and family, and I beat them easily, but I'm not skilled enough to beat anybody online. Luckily, I'm the kind of person who can have just as much fun reading theory and watching other people's games.

In fact, try spectating a few games on this site to gauge how long the matches take. Then take into account how often people stay in the room afterwards to discuss the game.

12: Andulien (1125) ☗0☗1☗12018-02-25 04:17 (Edited at 2018-02-25 04:19)

Hey Ronyk,

thanks for all the info. There never can be to much of it :) I'll make sure of the Etiquette and Rules before my first game. With a three week old at home I sadly have not yet found the time to start a game. How long do they usually last in your experience? I think end of next week I should have a bit more time to start playing here :D Sure Can't wait.

As for my Story, well it is kind of a longer story haha I actually enjoy lots of things related to Japan and been there myself already once (and plan to go there again hehe) so it was a given that I stumble across Shogi at one point or another. I look for a new game to play with a friend of mine about a year and a half ago and remembered that I used to play from time to time chess with my dad as a child. I enjoy those strategy kind of games so I searched a bit around and stumbled across Go and Shogi. I know Go is good and complex in it's own way, but it was not something that I found very entertaining. 

I then took a closer look at Shogi and took a liking to it. Especially the drop rule made it really interesting for me :) So I got a board and studied the "simple" rules and remembered the Kanji pieces. My friend was interested at first as well but after two games on two occasions lost interest. That got me to lose also interest as there was no one to play with anymore...

BUT it never really got out of my head so just shortly ago I picked up again the pieces and took a look around the net to see where else one could maybe start playing which made me come across this site here ;)

So overall I'm still a total beginner in terms of actual game experience. In my spare minutes I like to do some 1 and 3 turn Tsume.

How did you discover Shogi and how long are you already playing, if you don't mind me asking? I saw that you also play chess on a higher level und du sprichst auch ein bisschen Deutsch? How fun. How about Japanese?

11: Ronyk (1025) 2018-02-24 00:42

Oh goodness. I just remembered an easier way. The links at the bottom of the screen.

http://system.81dojo.com/en/kifu_comments

And since you haven't played any games yet, be sure to look at http://81dojo.com/documents/Shogi_Etiquette and maybe http://81dojo.com/documents/Rules_and_Manners_of_Shogi - 81dojo really cares about not just people being able to play Shogi, but also preserving the culture of Shogi.

10: Ronyk (1025) 2018-02-24 00:14

@Andulien: That's right - Kifu is the game record, and there are two easy ways to see people's Kifu. At the top of the screen (on most pages, though not while reading this forum) you can click on the "MyPage" link. That will bring you to an area where you can see the latest Tournament Info, News Feed, and so on. One of the things listed there is "Latest Topics and Kifu Comments".

Most of the Kifu comments that happen end up being in Japanese. Google Translate does an okay job of figuring out what they're saying, but messes up the abbreviated names of some of the pieces - though if you can read Japanese then obviously that won't be a problem.

The other option is if you find a player whose style you like, you can search for them from "MyPage". Once you searched for the player, you can look at their recent games by clicking "More" in their little info box.

Just be warned, this second method uses up D-Miles, which you naturally get by playing Shogi (winning or losing). It costs 3 D-miles to look up a player's games (but you can look up lots of games in one search. Not 3 D-miles per game). You can see your current D-Miles in the top right corner of the screen.

Yikes I wrote a lot! Let me know if any of that doesn't make sense.

How did you discover Shogi? Did you play a similar game first, like Western Chess or Go?

9: Andulien (1125) ☗0☗1☗12018-02-23 23:01 (Edited at 2018-02-23 23:01)

Hi spinoza, nice to meet you :)

8: spinoza1313 (1100) 2018-02-23 21:24

hello!

7: Andulien (1125) ☗0☗1☗12018-02-22 04:39

@Berni: Ja danke, die Seite hatte ich schon gesehen und gelesen das es auch in Hamburg wohl einen Shogi Club gibt. Wollte dort auch mal anfragen ob immer noch treffen stattfinden :)

@Ronyk: Actually didn't know of that site. It sure looks quite comprehensive with lots of information. Thanks for that. I'll a more detailed look through it bit by bit. However I don't want to overload on theory but rather try to combine it with practice here and there too :D So I'm sure it will be a great addition along the way of learning Shogi.
The German Forum portion does not seem to be used at all sadly. Maybe some of us can get some conversation started there in time haha
As for the other thoughts on how to use the site best. Thanks for the hints. I saw that you can watch other games to get also a better idea oneself. I have not noticed yet where you can read the Kifu Comments section. Just for my understanding, the Kifu is the record of the match right?

6: Ronyk (1025) 2018-02-22 01:08

@Andulien

I get a lot out of this site by going over my games with my opponent (or someone even more experienced, if I'm lucky). The multi-language tool for communicating after game is very helpful. I also like to watch games of more experienced players, and read the Kifu Comments section.

All of the links I've used at the bottom of the main page have been helpful, but I also recommend the website http://shogishack.net/

The English forums here don't see very much use. There is a Deutsch forum, a Japanese Forum, and a couple others. You might see more conversation there. 

5: Berni314 (1694) 2018-02-22 00:13

Hi Andulien,

kennst du schon diese Seite?
http://shogideutschland.de/Shogi.html

Bye,
Bernhard