Hello all!
Hi everyone!
I have always been interested in Shogi and have played some games, read books, and watched videos but I feel like there is so much to learn that sometimes I quickly get burned out and lose motivation. Do you all have any suggestions for how to start learning in a way that is efficient and more focused based? Shogi is also my first chess like strategy game so I am a little at a loss of the underlying thought and study process.
A little about myself- I am currently living in China, and am a violinist and an erhu player. So if there are any Chinese players or any organizations around (Particularly around Shanghai), I would be happy to join!
Looking forward to playing with you all!
I think you seem to have read a few shogi books and many shogi related internet resources already. So I assume you have certain knowledge of general guidelines of shogi like "Move your King to the opposite side of your Rook", "Avoid Sitting King", "Attack with a Rook, Bishop, a Silver and a kNight, Defense with three Generals" etc..., It's important to basically follow those guidelines to play a game. Of course sometimes there will be a situation where you should break them. Shogi is full of adopting exceptions and that's one of why the game is fascinating and deep. However, getting used to general guidelines and confirming the overall validity of them is quite important at the beginner's stage. General guidelines are expressed in the form of Kakugen(Shogi proverb). You can take a handy look at them at http://www.shogi.net/kakugen/
In shogi, there are five kinds of "optional" move, Check, Capture, Threat(Mate Threat, Capture threat, and Promotion threat), Promotion, and other quiet move. Sometimes a move consists of not only single feature but also plural ones. For example, if a game starts like P-76, P-84, Bx33+, the final Bx33+ has four features of Check, Capture(taking the 33 Pawn), Threat(Threatening to take the 22 Bishop, 23 Pawn, or 43 pawn in the next move) and Promotion. Of course, unfortunately the move is ridiculous since Gote will be able to capture it immediately next to end up with losing a Bishop for Sente. It is just illustrating there is a move of multiple features. In this case, Bx33+ is absurd, but if Bx33+ was a safe move that could not be taken by Gote, it would be a very effective and valuable move with multiple features. So if you play a game, try to think of Check, Capture, Threat, Promotion or a move with plural features first as candidate moves rather than quiet moves. You may know there are three phases in shogi;Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame. In Opening, you must play quiet moves most among the three phases. When it comes to later phases, the proportion of quiet moves must reduce and you should play moves of Check, Capture, Threat, and/or Promotion more. And the other important thing is to try to specify your opponent's plan by wearing in his shoes to applying the same thought process.
One more thing, your ultimate goal is to checkmate the opponent's King. Usually, the King is located in the opponent camp. So in order to trap it, most of your pieces must advance and some of them must penetrate the opponent's camp. In the later stage of the Opening, you try to advance your pieces while your enemy does the same. So you often find it is difficult to let your pieces go to the 5th row and farther. At that time, most common technique to let the pieces go forward is to trade pawns. By trading pawns, the piece which engages in the pawn trade can go forward. Pawn trade in the middle game is a basic technique to master to let your attacking forces go forward to have a Pawn in hand at the same time.
Well, it seems too much for a beginner, but trying to follow them and experiencing try and error will surely make you progress step by step. Good luck!
This thought process is very intuitive and very detail orientated. It seems like everything should be obvious but when you put it into words like that it is very clear and makes sense to me. So now I ask how does the larger overall picture come to play? Such as seeing ahead with moves and trying to assess what the opponents plan is or options? Is that a given in the 9 key points as well? Or should I for now not worry too much about that extended thought and just think move by move until I am used to that perpetual examination?
When playing a game, the first thing you need to do is to carefully watch the initial set-up of the pieces on the board. Confirm the following nine points. (1)What vacant squares do your pieces control or attack? (2)What your pieces are defended once by your own pieces and what pieces are defended twice by your pieces? (3)What your pieces are isolated or not defended by your own pieces? (4)What your opponent's pieces do your pieces attack? (5) What vacant squares do your opponent's pieces control or attack? (6)What opponent's pieces are defended once by his pieces and what pieces are defended twice by his pieces. (7) What your opponent's pieces are isolated or not defended by his pieces? (8) What your pieces do your opponent's pieces attack? (9) What squares are free or don't both side's pieces control or attack?
Assuming you play Sente, you will understand that the number of the (1) squares is sixteen excluding duplication, that the answers to (2) that two Golds, two Silvers, the 29 kNight, the 99 Lance, the Rook and the 27, 37 pawns are defended once and that the King, Bishop and the 17, 77 and 97 pawns are defended twice(more precisely, the 97 Pawn is defended three times), that the answers to (3) are the 19 Lance, the 89 kNight, the 47, 57, 67 and 87 Pawns, that the answer to (4) is none, that the answers to (5),(6),(7) and (8) are symmetrically the same as (1),(2),(3) and (4) since it's still a initial set-up, and that the answer to (9) is the nine squares on the fifth row.
Then, when the game gets started, you need to check the nine parameters with every single move. It's very important. They change, sometimes dramatically with a move. Without it, you cannot know which square you can safely move your pieces to or drop your pieces on. Basically, the vacant squares with (1) & (9) are the squares where you can move your pieces or drop safely.
I think doing mating exercises is good but memorizing Josekis is not so important at your level. However, checking the nine parameters with every single move in a Joseki will give you a clue to what can be a good sequence constantly comparing with them of the previous positions.
Currently I try to play my own games everyday, but again as I'm just in the beginning stages I'm trying to form good habits early. So for now I'm spending about 3 hours studying/playing. In terms of studying, besides seeing and reviewing my own games, what kinds of things should I be doing? Memorizing josekis and doing mating exercises? Any advice on learning josekis? I personally have a hard time with the longer variations and how it can deviate depending on certain moves. For instance if a joseki doesn't go exactly by the book etc. That's part of the reason why sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of knowledge there is to learn. Perhaps if I could understand more exactly as to certain moves I could find a formula (my own personal understanding) to how and why certain josekis work.
You did not answer to my question of how often you play shogi these days and in what time condition. Does that mean you are just watching videos, reading books and trying to follow others' games without playing games by yourself? I think the most important part to get better at shogi is playing slow even games with different opponents who are slightly better than you and/or playing adequately handicapped slow games with much stronger opponents by yourself and think of what were good and bad and get a post-mortem analysis from your opponents after the games to avoid the same or similar mistakes to happen in your future games.
I am 24 years old and I would say my shogi level is very much beginner level. I have watched many of Hidetchis videos on youtube as well as some others and try to follow in different games (mostly professional players) to understand how and why they move. I have mating books and shogi for beginners and joseki at a glance for books so far. In addition I have looked into shogishack as well and other related sites. It does seem however that a lot of what I do study isnt always internalized or too big of a chunk to really memorize and learn. In terms of time, I can dedicate a fair amount of time studying as much as I need/want while at the same time keeping the game enjoyable and rewarding, not just work. As for my level, I don't think I wish to become a professional shogi player however, no matter what it is I am learning, I wish to give it my all and not set a limit as to what I can do.
I do admire professional shogi players and just as you said with learning an insrument I can of course relate to the work and the amount of effort and energy that must go into everything they do.
It depends on what level you are in now, how old you are(learning method may change whether you are a child or an adult), how often you play shogi these days and in what time condition, how many hours you can spend learning shogi a day or a week, what level you would like to get to and so on. In your original post, you mentioned you already read or watched some books and videos. Could you specify more in details to disclose what videos/books you have watched/read and if there are some difficulties to understand? I think I could recommend how to study if you answered the questions above. Please appreciate there are many tournament professional shogi players in Japan and all of them have started learning shogi in childhood and most of them have become professional only after over the age of 20 lately. Let me say the road to mastery of it is somewhat the same as violin and erhu.
Thanks for your reply! The site helped and am looking forward to getting involved. Also trying to look for more people around me to play. Any advice on how to get started studying?
Making friends with shogi players may prevent you from getting burn out and stimulate your motivation for further learning.
Fortunately, there is considered shogi population of more than a million in Shanghai since they teach shogi in some elementary and middle schools. Some adult players seem to meet regularly for playing. Please visit one shogi club's website at http://blog.sina.com.cn/shanghaijiangqi (I assume you can read Chinese. Sorry I cannot find the contact information since I cannot read Chinese.) There may be more clubs.
81Dojo Web System
Jascha (856) 2016-08-07 21:17
