A Shogi Champion Turns to Chess

FFriedel writes "Michael Jordan tried it with baseball, and it, like, didn't work out too well for him. But what about a professional Shogi champion switching to chess? Yoshiharu Habu, one of the most gifted players in the history of the ancient Japanese game, has taken a casual interest in chess - and already reached IM strength. He is currently playing in a tournament in Paris, where chess grandmaster Joel Lautier interviewed him." Shogi is a very odd game if you're used to chess. Most of the pieces have biases toward forward motion, and when you capture an enemy piece, you can bring it back into play for your side.

Comments

Re:It's like ya know.....

[vadim_t]

No way! I talk to 14 year old girls, and they talk in a completely normal way. Maybe 8 year olds do talk like that.

Speaking of chess variations

[eclectro]

If Shogi is too complicated for you to learn, there is the other far east variant called kung fu chess. Where the martial arts meets with chess.

Re:definition of sport...

[mykej]

If you define sport as something that can be won or lost based on your physical condition, chess is certainly a sport. I spent an entire tournament weekend drinking and dancing (make a move, go hit on the hotel bartender, repeat). I actually made it into the final round on Sunday, and got a draw (which should have been a win) from a player 300 points better than I was. I had slept for about two hours, under the table where my game was to be held, and I was almost sober when game time came.

In the final round, I fell apart completely. Resigned after ~20 moves. I'd played my oppenent before that tournament, and after it, and I'm much better than he is, but the weekend caught up with me. Still my favorite tourney ever though. :)

Re:Shogi is ...

[Arker]

Thanks for the link, that explained a lot. I'll be looking for the moron that moderated you redundant in metamod.