Tomorrow, on September 1st, I'll begin the challenge to play 1,000 games before the last day of this year on December 31st. It averages out to just under 9 games per day. Typically I play about 5 or 6 a day anyway, so it won't be a huge increase, but the consistency and volume of it is slightly intimidating.
I know I can do it, and I'll be proud to have completed it and be a better player at the end. - A good way to start the new year! Wish me luck and stay tuned for the daily and weekly game posts! -GinShoNinja
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My dad taught me Chess when I was a kid, and I played it for a long time. This sort of game has always attracted me, so when I discovered Shogi and learned about it, the idea really grabbed me. Chess has its own type of complexity that is enjoyable, but since learning Shogi I've never been able to go back to it.
The idea of dropping captured pieces, and having so many of them be able to promote is just wonderful. It's not like in Chess where the goal is mainly to keep piece trades equal; In Shogi the position of your own pieces must be taken into account during a piece trade based on what piece can be dropped where to attack you, and the position of your opponent's pieces must be considered in trade. What can you do with the piece you're trading for? Sometimes sacrificing your Dragon for a Silver general will win you the game. Or less dramatically, dropping a pawn as a sacrifice to make a piece move into a less-ideal position for your opponent. The possibilities are quite literally endless. It's this quality in Shogi that attracts me so heavily. But not just for the actual play of it. Of course playing the game is the enjoyable part, but there's a further benefit to spending time playing Shogi because of its unique nuances, and that is the way it teaches you to think. You learn to consider the outcome of your actions, or other events going on, and what will be different after the fact. The latter point is the important part. You begin to see more clearly what will change as the result of an action, and what can be done from that point. Furthermore it teaches you, and reinforces the process of weighing decisions, choosing one over the other because of its practical effects, and not only the results of it, but the method by which one gets there. How is this beneficial? This is a wonderful thought process to develop because, at least for me, it makes it much harder to knowingly make a bad decision. Shogi makes habitual the process of weighing choices and considering their outcomes, recognizing the mistakes you made and learning from them. These are fundamental necessities for survival in real life. Of course these things can be learned otherwise, and Shogi isn't for everyone, but it is such a beautiful art form that teaches one these things. Shogi is not just a game. Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more and like my page on Facebook for updates! |
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January 2019
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