The Art of Shogi Paperback – January 1, 1997

Book arrived early, was in good shape and the price was quite nice. It is also quite thorough---and therefore a bit daunting. Still, for anyone interested in Shogi, this would be welcome on their book shelf. Think of it as more encyclopedic than as a teaching device. For that, you might consider "Shogi for Beginners" by John Fairbairn or Trevor Leggett's "Shogi: Japan's Game of Strategy."

good

If you like the game of Chess you will be sure to get interested in Japanese chess-variant, Shogi. Unfortunately, there aren't so much materials about this oriental game in the form of print. This book written by an English shogi fan and endorsed by 19th lifetime Meijin Yoshiharu Habu is no doubt one of the best. The first quarter of the book is about what the shogi is, such as the history, or the basic rules. Then the second quarter is about the basics of shogi game so that you can actually play the game on board. The latter half is much more hard to understand. The author explains the basic shogi strategies by using the example of actual professional games(about 100 pro games and among them 58 are fully annotated.)With so much content catering to beginners and even to advanced level learners of shogi, why this book is hardly on book market outside of shogi fans' community? The first reason is that the latter half part introducing pro games are too difficult to grasp even with diagrams and comments. So that the beginners of shogi understand the meaning of the pro moves they need the advice from Dan-holders(advanced-level shogi learners) or preferably pros. If you can't seek advice from either methods, just replay these games using the board and pieces yourself. The pro games include full of strategic wisdoms you may be able to apply to actual games later on. Some of the games mentioned on this book are also commented by Youtube sites such as HIDETCHI's. The author himself is fully aware of the problem of the level gap between the first half and the latter half and he also wrote a few more books to complement the issue. Another reason is that the information on strategy on this book is getting outdated. There are some strategies or moves that may not fit the strategy lists of this book. To complement the newer strategies the author or someone else need to publish another book about latest strategies. Then, can the beginner of shogi improve his skills just by reading the strategy books? I doubt it. Today there are a number of websites that you can play shogi. I recommend four major sites. The players there often have the latest strategies and you can learn from your opponents.81 dojo: This is so far the best on-line shogi sites and you can even get the comment from the winner of the games. And you can enjoy watching some of the pro games there.Shogidojo: This is only recommended for intermediate to advanced level shogi players. For players who want to play with strong Japanese players to hone their skills.Brainking: If you are not used to fast game, try this site. You can have a lot of time to think about the move there.PlayOK: One of the most popular online board game sites. You can even participate in tournaments held every week.Verdict: One of the best introductory book about Japanese Chess.Rating: 97 out of 100Recommended for: Fans of chess-variants.

If you have discovered basic shogi and want to improve into a well skilled amateur, this is the perfect book. If you have played chess before you can also make this your first poker book and skip the other more basic books. It contains a detailed overview of the most common opening strategies and will teach you how to attack and defend in different ways. It is also a great book to come back to after having played in your club or on the net ([...]) for a while to read up on yet another opening strategy. Great buy! Later move on to: "Habu's word" by Habu, "Better moves for better shogi" by Teruichi Aono and "How to defend in shogi" by Yasuharu Oyama to improve further. For the last one see:([...]

These books are not yet out of print. You can purchase The Art of Shogi, Habu's Words and Classic Shogu brand new for just 40 pounds at The Shogi Foundation's Uk website.