got my library to get a copy of a book on shogi

yay
i asked at my school library if they had a book on shogi (but unfortunately they didn't) however now they are going to specially order me a copy for library use

Which book? Although I haven't read any (hope to change this when I get some money soon), I hear Shogi for Beginners by John Fairbairn is excellent. I've also heard mixed reactions about Japanese Chess: The Game of Shogi by Trevor Leggett; after reading a few pages of the book on Amazon.com I think I can conclude that I wouldn't really recommend Leggett's book.

I've also heard good things about The Art of Shogi and Habu's Words.

Japanese Chess: The Game of Shogi by Alan Baker and Trevor Leggett
shoot!

i hope its good then

At least they are getting you a book. Thats pretty sweet, might be able to get some other people into it

Tarvaa wrote:At least they are getting you a book. Thats pretty sweet, might be able to get some other people into it

i suppose

kl got the book today
i'll probally review it on my youtube channel and that

Let me know how it is and whether or not it's worth buying. Personally I didn't have many positive thoughts from the few pages I read of it on Amazon. (Especially concerning Leggett's odd notation.)

Personally I didn't have many positive thoughts from the few pages I read of it on Amazon. (Especially concerning Leggett's odd notation.)

Do you mean you read a few pages from the book's inside, on Amazon? Where did you find that?

Also what do you mean by "odd notation"?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4805310367/ref=s9_simz_gw_s6_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0KW27Y83XQ1XH7SX11B7&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Amazon.com lets you read the first few pages.

Leggett labels the ranks with Roman numerals rather than letters. So 1a is 1i, 5e is 5v, and 7i is 7ix, for example. I don't really like it.

I had already been on that page but didn't found anything. But now i already found it...

Ohh i see... I have never seen this book before, just by name, cause honestly when i finished Shogi for Beginners, wich is very basic, it seemed to me that Trevor Ledget's book was also basic. So i decided to go for "Art of shogi", wich is more in depth.

I guess it was just a try to keep the base of japaense notation, giving it an international approach.
If any of you want's to read the Art Of Shogi someday, and don't know this, get ready cause Hosking uses both numbers, like P76, insted of P7f.

It's also interesting to learn to read in real Japanese notation .... A challenge, but it gives you the chance of studying from japanese books/magazines.

Bummer. I ordered Leggett's book before reading this topic (it didn't arrive yet).

The sad thing is that it's the only option in English for beginners, at least at Amazon. Fairbairn's book is only available used, and it's ridiculously expensive. The other book in English that's still in print at Amazon is "Better Moves for Better Shogi", but that one looks too advanced for me at this point.

I'll post about it when I get it (and read it).

@ fzort
Well, have you tryed this: http://www.thetradingcentre.co.uk/products.asp?category=Shogi&subcategory=Shogi+Books

They have Fairbairn's book new, and at a regular price. Also they are quite fast in sending the books!!

I bought some of my shogi books from here. For me that's the cheaper option, i don't know about you...

I guess it was just a try to keep the base of japaense notation, giving it an international approach.
If any of you want's to read the Art Of Shogi someday, and don't know
this, get ready cause Hosking uses both numbers, like P76, insted of
P7f.

I actually don't mind using only numbers (P76 P84 S68 P34) because it's uniform. The only reason I have a problem with Leggett's notation is that the Roman numerals take up too much space - S68 and S-6h are much more pleasing to the eye than S-6viii.

It's also interesting to learn to read in real Japanese notation .... A
challenge, but it gives you the chance of studying from japanese
books/magazines.

I made an effort right away to learn Japanese notation, since there are overwhelmingly more Japanese resources than English resources on shogi. For example, much of my studying comes from playing Japanese handheld shogi games (like Minna no Shogi for GBA and Saikyou Shogi Bonanza and Gekisashi: Joseki Dojo for PSP).

I do think it's useful to learn both.

ive scimmed through it

its okay
the first few pages are interesting about its beginnings and the fact it used to be played 25 by 25 squares which is quite funny.

the notation is annoying with the iii and the roman numerals so i won't particularly get used to it.
its more for beginners unfortunately.
however it does have a nice in game interactive bit to the book with is quite nice.

it also has a paper and card shogi board in the back which is quite flimsy unfortunately (and if you have a board i would recommend you use it). however the pieces have got some nice animation to it so new players can learn the pieces (e.g G is for gold and has a knight animation just around the K of the knight). it also includes the japanese symbols as well so new players can learn about the pieces easily. another note i would recommend getting a small storage like system to hold the pieces.

however its a gr8 book for teaching new ones.
the excercises are very good (some of the harder ones actually stumped me! ) and those excercises will teach players about different things like promotions and drops which is very helpful.

the book has got an in game thing as well with "novices game" which follows the mistakes of two players as well as some harder more professional games between two players. however the notations just make it so hard to follow .

it also includes some stuff about openings but a) hard to follow b) they are all common openings. c) Hidetchi has covered it in his vids in a much more fluent and faster manner.

i know i keep rabbiting on about the notations but it became such a probelm i wrote the letters and numbers on my own board!

in conclusion i think its a very good book for the beginners. it has a large varity of excercises to help players learn about the different unique rules like dropping and promotion.
it doesnt offer a great deal to more expirenced players though and the notation thing is just such a pain.
3 and half stars for me

Do you know this site http://www.shogifoundation.co.uk/ ?

These are my favourite English Shogi books:

http://www.amazon.com/Better-Moves-Shogi-Aono-Teruichi/dp/4871879992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254660091&sr=8-1

In “Better moves for better Shogi“ you will find a lot of information that you won’t find in any other English Shogi book. For example, before reading this book I had no idea which pieces to move and in which order. This book explains many of Shogi’s unwritten laws. If you then take a closer look at games played by strong players, their moves will appear a lot more logical and less peculiar as they might have looked before.

http://www.amazon.com/Habus-Words-Yoshiharu-Habu/dp/0953108929/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254660272&sr=1-2

“Habu’s words” is also great as he strictly comments amateur games in this book. I find it extremely helpful as most of the situations being described there are similar to the ones you will find yourself being confronted with when playing online.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Shogi-Tony-Hosking/dp/0953108902/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254660297&sr=1-5

A lot of people praise Tony Hosking’s “The Art of Shogi”. Actually it is a lot deeper than “Shogi for Beginners” but this may also be a problem for complete beginners. In contrast to the two aforementioned books it is more a reference book, nothing I could continuously read, as the amount of information is simply overwhelming. To me this is an excellent book if you have a specific question or want to look up a certain castle, study some opening lines, etc.

Those are the three books I actually put up for consideration to buy recently. Upon Takodori's suggestion, I bought Habu's Words, which should be coming in the mail soon. I think I'll buy Better Moves for Better Shogi after I finish Habu's Words.