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History
Ancient
shogi
Arrival in Japan
Shogi
is said to be derived from the game of chaturanga played in ancient India, which spread throughout the continent of
Eurasia, developing into a variety of related games. In the West, it became chess, in China xiangqi (象棋), on the Korean Peninsula janggi (장기), and in Thailand makruk. It is not clear when shogi was brought to
Japan. This is in contrast to the game of go, which was almost certainly brought to Japan
in or around the Nara
period, since a go
board is stored in the treasury of Shōsōin 正倉院 Shōsōin ? ) . There are tales that relate
that it was invented by Yuwen Yong of Northern Zhou, and that Kibi Makibi 吉備真備 Kibi Makibi? brought it back after visiting the country of Tang, but both these tales are likely to have been
invented at the start of the Edo period by those keen to make a name for
themselves as authorities on shogi. There are several theories about when shogi
spread to Japan, but the earliest plausible date is around the 6th century. It is thought that the pieces used
in the shogi of the time were not the current five-sided pieces, but
three-dimensional figures, as were used in Chaturanga. This parallels the
changes in chess pieces, which are more representational and less abstract the
earlier they were made. However, a large problem with this theory is that as
pieces in this form have never been found, let alone stored in the treasury of
Shōsōin, there is little physical evidence supporting it. Another
theory gives a later date, stating that shogi was brought to Japan after the
start of the Heian
period. According
to this theory, games such as xiangqi from China and janggi from Korea came to
Japan at this time, but as these games are different from shogi, for example in
that pieces are placed on the intersections of lines, serious doubts about this
theory remain. The games of makruk from Thailand and Cambodia and sittuyin from Myanmar have an elephant which moves in the same way
as the silver general, but it is difficult to imagine how the game could have
been spread by sea to Japan given the shipbuilding technology of the time, and
there are therefore no clear answers. See also the history of chess.
Shogi in the Heian
period
One of the
oldest documents indicating the existence of shogi is Kirinshō 麒麟抄 Kirinshō written by Fujiwara Yukinari 藤原行成 Fujiwara Yukinari ? ) (972 - 1027), a seven-volume
work which contains a description of how to write the characters used for shogi
pieces, but the most generally accepted opinion is that this section was added
by a writer from a later generation. Shin Saru Gakuki 新猿楽記 Shin Saru Gakuki ? ) (1058 - 1064), written by
Fujiwara Akihira {{{2}}} Fujiwara Akihira ? ) also has passages relating to
shogi, and is regarded as the earliest document on the subject. The oldest
archaeological evidence is a group of 16 shogi pieces excavated from the
grounds of Kōfuku-ji in Nara Prefecture, and as a wooden writing plaque
written on in the sixth year of Tenki (1058) was found at the same time,
the pieces are thought to be of the same period. The pieces of the time appear
to have been simple ones made by cutting a writing plaque and writing directly
on the surface, but they have the same five-sided shape as modern pieces. As
"Shin Saru Gakuki", mentioned above, is of the same period, this find
is backed up by documentary evidence. The dictionary of common folk culture,
Nichūreki 二中歴 Nichūreki ? ) , which it is estimated was
created between 1210 and 1221, a collection based on the two works
Shōchūreki 掌中歴 Shōchūreki ? ) and Kaichūreki 懐中歴 Kaichūreki ? ) , thought to have been written
by Miyoshi Tameyasu 三善為康 Miyoshi Tameyasu ? ) , describes two forms of shogi,
large (dai) shogi and small (shō) shogi. So as not to confuse these with
later types of shogi, in modern times these are called Heian shogi (or Heian small shogi) and Heian dai shogi. Heian shogi is the version on
which modern shogi is based, but it is written that one wins if one's opponent
is reduced to a single king, apparently indicating that at the time there was
no concept of pieces in the hand. The pieces used in these variants of shogi
consist of those used in Heian shogi, the king, gold general, silver general, knight, lance and pawn, and those used only in Heian great
shogi, the copper
general, iron
general, side
mover, tiger, flying
dragon, free
chariot and go
between. The names
of the Heian shogi pieces keep faithfully to those in Chaturanga (general,
elephant, horse, chariot and soldier), and add above them Japanese characters representing
the five treasures of Buddhism, (jewel, gold, silver, Katsura tree and aroma),
according to a theory by Kōji Shimizu, chief researcher at the
Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture. There is also a theory
by Yoshinori
Kimura that while
Chaturanga was from the start a game simulating war, and thus pieces were
discarded once captured, Heian shogi involved pieces kept in the hand.
The development of shogi
In games
around the world related to shogi, there have been changes in the rules with
the passage of time, such as increasing the abilities of the pieces or their
numbers, as winning strategies have been discovered, and the Japanese game of
shogi is no exception to this. Around the 13th century, the game of dai shogi,
created by increasing the number of pieces in Heian shogi, was played, and the
game of sho shogi, which adds the rook, bishop and drunken elephant from dai shogi
to Heian shogi. Around the 15th century, as the rules of dai shogi had become
too complicated, they were simplified, creating the game of chu shogi, which is
close to the modern game. It is thought that the rules of modern shogi were
fixed in the 16th century, when the drunken elephant was removed from the set
of pieces. According to Shoshōgi Zushiki # 576;象戯図式 Shoshōgi Zushiki ? ) , a set of shogi rules published
in 1696, during the Ganroku period, it states that the drunken
elephant piece was removed from the game of sho shogi by Emperor Go-Nara during the Tenmon period (1532 - 1555), but whether or not this is true is not
clear. As many as 174 shogi pieces have been excavated from the Ichijōdani Asakura Family Historic Ruins, which are thought to be from the
latter half of the 16th century. Most of these pieces are pawns, but there is
also one drunken elephant, leading to the hypothesis that in this period
variations of shogi with and without the drunken elephant existed side by side.
One point of note in the history of this family of games is that it was during
this period that the unique rule in Japanese shogi was developed whereby captured
pieces (pieces in the hand) could be returned to the board. It is thought that
the rule of pieces in the hand was proposed around the 16th century, but there
is also a theory that this rule existed from the time of Heian sho shogi. In
the Edo period, more types of shogi with yet more
pieces were proposed. Tenjiku
shogi, dai dai shogi, maka dai dai shogi, tai shogi
(also called "dai shogi", but termed "tai shogi" to avoid
confusing the two) and taikyoku shogi. However, it is thought that these forms of shogi were only played to a
very limited extent.
Modern shogi
Castle shogi and the
iemotos
Modern
shogi (hon shogi), like go, was officially approved by the Tokugawa
shogunate. In 1612,
the shogunate passed a law giving endowments to shogi players including Kanō
Sansa 加納算砂 Kanō
Sansa ? ) (Hon'inbō Sansa 本因坊算砂 Hon'inbō Sansa ? ) ) and Shūkei 宗桂 Shūkei ? ) (who was given the name
Ōhashi Shūkei 大橋宗桂 Ōhashi Shūkei ? ) after his death). These iemotos (families upholding the tradition of go or
shogi) gave themselves the title of go-dokoro 碁所 go-dokoro ? ) (literally,
places of go) and shogi-dokoro 将棋所 shogi-dokoro ? ) , places of shogi. The first
O-hashi Shu-kei received fifty koku of rice and five men. In the Kan'ei period (around 1630), the "castle
shogi" 御城将棋 "castle shogi" ? ) tournament, where games were
played before a shogun, was held. During the time of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa
Yoshimune, a system
was established where the castle shogi tournament was held once a year on the
17th day on Kannazuki, and today the corresponding day in
the modern calendar, November
17, has been
designated Shogi Day. The Meijin 名人 Meijin ? )
, who were the iemotos of shogi, were paid endowments. Over
the reign of the shogunate, the title of meijin became a hereditary title of
the Ōhashi family and one of its branches, and the Itō family. Today
the title of meijin is still used, for the winner of the Meijin-sen competition. It became a tradition
for shogi players inheriting the title of meijin to present a collection of
shogi puzzles to the shogunate government. A number of genius shogi players
emerged who were not hereditary meijin. Itō Kanju 伊藤看寿 Itō Kanju ? )
was born in the mid-Edo period, and showed promise as a potential meijin, but
died young and never inherited the title (which was bestowed on him
posthumously). Kanju was a skilled composer of shogi puzzles, and even today
his collection of puzzles "Shogi Zukō" 将棋図巧 "Shogi
Zukō" ? ) is well known as one of the greatest works of its
kind. In the late Edo period, Amano
Sōho 天野宗歩 Amano
Sōho ? ) came to prominence. As he was
one of the "Arino group" of amateur shogi players, the rank of meijin
was out of his reach, but he was feared for his skill, being said to have
"the ability of a 13-dan player", and was later termed a kisei 棋聖 kisei ? ) (literally,
wise man or master of shogi). More than a few count Sōho as one of the
greatest shogi players in history.
Newspaper shogi and the
formation of shogi associations
After the
fall of the Tokugawa shogunate, the three shogi families were no longer paid
endowments, and the iemoto system in shogi lost its power. The lines of the
three families ended, and the rank of meijin came to be bestowed by
recommendation. The popularity of amateur shogi continued in the Meiji period,
with shogi tournaments and events held all over Japan, and so called
"front-porch shogi" 縁台将棋 "front-porch shogi" ? ) , played wherever people
gathered, in bath houses or barber's shops. However, it is thought that, with
the exception of a handful of high-ranking players at the end of the 19th
century, it was impossible to make a living as a professional shogi player
during this period. From around 1899, newspapers began to publish records of shogi matches, and
high-ranking players formed alliances with the aim of having their games
published. In 1909, the Shogi Association 将棋同盟社 Shogi Association ? ) was formed, and in 1924, the Tokyo Shogi Association 東京将棋同盟社 Tokyo Shogi Association ? ) was formed, with Sekine
Kinjirō 関根金次郎 Sekine
Kinjirō ? ) , a thirteenth-generation
meijin, at its head. This was an early incarnation of the modern Japan Shogi
Association 日本将棋連盟 Japan Shogi Association ? ) , which takes this year as the
date of its foundation.
Trends in modern shogi
The
ability-based meijin system and developments in title matches In 1935, Sekine
Kinjiro- stepped down from the rank of meijin, which then came to be conferred
based on ability in the short term, rather than recommendation as before. The
first Meijin
title match 名人戦 meijin-sen ? ) (known officially at the time as
the Meijin Kettei Kisen 名人決定大棋戦 Meijin Kettei Kisen ? ) ) was held over two years, with Yoshio
Kimura 木村義雄 Yoshio
Kimura ? ) becoming the first Meijin in 1937. This was the start of the shogi
title matches (see titleholder
system). Later, in 1950, the Kudan title match 九段戦 kudan-sen ? ) (9-dan title match) (renamed the
Jūdan title match 十段戦 jūdan-sen ? ) (10-dan title match) in 1962) was founded, followed by the Ōshō
title match 王将戦 ōshō-sen ? ) (King title match) in 1953. Initially, the Ōshō-sen was not an
official title match, but it became one in 1983. In 1960 the Ōi title match 王位戦 ōi-sen ? ) was founded, and later the
Kisei-sen 棋聖戦 Kisei-sen ? ) in 1962, and the Kiō 棋王戦 kiō-sen ? ) in 1974. The Jūdan-sen was changed to become the
Ryūō title match 竜王戦 ryūō-sen ? ) in 1988, completing the modern line-up of seven title
matches.
The ages of Ōyama and
Habu
It was
considered to be nearly impossible to hold all the titles at once, but in 1957, Kōzō
Masuda took all
three of the titles which existed at the time (Meijin, Kudan and
Ōshō), to become a triple champion 三冠王 triple champion ? ) . However, another player later
took these three titles from Masuda, and went on in 1959 to take the newly founded titles of Ōi
and Kisei, to become a quintuple champion 五冠王 quintuple champion ? ) - Yasuharu
Ōyama 大山康晴 Yasuharu
Ōyama ? ) . Ōyama went on to defend
these titles for six years, a golden age which became known as the
"Ōyama age". Ōyama reached a total of 80 title holding
periods, an unprecedented achievement at the time, when there were fewer titles
than at present. After the number of titles increased to seven in 1983, it was believed to be impossible to hold all
of them at once, but in 1996, Yoshiharu Habu became the first septuple
champion 七冠王 septuple champion ? ) , beginning an age known as the
"Habu age". Since then, there has never been a time when he was
without a title, and he has amassed a total of over 60 title holding periods.
The birth of the women's
game
While there
are both men and women among the ranks of professional shogi players, no woman
player has yet won through the pro qualifier leagues 新進棋士奨励会 shinshin kishi shōreikai ? ) to become an officially
certified professional player 棋士 kishi ? ) . This served to slow the spread
of the game among women, and to overcome the problem, the system of professional woman shogi players 女流棋士 joryū kishi ? ) was introduced. In 1966, Akiko
Takojima 蛸島彰子 Akiko
Takojima ? ) left the pro qualifier leagues
at the 1-dan level and became the first professional woman shogi player. However,
at the time women's contests were not held, and so her only work as a
professional was giving shogi lessons. In 1974, the first women's contest, the Women's Meijin title match 女流名人位戦 joryū meijin-sen ? ) was held, which Takojima won,
becoming the first woman meijin. 1974 is often considered to be the year in
which women's shogi began, and indeed the Ladies Shogi Professional 女流棋士会 joryū kishi kai ? ) organisation celebrates
"anniversary parties" counting from this year. At present there are
more than 50 professional women players, and as well as the Women's Meijin
title match, there is also the Women's Ōshō title match 女流王将戦 Women's Ōshō title match ? )
, the Women's Ōi title match 女流王位戦 Women's Ōi title match ? )
, the Ōyama Meijin Cup Kurashiki-Tōka title
match 大山名人杯倉敷藤花戦 Ōyama Meijin Cup Kurashiki-Tōka title
match ? ) , the Ladies'
Open Tournament レディースオープントーナメント Ladies'
Open Tournament ? ) and the Kajima Cup Women's Shogi Tournament 鹿島杯女流将棋トーナメント Kajima Cup Women's Shogi Tournament ? )
, a total of six competitions. In addition, each of the standard professional
tournaments has a women's section, in which the top women in each tournament
compete.
Trends in the world
of amateur shogi
Shogi is
also well-known among the general public (amateurs). Two different rating
systems based dan and kyu ranks are used, one for amateurs and one for
professionals, with the highest ranks at amateur level, 4-dan or 5-dan, being
equivalent to 6-kyu at the professional level. In the past, there were games
between amateurs and professionals, but these were generally special match-ups
organised by newspapers or magazines, or instructional games at events or shogi
courses. However, sometimes there are amateurs with an ability to rival
professionals, some of whom earn a living as shinken-shi 真剣師 shinken-shi ? ) , gamblers playing for stakes. Motoji
Hanamura 花村元司 Motoji
Hanamura ? ) made enough to live on as a
shinken-shi, before taking the entrance exam and turning professional in 1944. He
later challenged Yasuharu
Ōyama in the meijin-sen, but did not manage to take the
title of meijin from him. Jūmei
Koike 小池重明 Jūmei
Koike ? ) was another shinken-shi, who
beat one professional after another in special matches, and won the title of
amateur meijin twice in a row, putting him ahead of the crowd in the amateur
world. Later, due in part to the instigation of Ōyama, the then chairman
of the general assembly of the Japanese Shogi Association 棋士総会 general assembly of the Japanese
Shogi Association ? )
, a vote was held on whether to accept Koike among their ranks, but there were
concerns about his behaviour, and the vote went against him. Although he never
became a professional, after his death, television programmes and books telling
his story were produced, and he now has more fans all over Japan than when he
was alive. In recent times, the gap in ability between strong amateurs and
professionals continues to diminish, and there are even official professional
tournaments in which those with the best results in amateur
shogi contests 将棋のアマチュア棋戦 amateur
shogi contests ? ) can take part. Some amateurs,
including Tsuneyoshi Kobayashi 小林庸俊 Tsuneyoshi Kobayashi ? ) , Takashi Amano 天野高志 Takashi Amano ? ) , Hirukawa 蛭川敦 Hirukawa ? ) , Kiriyama 桐山隆 Kiriyama ? ) , Masaki Endō 遠藤正樹 Masaki Endō ? ) , Masakazu Hayasaki 早咲誠和 Masakazu Hayasaki ? ) and Atsumoto Yamada 山田敦幹 Atsumoto Yamada ? ) have been called "pro
killers", and recently two young players, Yukio Katō 加藤幸男 Yukio Katō ? ) and Tōru Shimizukami 清水上徹 Tōru Shimizukami ? ) have been making waves in the
amateur world. The number of players who have left the pro qualifier leagues
and gone on to have success as amateurs has increased. Shōji
Segawa 瀬川晶司 Shōji
Segawa ? ) retired from the qualifier
leagues due to age restrictions, but went on to compete as an amateur in
professional matches. His performance in the Ginga
title match 銀河戦 Ginga
title match ? ginga-sen) was particularly
notable, and at one point he won over 70% of his matches with professionals. Sekawa
submitted a petition requesting entry to the professional ranks to the Japan
Shogi Association,
and was granted exceptional permission to take the entrance exam. He is the
first person to become a professional after retiring from the pro qualifier
leagues. In 2006, the Shogi Association officially admitted the
entrance of amateurs and women professionals to the ranks of professionals 正棋士 professionals ? ) , and announced details of an
entrance exam for the 4-dan level (entering the "free class" フリークラス "free class" ? ) level of the professional
ranking league 順位戦 professional ranking league ? ) ) and the third-level pro
qualifier league 奨励会三段リーグ third-level pro qualifier league ? ) . Unless exceptional permission
is granted, applicant normally need to have experience in the pro qualifier
leagues, and cannot become professionals if they have retired from the leagues,
but given the reforms taking place in the Association, it would be by no means
unlikely if another Shōji
Segawa were to
appear. The spread of shogi outside Japan The game of shogi has
developed independently inside Japan, and its pieces are differentiated by
Japanese characters written on them, factors which have impeded the spread of
the game outside Japan. By way of comparison, the game of go has spread
internationally for a combination of many reasons, including the facts that it
originated in China, its rules are (more or less) unified at an international
level, it is played using black and white stones, and that it does not resemble
games unique to another country (as is the case with shogi, which is one of
many games resembling chess). However, in the 1990's, efforts to make shogi
popular outside Japan began in earnest. It has grown to be particular popular
in the People's Republic of China, and especially Shanghai. The January 2006 edition of Kindai
Shogi 近代将棋 Kindai Shogi ? ) states that Shanghai has a shogi
population of 120,000 people. The game has been relatively slow to spread to
countries where Chinese characters are not in common use, although attempts
have been made to aid adoption by replacing the names of pieces with symbols
indicating how they move. Changes in the shogi population According to
the "Leisure White Paper" レジャー白書 "Leisure White Paper" ? ) by the Japanese Productivity Center
for Socio-Economic Development 財団法人社会経済生産性本部 Japanese Productivity Center for
Socio-Economic Development ? ) , the "shogi
population" (the number of people of 15 years or over who play at least
one game of shogi a year) fell from 16.8 million in 1985 to 9 million in 2004,
and 8.4 million in 2006, and is continuing to fall gradually. During the above
period, in which the shogi population fell by a half, shogi has often appeared
in the general media, for example Yoshiharu Habu's achievement of taking all seven
titles in one year (1996), the airing of the NHK TV novel Futarikko ふたりっ子 Futarikko ? ) (1996), the reporting of the
affair between Makoto
Nakahara 中原誠 Makoto
Nakahara ? ) and Naoko
Hayashiba 林葉直子 Naoko
Hayashiba ? ) , Shōji
Segawa taking the
professional entrance exam (2005), and the debate about the the management of
the meijin-sen being passed to a different body
(2006). However, none of these led to the birth of a "shogi boom",
and in some cases unfavourable media reports accelerated the decline in the number
of shogi fans. The number of 10 to 19 year olds playing go is said in the
"Leisure White Paper" above to have increased due to the story "Hikaru no Go", serialised in Shonen Jump. (The overall go population is
decreasing.) However, the 2006 Leisure White Paper reports that go is most
popular among those in their 60's, while shogi is most popular between those
aged 10 to 19. From around 1996, internet
shogi programs such
as Java Shogi Java将棋 Java Shogi ? ) and The Great Shogi ザ・グレート将棋 The Great Shogi ? ) , which allow users to play
games over the internet without the need for an actual shogi set, grew to be
widely used. At present, many games are played using services such as Shogi
Club 24 将棋倶楽部24 Shogi Club 24 ? ) , Kindai Shogi Dojo 近代将棋道場 Kindai Shogi Dojo ? ) and Yahoo! Japan Games.
Computer shogi
Developments
have been made in computer
shogi, a field
of artificial
intelligence
concerned with the creation of computer programs which can play shogi. The
research and development of shogi software has been carried out mainly by
freelance programmers, university research groups and private companies. As the
game of shogi has the distinctive feature of allowing captured pieces to be
reused, shogi playing programs require a far higher degree of sophistication
than programs playing similar games such as chess. In the 1980s, due to the
immaturity of the technology in such fields as programming, CPUs and memory, computer shogi programs took a long time to
think, and often made moves for which there was no apparent justification. These
programs had the level of an amateur of kyu rank. In the first decade of the
new millennium, there have been large steps forward in both software and
hardware technology, and it is currently estimated that the strongest program
is prefecture champion class (around amateur 5-dan). In particular, computers
are most suited to brute-force calculation, and far outperform humans at the
task of finding ways of checkmating from a given position, which is simply
information processing. In games with time limits of 10 seconds from the first
move, computers are becoming a tough challenge for even professional shogi
players. With Deep Blue having beaten a human chess
champion, it is thought that humans will soon be unable to beat computers at
shogi. In 2005, the Japan Shogi Association sent a communication to
professional shogi players and women professionals, telling them that they
should not compete against a computer in public without permission. The
intentions behind this are to preserve the dignity of its professionals, and to
make the most of computer shogi as a potential business opportunity.
Shogi in Poland
Shogi in Poland develope thx for kurnik.pl but
on the begining it started in another placec.
Lech Pijanowski famous export in board and logical games wrote first small
article abort shogi in his books:
Pijanowski Lech, Przewodnik gier, Warszawa 1978,
Pijanowski Lech, Skarbnica gier, Warszawa 1981.
The newest book, wich he publiced with his son „Gry świata”
(The game of the world) for PWN in 2006, hale some articles abort shogi.
Jerzy Giżycki famous autor of chess encyclopedy „Szachy od A do
Z” („Chess from A to Z”) and autor of book "Z szachami
przez wieki i kraje" 1986, wrote too some small articles abort shogi.
In 1992 and 1994 was newspaper "gry logiczne" where you could find some articles about shogi with taks rules and tactics.
Probably the first Shogi Tournament in Poland was placed in 1998 in final
participate Maciej Kanert (Poznań/Kioto), Artur Kasprowicz (Poznań/Bydgoszcz),
Tadeusz Rzepka (Bydgoszcz) oraz Rafał Rzepka
(Bydgoszcz/Poznań/Sapporo). Most of this people is conecting with sevic
tokyobynight.pl Unfortunetly we do not know the results of tournament.
In 2003-2004 it exicst first Polisch Shogi club in Łaskarzew clone to
Warsaw the founder of this club was Paweł Agnieszczak. In November 2005
kurnik.pl started with game shogi (but they cahnged name into szogi), and form
this time we can play shogi on-line in first months on the kurnik’s
website the best polisch players was: cochise piomak and kameras. Next in
August 2006 it was create first Polisch Shogi Forum www.shogi.fora.pl it exict
till today and have about 30 shogi player. Interesting and one of the first
article about shogi in Polisch language was on the site www.tokyobynight.pl in
2006. In February 2007 it was created Polisch website about shogi www.shogi.pl
with strategies rulet and information abort shogi events. Erlier it was the
site:
http://zielony-smok.w.interia.pl/pliki/taktyka/shogi/shogi.html
but this site do not explain the rulet abort shogi it is just relly similar
game but this are not shogi as we know today.
In 2007 has place the first on line Polisch shogi tournament the results was:
(login ranking points)
1. cochise 1628 2.5 2. adrianwoo 1801 2.5 3. tuh 1501 1.0
Next Polisach shogi championships was in 2008. It has 7 participate and the
results was: (login ranking points):
1. wwwshogipl 1714 7.0 2. cochise 1706 6.0 3. sh0gi 1512 5.0
In the second half of 2006 first Polisach player Ewa Szemik was on the FESA
ranking list she started on the 369 place. Now we have 2 Polisch players on the
FESA rankinglist Adrian Woloszyn (113 place) and Ewa Szemik (362 place).
17.08.2008 Poland started to be the FESA member, with reprezentant Pawel Agnieszczak
and Adrian Wołoszyn. Today if you put down shogi and japaness chess (in
Polisch language) in google.com you will have about 500 records. Next important
events for Polisch shogi history it was Warsaw Open 08.11.2008 in tournament participate 7 people. The tournamen win M. Rams. 14.03.09 was 1st polish qualification to World Shogi Championships participate 12 people and in final Game Bartosz Klin win with Awoloszyn and became 1st polish represntative in WSC in history