I’ve been a fan of shogi (Japanese chess) for decades. I had a close Japanese friend back in the early 1990’s who got sick of losing chess to me. He pulled out his shogi board and said, let me teach you Japanese chess. He proceeded to beat me in many games.
I was hooked.
When we had to part ways, he gave me his shogi board as a parting gift. I still have that shogi board. I even ended up teaching my children how to play shogi on that board.
In the early 2000’s, I wrote a simple computerized shogi game I called Samurai Chess. I maintained that for years. It was a lot of fun to play and create.
Some time in the 1990’s, I started developing the two sites: japanesechess.org and japanesechess.net. I let japanesechess.net go for a few years, but then re-registered it out of nostalgia, mostly. I felt like it was mine, and shouldn’t be developed by anyone else.
My plans with japanesechess.org has always been to provide information about shogi and resources to play shogi. japanesechess.org has hosted tutorials, printable PDF boards, and even shogi games for human vs human and AI vs human play. Most recently, I’ve added a Middle Shogi board for the enjoyment of visitors.
My plans with japanesechess.net has always been to set up an online shogi club where people could come and play a serious game of shogi and learn to play better. Although I’ve had the skills to do this since the 1990’s, I’ve spent decades trying to find the time to do it.
Around 2011, I miraculously found time to write a tsume shogi book called, “Tsume Puzzles for Japanese Chess: Introduction to Shogi Mating Riddles”. It was the best received book I’ve written to date, and is very popular in the English-speaking shogi world. I’ve always wanted to write some squeals. Who knows?
I have quite a few other sites I maintain in addition to my two shogi sites. Below is a quick list of a few of them.
Also, I have deep Christian roots and love to share my beliefs.