Last month I was invited by the members of International Shogi Popularization Society (ISPS) to be a member of their team at the Amateur Shogi team tournament done at the Industry and Trade building near the Asakusa temple.

There are 6 different leagues divided by the team strength. Our team was new so we started in the league 5.

There are around 20 teams in each league and the tournament is played for four days. Each day there are 4 games and the time control is 20 minutes +30 seconds for byo-yomi (once finished the 20 minutes there are 30 seconds for each move).

Since our team started at the group 5 I thought that there would be a lower level but it blew up all my expectations. I was only able to win 1 game of 4 but on all the games I had some chances. Each team has 7 players but there is no need on aligning the players in strength order.

My games took quite long time so I didn’t had much time between games for walk around the playing room.

I bought a T-shirt for my son of the character Furio of the Neko battle shogi card game. This is a card game sponsored by the LPSA (Ladies Professional Shogi Association). I will talk about this game in the future.

On August 27 I will play again. I hope I can make better results!

My team is the ISPS. Now we are ranked 18/20.