Shogi in Belarus

Shogi came to Belarus in 2000. Andrei Kasperovich and Sergej Korchitskij found the rules of shogi and played the first games. They collided with some problems looking for a rules. Good shogi rules were absent in Minsk's libraries but different books about board games gave different version of the rules. This problem was solved succesfully using Internet information. From this time shogi began to promote in Belarus.

The first shogi tournament was held in 2000. Minsk shogi championship began to hold from 2002. The first Belarus shogi championship was in 2004. From 2000 it was held about 30 shogi tournaments in Belarus but there were non-FESA tournaments. The first international shogi tournament was held in Minsk in 2007.

There are some shogi websites and blogs. The main Belarus shogiwebsite is belarusshogi.net. It is more famous russian-language shogi resource. It has also some pages in English.

Shogi is known in Belarus massmedia - magazines, newspapers, news agencies, TV, radio.

Belarus players trained children in shogi: Sergei Korchitskij - in Minsk's gymnasias №171 and №2, Andrei Lysenka - in secondary school №65 of Minsk.

Students of Byelorussian State Pedagogical University and Byelorussian State University play shogi regularly. There is a students shogi club in Byelorussian State Pedagogical University.

Sergei Korchitskij make scientific work in pedagogical sphere connected with shogi.

There are about 30 real shogi players this time in Belarus. More active of them - Sergei Korchitskij, Andrei Lysenka, Sergei Lysenka, Andrei Kasperovich and Peter Pavlovich.

Belarus is a member of FESA (Federation of European Shogi Associations) from 2002. FESA representatives are Andrei Kasperovich and Sergei Korchitskij.

Chronology of main shogi events in Belarus

2000

* Shogi appeard in Belarus

* It was held the first tournament in Minsk. Six players participated in this tournament

2002

* First time player from Belarus took part in international shogi tournament. Andrei Kasperovich participated in "Moscow Summer Trophy"

* Belarus joined FESA

* The first Byelorussian shogi website with shogi forum was created

* It was held the first Championship of Minsk

2003

* Five players from Belarus took part in Moscow Open. S.Korchitskij won the 2nd prize

* Articles about shogi began to publish in magazines and newspapers

2004

* The first Belarus Championship was held

* S.Korchitskij won the 3rd place in East European Champions Cup

* Players from Belarus first time participated in Rivne tournaments. S.Korchitskij took the 2nd place in main tournament and won the blitz-tournament

* Shogi appeared on Byelorussian TV and radio

2005

* Shogi showed up in Belarus massmedia

* S.Korchitskij participated in 3rd International Shogi Forum in Japan

2006

* Students shogi club was created in Byelorussian State Pedagogical University

2007

* It was held the first international shogi tournament in Minsk. 20 players from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine took part in this event

* First time players from Belarus took part in European Shogi Championship. Brothers Andrei and Sergei Lysenka were the participants of ESC/WOSC in Pardubice (Czech Republic)

Belarus shogi webpages and blogs

Shogi in Belarus
Website of Byelorussian Shogi Association (in Russian). Shogi forum (in Russian)

Professional shogi world
Shogi website with forum (in English)

Board games rules
Some information about shogi

Japanese chess shogi
Russian-language shogi blog on Livejournal

Shogi in Belarus massmedia

TV

* Summer 2004 - first appearance of shogi on Byelorussian TV. It was shown shogi set in telecast "Family things" on "Lad-TV" channel

* Several times from December 2004 through January 2005 subjects about shogi were shown on the television channel CTV . One of such telecasts you can load

* 1 March 2005 - youth talk-show "5x5" on First National Channel "BT"

* 5 March 2005 - TV channel "ONT" showd shogi videomatherials with child's participation. Pupils from secondary school №65 and gymnasia №171 of Minsk participated in telebroadcasting

* 11 March 2005 - telecast "Good morning, Belarus" on BT channel. Nine minutes S.Korchitskij and A.Kasperovich told about shogi and promotion shogi in Belarus

* 29 March 2005 - on channel "CTV-Sport" was the report about Belarus shogi championship

Newspapers, magazines, news agencies

* 2003 - magazine "Chess" published article "Game of samurai or Japanese chess shogi". It was given information about shogi history, brief rules and priciples of the game, computer shogi, promotion shogi in Europe, opinion of the best chess players (Kasparov, Kramnik, Ponomarev)about shogi

* 26 September 2003 - newspaper "Belarus Time" in article "For the first time about shogi" described some features of shogi

* 25 June 2004 - newspaper "Our Field" published article "Black and white pluralism" which gave information that shogi exists in Belarus

* 19 February 2005 - news agency "Belapan" and BELTA (Belarus telegraph agency) informed about start of Belarus shogi championship

* 21 February 2005 - news agency "Belapan" gave results of preliminary stage of Belarus shogi championship

* 23 February 2005 - newspaper "Evening Minsk" published information about Belarus shogi championship, history and some features of shogi (in Russian)

* 2 March 2005 - newspaper "Arguments and facts in Belarus" presented information about rules and features of shogi, shogi history, promotion shogi in Belarus

* 8 March 2005 - newspaper "Our Field" presented article "Samurai game" with information concearning promotion shogi in Belarus

* 29 March 2005 - newspaper "Evening Minsk" gave results of Belarus shogi championship (in Russian)

* 14 May 2005 - yuoth newspaper "Transitional Age" in article "Silver general's move" informed about shogi traditions in Japan, shogi in Belarus and main rules of shogi

* 26 October 2006 - newspaper "7 days" published a big article "Samurai, sushi, shogi ..." with photos and vast information about shogi (in Russian)

Radio

* July 2004 - information about shogi was broadcated by radiostation "Radius FM"

* 9 November 2005 - live coverage broadcasting on "Culture" channel of byelorussian radio. During 1 hour S.Korchitskij told about Japan and Japanese chess shogi

Belarus players (best and more active) on 26.03.2008

Korchitskij Sergei

Grade: 1 dan
Fesa rating: 1746
Games in FESA tournaments: 46
Wins: 33
% of wins: 0.717
Tournament victories: Champion of Belarus - 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. Champion of Minsk - 2002, 2004, 2006
Other best results: Moscow Open - 2nd (2003). Rivne Open - 2nd (2004). Minsk Championship - 2nd (2007). BSPU Open - 2nd (2007). East European Champions Cup - 3rd (2004)
Against professionals: Win over Suzuki Daisuke (8 Dan) at rook handicap in 2005
In addition: Vice-President Byelorussian Shogi Association. Webmaster of shogi blog on Livejournal Japanese chess shogi

Nekrasov Vladimir

Grade: 2 kyu
Fesa rating: 1608
Games in FESA tournaments: 22
Wins: 14
% of wins: 0.636
Tournament victories: Moscow Cup - 2007
Best results: Moscow Open - 2nd (2004, 2007). Belarus Championship - 2nd place (2004), 3rd place (2008)

Pavlovich Peter

Grade: 3 kyu
Fesa rating: 1425
Games in FESA tournaments: 43
Wins: 28
% of wins: 0.651
Tournament victories: Champion of Minsk - 2007
Best results: Belarus Championship - 2nd place (2005, 2007), 3rd (2006). Minsk Championship - 2nd place (2002), 3rd (2006). Rivne Open - 2nd (2006). BSPU Open - 3rd (2007)

Kasperovich Andrei

Grade: 4 kyu
Fesa rating: 1425
Games in FESA tournaments: 39
Wins: 22
% of wins: 0.564
Best results: Belarus Championship - 2nd place (2008), 3rd place (2004). Minsk Championship - 3rd place (2002)
In addition: President Byelorussian Shogi Association. Webmaster Professional shogi world (with forum Shogi Prospect) and Board games rules

Lysenka Andrei

Grade: 5 kyu
Fesa rating: 1268
Games in FESA tournaments: 52
Wins: 25
% of wins: 0.481
Best results: Belarus Championship - 2nd place (2006), 3rd (2005)
In addition: Webmaster shogi site of Byelorussian shogi Association

Lysenka Sergei

Grade: 5 kyu
Fesa rating: 1206
Games in FESA tournaments: 41
Wins: 22
% of wins: 0.537
Best results: Minsk Championship - 3nd place (2004), semifinal of Belarus Championship (2007)
In addition: Chairman of BSPU students shogi club

Mishutin Mikhail

Grade: 7 kyu
Fesa rating: 1206
Games in FESA tournaments: 14
Wins: 7
% of wins: 0.500
Best results: Minsk Championship - 3nd place (2007), semifinal of Belarus Championship (2007)

Loktevich Svetlana

Grade: 9 kyu
Fesa rating: 986
Games in FESA tournaments: 29
Wins: 15
% of wins: 0.517

Winners and prize-winners of main shogi tournaments in Belarus

Tournament	Year	1st	2nd	3rd
Belarus Championship	2004	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Nekrasov Vladimir (BY)	Kasperovich Andrei (BY)
Belarus Championship	2005	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Pavlovich Peter (BY)	Lysenka Andrei (BY)
Belarus Championship	2006	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Lysenka Andrei (BY)	Pavlovich Peter (BY)
Belarus Championship	2007	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Pavlovich Peter (BY)
Belarus Championship	2008	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Kasperovich Andrei (BY)	Nekrasov Vladimir (BY)
Minsk Championship	2002	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Pavlovich Peter (BY)	Kasperovich Andrei (BY)
Minsk Championship	2004	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Kalinovskij Alexei (BY)	Lysenka Sergei (BY)
Minsk Championship	2006	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Paseko Yevgeniy (BY)	Pavlovich Peter (BY)
Minsk Championship	2007	Pavlovich Peter (BY)	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Mishutin Mikhail (BY)
BSPU Open	2007	Levit Alexander (RU)	Korchitskij Sergei (BY)	Pavlovich Peter (BY)