mcmodern: I suspected as much but didn't know. Thanks for filling me in.
Why are there not Japanese Grandmasters?
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ipcress12 wrote:
The mystery IMO is how chess got big in China. There is a story behind that but I don't know it.
Chinese chess ( Xiangqi ) is much more akin to chess than the case of Go or Japanese chess ( Shogi ) . So, a Chinese doesn't find chess so daunting as an average Japanese. In fact, Ye Jiangchuan, a mentor of the first chess queen from China ( Xie Jun ) switched to chess ( from Xiangqi ) with great success and helped propel the Chinese women into the world arena. As to why chess got big in China, China and the former USSR had very strong ties politically. Chess just happened to be something that a generation of Chinese learned from the Soviets and began to excel in. As far as I know, there was some kind of Karpov worship in China back in his heydays.
Chinese chess ( Xiangqi ) is much more akin to chess than the case of Go or Japanese chess ( Shogi ) . So, a Chinese doesn't find chess so daunting as an average Japanese.
Another great insight!
AzraelA wrote:
That's a picture of Yukio Mishima, who died in a botched seppuku ritual after attempting a failed coup d'etat.
If he died, wasn't that a successful seuppuku?
Whip_Kitten wrote:
Curious. How can someone die in a botched seppuku ritual? Botching it would mean surviving, no?
Damnit!
NewArdweaden wrote:
In Japan, the stupid kids play chess.
True!
AlexandraThessa wrote:
There are. The Japanese Nakamura is in top 30.
Nakamura-san is Gaikokujin
Shogi and chess have skills in common: I won a minor prize in a shogi tournament sponsored by the local Japanese Embassy after only playing for a few months, just based on tactical chess strength. A strong shogi player would probably be very dangerous in bughouse--shogi is much like a toned down two-player bughouse! But there may be little incentive for strong Japanese shogi players to switch to chess, as I think they can make excellent money playing shogi.
Go skills, on the other hand...I used to play in college, and played far more go than shogi, but was hopelessly bad at it. I think it has almost no commonality with chess.
Oct 28, 2015
0
#70
Lasker1900 wrote:
The fact is, there is no deep chess culture in China, and very few people play it. The Chinese government had the decision some years back to try and make China a world class chess power. First, they made an effort to identify young talent. In a nation of over a billion people, it stands to reason that there will be quite a few youngsters with the necessary talent. Next they brought in the best coaches they could get. The collapse of the Soviet Union meant that there were a lot of excellent, but unemployed, chess coaches available. In this way, China produced its first generation of young Grandmasters. Most of that generation were then put to work helping to train and develop the next wave. Now, China is one of the great chess powers of the world
There is no reason to doubt that if the Japanese government thought it was important that there be some Japanese grandmasters, they couldn’t identify and sponsor some talented young players, bring in some world class coaches, and voila!
It may well happen that the international success of Chinese chess players and their National Team will spark a more wide spread interest in Chess, but for the present, chess is not a widely played game in China.
I'm curious... Do you happen to know if Chess.com is banned in China? I see there are some players flying China's flag but I'm not sure if they are based in China or not.
Yes,it is banned in China but it is extremely popular in North Korea,hence the large numbers of players from there.
Oct 28, 2015
0
#72
SpiritoftheVictory wrote:
Lasker1900 wrote:
The fact is, there is no deep chess culture in China, and very few people play it. The Chinese government had the decision some years back to try and make China a world class chess power. First, they made an effort to identify young talent. In a nation of over a billion people, it stands to reason that there will be quite a few youngsters with the necessary talent. Next they brought in the best coaches they could get. The collapse of the Soviet Union meant that there were a lot of excellent, but unemployed, chess coaches available. In this way, China produced its first generation of young Grandmasters. Most of that generation were then put to work helping to train and develop the next wave. Now, China is one of the great chess powers of the world
There is no reason to doubt that if the Japanese government thought it was important that there be some Japanese grandmasters, they couldn’t identify and sponsor some talented young players, bring in some world class coaches, and voila!
It may well happen that the international success of Chinese chess players and their National Team will spark a more wide spread interest in Chess, but for the present, chess is not a widely played game in China.
I'm curious... Do you happen to know if Chess.com is banned in China? I see there are some players flying China's flag but I'm not sure if they are based in China or not.
http://www.blockedinchina.net/?siteurl=www.chess.com
Oct 28, 2015
0
#73
Maybe the Chinese government doesn't want their populace exposed to the forums of chess.com?!?
Nov 1, 2015
0
#74
Hi, i'm a junior that's actually playing for the Japanese National Youth Team in the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece right now. I live in America but I used to live in Japan and I am fully Japanese. Chess just isn't popular because they have shogi, and they don't need anything else. Chess is actually becoming much more popular, but obviously isn't the strength of other strong countries in Asia.
(btw I have 3/6 in the world youth right now, proving that there are some good chess players in japan lol)
homerunking wrote:
Hi, i'm a junior that's actually playing for the Japanese National Youth Team in the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece right now. I live in America but I used to live in Japan and I am fully Japanese. Chess just isn't popular because they have shogi, and they don't need anything else. Chess is actually becoming much more popular, but obviously isn't the strength of other strong countries in Asia.
(btw I have 3/6 in the world youth right now, proving that there are some good chess players in japan lol)
Luck
Nov 2, 2015
0
#76
JJZ03 wrote:
homerunking wrote:
Hi, i'm a junior that's actually playing for the Japanese National Youth Team in the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece right now. I live in America but I used to live in Japan and I am fully Japanese. Chess just isn't popular because they have shogi, and they don't need anything else. Chess is actually becoming much more popular, but obviously isn't the strength of other strong countries in Asia.
(btw I have 3/6 in the world youth right now, proving that there are some good chess players in japan lol)
Luck
It really wasn't luck lol. My chess.com rating just sucks because I don't play much and I just can't play good online for some reason. After you look at my USCF rating you will think otherwise. And thanks Whip_Kitten and Lasker1900, the 8th round is in 3 hours! I lost the 7th round, but i'm playing a FIDE 1770, so I think it will be a fairly easy win.
Nov 2, 2015
0
#77
homerunking wrote:
JJZ03 wrote:
homerunking wrote:
Hi, i'm a junior that's actually playing for the Japanese National Youth Team in the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece right now. I live in America but I used to live in Japan and I am fully Japanese. Chess just isn't popular because they have shogi, and they don't need anything else. Chess is actually becoming much more popular, but obviously isn't the strength of other strong countries in Asia.
(btw I have 3/6 in the world youth right now, proving that there are some good chess players in japan lol)
Luck
It really wasn't luck lol. My chess.com rating just sucks because I don't play much and I just can't play good online for some reason. After you look at my USCF rating you will think otherwise. And thanks Whip_Kitten and Lasker1900, the 8th round is in 3 hours! I lost the 7th round, but i'm playing a FIDE 1770, so I think it will be a fairly easy win.
I think that he was wishing you Good Luck... 
Nov 2, 2015
0
#78
SocialPanda wrote:
homerunking wrote:
JJZ03 wrote:
homerunking wrote:
Hi, i'm a junior that's actually playing for the Japanese National Youth Team in the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece right now. I live in America but I used to live in Japan and I am fully Japanese. Chess just isn't popular because they have shogi, and they don't need anything else. Chess is actually becoming much more popular, but obviously isn't the strength of other strong countries in Asia.
(btw I have 3/6 in the world youth right now, proving that there are some good chess players in japan lol)
Luck
It really wasn't luck lol. My chess.com rating just sucks because I don't play much and I just can't play good online for some reason. After you look at my USCF rating you will think otherwise. And thanks Whip_Kitten and Lasker1900, the 8th round is in 3 hours! I lost the 7th round, but i'm playing a FIDE 1770, so I think it will be a fairly easy win.
I think that he was wishing you Good Luck...
oops sorry :P my bad
10 million people shogi population of Japanese.
busy with shogi research.
I have a 10-year shogi rating 1000.
The shogi rating 2000 Also to play 100 times does not win once.
I have a 6-month chess rating 1450.
You know that the shogi?
Both are complex.
There's no question in my mind that the Japanese could field respectable numbers of chess grandmasters if they wanted to.
But they don't play chess for the same reason I don't play Go. There is little support for it in their country/culture. That could change.
The mystery IMO is how chess got big in China. There is a story behind that but I don't know it.
The same reason China is good in olympics sports now, the government funds it. China will keep on getting better in chess because the top chess pros can make a decent living playing chess, imagine that. How many top juniors dropped out of chess in the US because they won't be making a decent living playing chess?