USSF Beginnings

USSF Beginnings From: sujisuji@mail.geocities.com[SMTP:sujisuji@mail.geocities.com] hello. i am chiaki ito writing from bangkok, thailand. i am a friend of doug. i used to live in the states organizing wisconsin shogi club and teaching at chicago shogi club. do you remember me? anyway, i am very glad to be informed that you will be pubslishing ussf newsletters. i am almost a half way around the globe to you but i would like to contribute to the newsletter as much as possible. i agree with the contents tha you suggested for the newsletter, but i would like to add one more thing. that is a jyouseki kouza, or lesson on theory. as you may know well, there are not many shogi books written in english. In particular, there are almost no comprehensive theory analaysis in english. shogi sekai has two pages of english on theories each month, but that is not enough at all. here in thailand, i teach shogi to non-japanese speakers, but i have problems (many problems...) with doing it, but in particular teaching theories is very difficult without any good english books. so i want some section on jyouseki included in the newsletter. What do you think? oh, here is my shogi profile. in case you need it for introducing me to other players. chiaki ito tokyo high school champ in 1988 former kenshuu kai member (b-1 class) supervised under otomo 8 dan former president of wisconsin shogi club currently a member of bangkok shogi club and chicago shogi club experience in teaching shogi to over 50 non-japanese players certified 5 dan ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: Fassil Bekele You would expect any organization to have some expenses (not including payment to officers). Part of the $15 membership fee helps cover those costs. I have listed below some of the membership benefits and the activities of the USSF. It's clear that some of the items cost money. - Shogi newsletter - Discounts in equipment (shogi sets, clocks) - Discounts in rated tournaments - Preparation of promotional material to enlarge the player population - Finding corporate sponsors for tournaments - Rating members - Helping send visiting professionals to locations where there are affiliated clubs - Eligibility for benefits from sponsors (e.g., good performers in tournaments may have the cost of their trip paid for) My personal view is that the $15 fee is a reasonable amount. Admittedly, it is perhaps still too early to solicit the membership fee at this point. When we had the founding meeting back in October, we estimated that by January we might be able to have ratings calculated, the necessary organizational documents ready, and perhaps the first issue of the newsletter close to being ready. As it turned out, we have fallen behind, so it seems reasonable to also delay asking for contributions from members. Maybe we should wait till April or so (when the US championship takes place), by which time hopefully the preliminary work will have been done. In any event, rest assured that anyone who chooses to join now will not be at a disadvantage compared to those joining later (in terms of his membership expiring too early, etc.). Fassil +++++++++++++++ You Wrote.... I have details on lots of things. I get most of my details off of Shogi-L and the Shogi-L web mirror. So can you. Also, the USSF secretary, Josh Krekeler (Cc'd above), recently put out the first ever newsletter, which talked about some recent US tournaments and games. I'm sure we can put something together with a little teamwork. Great! I have already gotten a note from Josh and will be exchanging some ideas this week. Coordinating information between the three of us would certainly help the site and the USSF, in my opinion. Ahem! Close to... Oklahoma?? The closest ANY event has EVER been to that part of the country has been Chicago. All shoglims must make many holy pilgrimages throughout the year, and you're far from an exception, my brother in shogi. But I praise your optimism! Maybe someday... Hehe. Well, you know. The Power of Positive thinking and all that. Hope to see you soon. Maybe I can catch you in Louisiana or Missouri sometime. Hey now, Missouri isn't too far away. I'm only about 1.5 hours from the Southwestern border of the Show Me State. I will get some articles to you this week. Maybe that way I can say I'm still helping on the web page (assistant webmaster?). Sounds great! I look forward to hearing from you soon. Brannon ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Brannon L. Bain" Add to Contacts Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 08:12:28 -0500 Doug: Thanks for the support on the web site. I would like to release the site by the end of next week, but it will depend on having sufficient content. I am in need of articles, event announcements, and much more. Do you have details on the US Championship? I could put that info in the event section along with MSO announcement. I probably won't make it to any of the events this year unless there is one close to home. I have a 6 week old daughter so my travel time for the year is somewhat limited and I have two Martial Arts seminars that I am already committed to teach. I plan on making time next year for some of the bigger events, just to get some exposure. Hopefully, I will have learned enough about the game by then not to embarrass myself if I try to play a game. :) In any event, it would be nice to make it out to meet you and some of the other members of the US Shogi world. Well, that is all for now. Let me know if you have any other thoughts regarding the web site. Brannon ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Doug: Just thought I would drop you a quick line to let you know that development on my new USSF web site is underway. Since you are the USSF web master I thought I would show you the basic layout and get some comments. Larry Kaufman suggested that I contact George Fernandez regarding the USSF Logos and other info but he has not responded yet so I just created my own. They are by no means set and can be changed but they are necessary to hold the places. The site has virtually no content yet, but I think you can get an idea of how it will look. Feel free to offer ANY comments, I am just here to help. The URL for the site is http://www.bujutsu.com/shogi/index.html. There are currently no outside links to the site but once the site has enough content there will be a link at www.bujutsu.com (there is placeholder there now but it will not be what the link looks like. Thanks, Brannon ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "I'd advise you to join the email ladder, ask s.o. to play and also ask for game comments. You'll find it on www.shogi.net/ladder/" Thank you for the advice. I will definitely consider playing on the ladder in the future. ...Bukendo, and Tasumaru Ryu Bujtusu.. "These I don't know. What's that?" Bukendo is a style of Japanese Swordsmanship similar to that which was practiced prior to WWII. I consider it to be more like a cross between Modern Kendo and Traditional Kenjutsu. Tasumaru Ryu Bujutsu is a large system in the style of the Traditional Bujutsu prior to the Meiji Era. It includes both Armed and Unarmed combat methodologies. My school also requires other elements such as strategy games, art, music, etc. to develop well rounded Martial Artists. I will be happy to answer any other questions you may but our fellow List members may prefer if you e-mail me privately. Respectfully, Brannon ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Doug, How are you? Thanks for making the corrections to your report. I hoping to finish my story and tournament report by this weekend. I have the following requests: 1) Please select an official USSF Chapter Representative for the Ohio Shogi club. This should be a "no-brainer" (i.e., it should be you!), but, if for some reason you'd rather involve another member and delegate to him/her an important responsibility for USSF-related communication, this would be OK too. 2) We need to set-up some mailing lists for USSF. In particular, they should be separated as follows: a) ALL USSF members and Associate members. b) Board members only. c) Executive Committee only (Josh, Mr. Ohno and myself). d) Board members, Officers, Regional Directors & Chapter Representatives. e) (Optional) Left open for future USSF committee use. f) (Optional) Left open for future dialouge with FESA and other international bodies. If you need to insert a host name in the cases of "e & f", feel free to use either yourself or myself. Please visit when you have a chance and let me know how it goes. According to Pieter, they're very easy to set up. Best regards, George I. Fernandez ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hello George, Brannon et al., On 00/10/23 at 6:22 -0400, George I. Fernandez wrote: >I regret having had to make so many radical changes to the >initial posting but, due to a lack of communication prior >to the first posting, it seems to be the best (and only) >choice for this year's event. > First off, I'd like to compliment you on your efforts for Shogi and for your involvement in organizing US Championship. I would recommend that in the future USSF set rules about the format (and other details such as time limits) of its annual national championship, based on what its members want. Any club that would like to host the championship would then know what rules to abide by and this year's confusion would not exist. >I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr. Brannon >Bain to our circle of friends and shogi organizers. He has >kindly taken over the task of USSF Web Coordinator from >Doug Dysart and has set up an excellent site for us [...] > It looks indeed very professional and appealing.

Ohio Shogi Club

This page was last edited on 2-23-07!