Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan has presented that country’s People’s Honor Award to two board game champions, Mr. Yoshiharu Habu and Mr. Yuta Iyama. Habu secured the lifetime Ryou title and is the first to have earned all seven major titles in Shogi, or Japanese Chess. Iyama is ninth-dan ranked in Go and last year secured the seven major Japanese titles of that game for the second time.

The People’s Honor Award has been given now 26 times since 1977, recognizing achievement in sports, entertainment, and culture.

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Japan’s youngest professional Shogi player, 14 year-old Sota Fujii, defeated the oldest high-ranked player, 76 year-old Hifumi Kato, in his debut match. When Fujii went professional in October, he had also broken a 63 year record held by Kato for being the youngest player to go pro. After further losses in a following tournament, Kato has fallen sufficiently in rank as to face mandatory retirement.

Karolina Styczynska, 25 years-old of Poland, has become the first non-Japanese woman professional Shogi player. She earned her promotion to second-kyu (class) joryu at a recent tournament in Tokyo but her interest in Shogi was sparked back in Poland by reading the manga, Naruto.

Guiness World Records has certified the world’s largest Ouija board, built on the roof of the haunted Grand Midway Hotel in Windber, Pennsylvania. The board measures 121.01 m² (1,302.54 ft²).

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From Isshindo Honpo Co. in Tokyo, it’s a set of chocolate Shogi pieces, one each king, rook, bishop, knight, lance, pawn, gold general, and silver general. The pieces are regulation shape and size, and endorsed by the Japan Shogi Association. Though made of the same chocolate, the different pieces are said to present different textures, mouth-feel, and scent.

Available January 26th, a set of Shogi de Chocolat will retail for ¥1400.

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Privateer Press may have quit producing the Monsterpocalypse Battle Miniatures Game but it appears the game still has fans in Hollywood. Movie rights to the property saw a bidding war by several studios. Warner Bros. came out on top.

Hasbro is working on an integrated universe for its various properties, including G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., ROM, Micronauts, and Action Man. Specifically excluded on the movie side will be Transformers. No mention yet about the various board game titles, Dungeons & Dragons, or Magic: The Gathering, though I suspect it’s safe to assume the two WOTC properties will remain separate. In comic books, IDW will have a five-part crossover series, Revolution, which will include Transformers.

Liev Schreiber has signed on to the My Little Pony movie. Not as one of the ponies, but still, I’m not sure my mind can reconcile Ray Donovan with Friendship is Magic.

Beyond the Gates, a indie horror film premiering at the Los Angeles Film Festival, is centered on a VCR board game that serves as a hellish portal trapping souls.

The Dark Horse is a biopic about Maori Chess champion and youth Chess coach, Genesis Potini. A review in the Boston Globe calls it a “Winning Portrait”, while at the same time finding the two main story lines formulaic: genius is driven to madness and the underprivileged defeat the privileged at their own game.

Current World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen is the subject of the documentary Magnus, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April and will hit home-country screens in Norway this September.

Opening this fall in Japan is Satoshi no Seishun (“Satoshi’s Youth”), a biopic about Satoshi Murayama, a 9-dan Shogi player who died 18 years ago at the young age of 29.

Managing to Win: The Story of Strat-O-Matic Baseball starts shipping today on DVD. Available only direct from the company, the film tells the story of the game’s development by Hal Richman and the early struggles of the company.

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Hikaru Nakamura managed to pull off a fantastic come-from-behind victory at the Millionaire Chess tournament in Las Vegas. First, one of his games was almost disqualified based on tournament rules that prohibited a draw before move 30. However, he and opponent Luke McShane were able to convince organizer Maurice Ashley to let the nine-move draw stand based on three-time repetition (a standard draw condition under FIDE rules). This tied Nakamura up at 5.5/7 with nine other players, all of whom were placed in a rapid playoff. After a win there he went on to join the final-four with three players who had advanced on scores of 6/7. Despite playing with a cold, he triumphed there as well and claimed the $100,000 top prize.

Maximilian Lu, age 9, of Connecticut became the youngest player in the history of the U.S. Chess Federation to earn the title of Master.

Thirteen-year-old Sota Fujii has become the youngest ever 3-dan Shogi player and may become the youngest ever professional player if he can achieve 4-dan in the next year and five months.

Meanwhile, engineers in Japan announced that their robotic Shogi player (it calculates the optimum play and moves the pieces) achieved a 63 percent winning record against professional players in 2014.

The EuropeMasters board game championships saw team Brettspielteam Hamburg of Germany take home the top trophy in a tournament made up of Deus, ZhanGuo, Orleans, and Five Tribes.

Magnus Carlsen won the 2015 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship but let out an uncharacteristic expletive upon losing his fourth game in the World Blitz Championship. That contest was won for the third time by Alexander Grischuk.

The World Championship for Rapid, Blitz, and Turkish Draughts in Didim, Turkey was followed just a few days later by the World Cup and Bacoli Open in Italy. In the men’s section of the World Championship, Alexander Schwarzman placed first in Blitz and second in Rapid. Olga Balthazy led the women’s Blitz tournament undefeated, as did Faik Yildiz in the Turkish event. Guntis Valneris stole the show at the World Cup tournament, taking an early lead and leaving other players battling for second.

Tim Wong solved a Rubik’s Cube in just 19 moves for a world record.

Along his way to claiming the China Rubik’s Cube Championship, Feliks Zemdegs cleared four world records:  a single solve of the 4×4 cube in 21.54 seconds, a single solver of the 5×5 cube in 47.25 seconds, and the 5×5 cube solved in an average of 50.23 seconds. At the same event, Kaijun Lin broke the world record for solving a 3×3 blindfolded, doing it in 21.05 seconds.

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A 24 year old Polish student who decided to take up Shogi after reading the manga Naruto has become the first foreign woman to be invited to participate in a professional Shogi training program in Japan. Karolina Styczynska scored three wins and one loss in a recent Tokyo tournament, earning a 3-kyu title and promotion to the C1 class. If she meets certain requirements of the program within 2 years, she’ll earn a 2-kyu title and be considered a professional.

[via The Japan Times]

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In two recent projects researchers made interesting use of games as data sources for their studies.

Researchers with the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan studied the brains of Shogi players as part of their investigation in to strategic decision-making. With the moves in Shogi easily classified as either offensive or defensive, the researchers were able to use magnetic resonance imaging to determine that one area towards the front of the brain is responsible for defensive strategies and a different area towards the back is responsible for offensive strategies.

Deeper statistical analysis of the experienced players’ brain activity also revealed that the level of activity was dependent on the quality of the game moves.

In a study of a different sort, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles used Chess to examine the nature of fame. They compared the Elo rating of 371 Chess players (all grandmasters and international masters born 1901-1943) to the number of hits returned in a Google search of their names—a proxy for a player’s degree of fame. The results indicate that fame increases exponentially with achievement.

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Magic: The Gathering

Shahar Shenhar won the World Championship and is the first person ever to do so twice. The championship trophy comes with a $50,000 prize. In the World Magic Cup team competition, held together with the Championship in Nice, France, it was Denmark that came out on top.

In order to accommodate players impacted by a transit strike, a special tournament structure was arranged for Grand Prix Milan. Still, 1,760 players made it. And the winner was Magnus Lantto of Sweden. Magnus is a regular Magic Online player but this was his first time winning a live title.

On the same weekend, Gerard Fabiano was the winner of Grand Prix Baltimore.

Chess

At the Russian Championship in Kazan, Tatarstan, 10-player round-robin tournaments were won by Igor Lysyj and Valentina Gunina, men’s and women’s sections, respectively.

Anquandah Francis Eric of Ghana was the winner in the general section of the Africa Zone 4.4 Chess Championship. His performance at the tournament also qualified him for the title of International Master. In the women’s section, the winner was Rabiu Olabisi of Nigeria.

A strong field at the Qatar Masters Open was dominated by Yu Yangyi of China, whose 7.5/9 score put him ½ point in front and $25,000 richer.

Demonstrating that he’s still a strong competitor, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand finished first at the London Chess Classic, beating out Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri on tiebreak.

Junior, Senior, and Amateur Championships were held recently under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation. At the Junior event, Narayanan Srinath of India took the general section trophy for the third year in a row, while Mikee Charlene Suede earned the first such title for the Philippines in the women’s section. Among the Seniors, Baimurzin Aitkazy of Kazakhstan won with a score of 8.5/9, including no losses and only one tie. Though representatives of ten countries participated, it was local player Buddhika Amarasinghe of Sri Lanka that won the Amateur Championship.

Back in the Philippines, it was Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia who came in first place at the Philippine International Chess Championship.

Dev Shah of India won the under-7 category while qualifying as Candidate Master at the World Schools Chess Championships in Juiz de Fora, Brazil.

Two familiar names topped the leader-boards at the SportAccord World Mind Games blitz tournament, Alexander Grischuk of Russia for the men and Hou Yifan of China for the women. Grischuk also claimed gold in men’s rapid. Yifan, however, fell to Valentina Gunina of Russia in women’s rapid.

Shogi

Tetsuro Itodani, the 26 year-old winner of the 27th Ryuo Shogi title, is confident that his performance will continue to improve for another 10 years.

Bridge

The team competition has concluded at the SportAccord World Mind Games. Israel took gold in open teams and England gold in women’s.

Draughts

The gold medal at the SportAccord World Mind Games women’s rapid tournament went to Tamara Tansykkuzhina of Russia, while gold for men went to Roel Boomstra of The Netherlands. Blitz men’s gold was claimed by Alexander Shvartsman of Russia, while in the gold podium position for women was Darya Tkachenko of Ukraine.

The winner of the US Open was Miguel Almanzar of the Dominican Republic.

Go

The Chinese team has started strong at the SportAccord World Mind Games, taking gold in both the men’s team and women’s individual competitions. At the top of the podium for women’s individual was Yu Zhiying.

Backgammon

Jonah Seewald won the 2014 US Backgammon Federation Grand Championship.

Subbuteo

The Merlion Cup in Singapore was an international affair. Ouabi Rouis of France took home the trophy.

Similar international representation at the Yokohama Open also resulted in a French win, this time by Cédric Garnier.

At the FISTF Open of Milano, Portuguese player Vasco Guimaraes defeated World Champion Juan Noguera in the final game 2-1.

Rubik’s Cube

Marcin Kowalczyk set a new world record for single solve of the 3×3 blindfolded, finishing in 21.17 seconds.

A world record single Skewb solve was set by Jonatan Kłosko 1.81 seconds.

And in Niddrie, Australia, three world records were set, Feliks Zemdegs with the 5×5 at an average 54.20 seconds, Feliks agains with the 3×3 one-handed at an average 11.72 seconds, and Jayden McNeill with Skewb at an average 3.10 seconds.

Dominoes

A world record 50,000 domino circle bomb was pulled off in Germany:

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Shogi

Awake defeated Ponanza, claiming the top spot in the Shogi Deno Tournament in Saitama, Japan. Both are computer programs, and along with three other computer players earned the opportunity to compete against humans for a 2.5 million Yen prize next March.

Scrabble

Nigeria placed first at the Africa Scrabble Championship, followed by South Africa and Zambia.

Christopher May clinched the British National Scrabble Championship with a record of 13-4 +1287 by playing “MATH”. Yep, that’s it.

Go

In a repeat performance of last year, Kim Sooyoung and Jeon Junhak of Korea claimed the trophy at the International Amateur Pair Go Cup. Their final game was against Chinese Taipei and was won on a resignation.

Draughts

The World Youth Draughts Championship in Tallinn, Estonia was divided in to boys and girls, minicadets (under-14) and hopes (under-11) sections. Among all the sections, the top spots were dominated by players from Russia and Belarus. In minicadets girls, the winner was Vera Gorbacheva of Russia. In minicadets boys, the winner was  Anatolyi Protodyakonov of Russia. Leading hopes girls was Maryia Chasnakova of Belarus. Leading hopes boys, Miraslau Kuzniatsou of Belarus.

In Lishui, China the 3rd Xingqui Tianxi Cup International Open Draughts Tournament saw Mourodoullo Amrillaew of Russia at the top of the general section, Natalia Shestakova of Russia lead the women’s section, Yiming Pan of China boys under-14, and Yurui Liu of China girls under-14.

Rubik’s Cube

At Człuchów Panzer Cube 2014 (Poland), Jakub Kipa set a world record at solving the 3×3 cube with feet, 25.90 seconds.

With an average time of 9.47 seconds in 3×3 cube, the winner of the Asian Championship in Matsudo, Japan was Sei Sugama. The same tournament saw a world record 37.83 Megaminx solve by Mitsuki Gunji.

Chess

After six rounds of the World Chess Championship, current champion, Magnus Carlsen, leads challenger and previous champion, Viswanathan Anand, 3½-2½.

First place in the Tashkent leg of the FIDE Grand Prix went to Dmitry Andreikin with 7/11 points.

Magic: The Gathering

Grand Prix Nashville was a Khans of Tarkir team limited event. Of the 464 registered teams, the one of Matthew Nass, Jacob WIlson, and Jesse Hampton came out on top.

At Grand Prix Santiago (standard), Brazilian players proved tough opponents for local Chileans, with Eduardo dos Santos Vieira coming out on top.

Immanuel Gerschenson of Austria won Grand Prix Madrid, where the modern format saw a strong performance by a variety of older cards.

More than 4,000 players showed up for Grand Prix New Jersey (legacy) but in the finals it came down to roommates, Tom Ross and Brian Braun-Duin, with the latter taking home the trophy.

Other

Fantasy Flight Games’ World Championship Weekend saw eight different players declared champion, one in two separate games:

• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Melee)—Dan Seefeldt
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Joust)—Sam Braatz
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Overall)—Alexander Hynes
• Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game—Jeremy Zwirn
• Star Wars: The Card Game—Mick Cipra
• X-Wing—Paul Heaver
• Warhammer 40,000: Conquest—Jeremy Zwirn
• Warhammer: Diskwars—Francois Fressin
• Android: Netrunner The Card Game—Dan Dargenio

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Chess

More than 1700 people competed in the various tournaments of the Moscow Open. The rapid Superfinal, was won by Alexander Grischuk, who was the 2012 World Blitz Champion, after defeating Evgeniy Najer in a tie-breaker match. The Women’s Superfinal was won by Daria Charochkina. In the Men’s Cup of Russia, Alexander Moiseenko of Ukraine and Maxim Matlakov of Russia shared first place, having equal results on all three tie-breaker criteria.

Another event at the Moscow Open was a Chess-Shogi Biathalon, in which Boris Mirnik of Germany was the winner. Boris told organizers that he only plays Chess about once a year, preferring Shogi instead.

Baadur Jobava of Georgia won the Bronstein Memorial on tiebreaks in Minsk, Belarus after drawing his last two games early, both on move 15.

Hrant Melkumyan won the inaugural Casino Graz Open in Austria.

Magic: The Gathering

Special Grand Prix events over the previous year qualified 40 players for the first Super Sunday Series Championship February 8th and 9th. All received expense-paid travel from WOTC, met with WOTC execs, and had the opportunity to play some games with WOTC R&D. Also part of the weekend was a tournament that combined standard and draft, Theros, Born of the Gods, and Modern Masters. And taking home the $6,000 top prize was Owen Turtenwald.

At Grand Prix Paris, a player about to enter the top 8 was disqualified for errors made earlier in round 13. In the end, though, Javier Dominguez of Spain claimed the title.

A tough draft didn’t stop Mark Lalague of the United States from winning Grand Prix Mexico City.

Mahjong

Mathias Horvat took home the trophy at the second Mahjong Swiss Championship.

Rubik’s Cube

Mharr Justhinne Ampong solved Skewb in a world record 3.21 seconds at the Pangasinan Northern Express Open in the Philippines, only to be bested a day later by Brandon Harnish with a 2.19 second solve at Bay Area Speedcubin’ 2 in California.

At the Princeton Winter, Justin Mallari solved a 3×3 one-handed in 10.38 seconds for a North American record.

Perennial record-holder, Feliks Zemdegs, won the Melbourne Summer with an average of 7.17 seconds, while also setting an Oceanian record of 5.66 seconds for 3×3 single attempt.

A robot built with Lego can solve a standard 3×3 Rubik’s cube in 3 seconds.

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