Week 1 at the 81 Square Universe

The 81 Square Universe is One Week Old!

We want to give a very big thanks to everyone who has made the 81 Square Universe such a successful and active forum. As of today, September 19, 2009, we have 60 members and over 100 active discussions! With this much activity in just one week, imagine our progress in a month, or a year! We at the 81 Square Universe hope that all of our members stick with us through the years.

Our members are as diverse as they are numerous. We have users from the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, Slovakia, Australia, Belarus, Poland, and we have guests viewing from many more places! This is an extraordinary accomplishment, and we wish to thank all of our members for it.

The 81 Square Universe Ranking League

Members shogismive and hirohiigo are currently working on developing a Ranking League for the 81 Square Universe. The object of the Ranking League will be to establish regular play among members as well as to develop a ladder system to rank our members from strongest to weakest. We hope everyone will participate in the Ranking League so that, together, we can also study and get better at shogi.

The current plan is to have regular, scheduled Round Robin tournament-style matches as well as a ladder challenge system. You can view plans for the Ranking League here. If you are interested in joining the 81 Square Universe Ranking League, please post in the topic and let us know!

Success of the Game Analysis Forum

It appears as though the Game Analysis forum is a much bigger success than we could have hoped! There have been 18 games posted by our members for analysis, and contributions and advice in games have come from members as influential as Takodori! It appears as though this forum is a hit, and has become one of the most popular places on the Internet in English to ask for hints and tips on how to improve your game.

New Shogi Video Series from 81SU Members

We are proud to announce that the 81 Square Universe is the birth place of two brand new English-language shogi video series! 1059860 has created a showcase for online amateur shogi games, primarily from PlayOK, using Hidetchi's internationalized pieces. You can find them on his Youtube channel here. shogismive has begun a video series focusing on shogi strategy, which you can find on his Youtube channel here. Be sure to watch their videos and support them!