White pieces had better win-rate in last year's shogi events
Second mover's winning percentage has exceeded that of First mover for the professional Japanese chess games of the fiscal year 2008(April 2008 through March 2009). It's the first time since Japan Shogi Association started stats since 1967. Here is the full story reported by The Mainichi Daily News. (Note:The translator seems to borrow the terminology of Second mover from Go instead of chess. That's why Second mover is white in the article below.)
Players using the white pieces -- which go second -- won more often than those using the black during the 2008 shogi season, the first time since stats were first kept by the Japan Shogi Association in fiscal 1967.
Of the 2,323 public matches in fiscal 2008, white players won 1,167 and lost 1,156, a win rate of 50.2 percent, it was discovered on Tuesday. The previous highest win rate was 49.5 percent in fiscal 1968, and the lowest 46.4 percent in fiscal 2004.
"With the Gokigen-Nakabisha, which doesn't impede the movement of the bishop, and other ploys, the breadth of strategies for white players has increased in recent years," said Meijin Yoshiharu Habu. "I believe the repeated use of these stratagems as openings has led to the increase in the win rate."
Unlike FIDE chess, draw rate in shogi is very low. Let's say 1 or 2%.
For those who are interested in how to play shogi, good tutorial videos made by HIDETCHI are available to watch on YouTube. Here is Lesson#1.
