[/floatl]SF Chronicle: Venerable Japanese game's high-stakes battle
The crowd of San Franciscans, some scurrying and some loitering, around Ellis and Mason streets Wednesday seemed oblivious to the intense, high-stakes drama unfolding in a tiny hotel conference room 25 stories above their heads. But Japan's biggest newspaper and TV network were there, inside the Hotel Nikko, to record every move as two champions of Japanese chess squared off for the coveted "Dragon King" title, regarded by many as the most important of seven championships in Japan, and the $300,000 that goes with it. The Yomiuri Shimbun brought the game here to promote international appreciation for the venerable game of shogi, the Japanese cousin of Western chess...more...
