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| Feb-08-08 | | Atking: <ex0duz:> <Why do you assume that there is some kind of conspiracy against chess in Japan?> There is no conspiracy from Japanese people who loves very much to play many games. But living in Japan, I saw in nearly 10 years to much top chess players (to say Nishimura, Takemoto... (Japanese champions!)) excluded after some odious pressure of the only leaders Japanese Chess association (Which is by the way not Association according the rules of the country) Mr Matsumoto, and his secretary Miss Watai. Looks at the FIDE site as did <Karpova>: 50 chess players in such country with a FIDE rating. Yes you can say there is Shogi and Go but you can't explain such numbers by this way after 40 years of JCA existence! I know many Shogi players and some Go players who play chess quite well but strangely they dislike the way JCA is organized. No election (The same President for nearly 30 years...) no debate (The President has nearly always reason) no bugetary report (To pay the secretary Miss Watai). Do you understand? <Karpova:> She's indeed a WIM according to her FIDE Personal Card: http://www.fide.com/ratings/card.ph... Yes, I already explain the strange way she got her title. Here the details we got in Japan. Miss Watai would have taken part in Zonal, in Singapore, in 1978. She finished 5th on 8 of this Zonal but the players qualified for the Interzonal could not, without explained reasons, take part of it. Thus, it was Miss Watai who took part in Interzonal Alicante, in 1979. (Miss Watai finished 14th out of 14, with 2,5 on 17 games. Which is difficult to compare with the 9 points out of 14 games of Miss Takahashi (Who became latter Mrs Takemoto) Naoko in the Zonal of Baguio, in 1981. Mrs. Takemoto gained 14 times the title of Woman champion of Japan (including 9 consecutive times right before its exclusion). I don't know the detail of the FIDE's rule on this point but it seems to me that we must distinguish between a really qualified player who deserves the title, and a player whose qualification is randomly left to such circumstances. What would one say indeed, if among the 8 players who took part in this Zonal, the 7 firsts for various reasons, could not move to the Interzonal and at least, the last of them becomes by this fact, WIM? This put a logical doubt on the validity of the title of Miss Watai. Moreover, this title is acquired many years later, at time of the exclusion of Mrs. Takemoto, is even more suspect. Should I must add that Mr Matsumoto was a very good friend of Mr Campomannes and the latter never asked why his association wasn't under democratic rules... |
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| Feb-08-08 | | percyblakeney: Nothing against Watai, but I looked through some of her Olympiad games, and there are players with the WIM title that seem stronger, for example Vasilkova and Charochkina, both close to 2400 and doing well in Moscow at the moment. Watai has some bad losses against 1800-rated opposition and walks into mate in one now and then. Her only wins in her latest Olympiad, six years ago, were endgame grinds against unrated African opponents. |
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| Feb-08-08 | | Atking: <percyblackeney> Well, the problem is not the real chess level of Miss Watai but the way she make around her an another reality. Here, her WIM title and her real chess strenght. Then her sacrifice to developp chess in Japan (She was not an elected President. She declared herself to be)and finally her sacrifice to make Fischer free. If there is a real marriage between them (I doubt more and more of it) that could not make free Fischer (Watai knew that. But, in the case of a sign of Fischer in a Japanese document (??) did Fischer knew that??) Then why not keep matter as it was (A friendly relationship). You know how much Fischer loved his liberty. I think you are a pretty good player, else with some demands, then if you know the way she has stopped more talented chess players than her in Japan, as me, you will have something against Watai. Why Chess is not popular in Japan? Well that's is not completely true. I know some chess book wrote in Japanese sell more than 10 000 exemplaries. But if the number of the member of the JCA, the "national Association" by which, until now..., Watai makes her living, increases, then the "Association" must have the clear status of what we say here NPO, with debates, elections and bugetary reports... |
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| Feb-09-08 | | brankat: In March 2005, when Fischer was leaving Japan, all reports were referring to M.Watai as Fischer's fiancee. How much time did Ms.Watai spend in Iceland in last 3 years? B.Fischer was released from the hospital some 2 months before his death. How many days did M.Watai spend in Iceland during those 2 months? When Fischer passed away she was not there. It took her 5 full days to get to Iceland. Why? |
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| Aug-13-08 | | myschkin: . . .
Photo:
http://tinyurl.com/5s5kko
Interview:
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... |
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| Aug-13-08 | | Atking: So what? <myschkin> Watai want to be the woman of her hero and Fischer said "She is just good friend." Ok guy gives me an explanation of chess situation in Japan. Looks at the FIDE site (How many rated players on a population of more hundred millions civilized people?? 50? 100? And JCA claims its existence since 1968!) Looks at the actual Junior world Championship. I felt sorry for the young Kobayashi. There is in Japan strong chess players who can teach him chess to say up to 2300 but they were expelled mostly for their opinions on a better organization. And the Japanese Chess Association has Watai as leader... |
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| Aug-19-08 | | blueofnoon: <Atking> Are you from Japan? |
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| Aug-19-08 | | ughaibu: Yoshiharu Habu Murooka and Satou H. visit Europe every year to play chess. Murayama was reckoned to be playing at master level from his first game. However, in Japan there's shogi, so there's no real reason to take up chess. |
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| Aug-19-08 | | Atking: <ughaibu : However, in Japan there's shogi, so there's no real reason to take up chess.> That is as stupid as <Japanese have baseball so there's no real reason to take up soccer.> However Japanese played at very good level at soccer...
<blueofnoon> Yes I live in Tokyo. You are welcome if you come there. * <ughaibu> I know Mr Murooka and Mr Sato <Y>asumitsu play chess (The latter at very good level) but I never see Mr Murayama playing chess. Do you have a game from him? |
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| Aug-19-08 | | ughaibu: Baseball and soccer are entirely different games, a better comparison would be soccer and Australian rules. Thanks for the correction on Satou's name. As far as I know, Murayama isn't very interested in chess. Ouchi also played chess and xiang-ki, I dont know if he's still alive. I live in Kanazawa, let me know if you're visiting. |
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| Aug-19-08 | | Atking: <ughaibu> My answer was the one gave by GM Lautier to a remark similar to your. He know quite well both games. And I think his comparison is good enough. If Chess have some common point with Shogi it differs also a lot. If you are from Japan you know that soccer is now very popular in Japan. So your argument can't explain nearly 100 actives members for Japanese Chess Association. You wrote about Mr Ouchi. He is fine. As a member of Japanese Professionnal Shogi Association (Master 9 Dan) he helped a lot to the second visit of Joel Lautier in Japan. So why with such help JCA can't be a valuable national chess association to say with few thousand members. You know my answer. |
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| Aug-19-08 | | myschkin: . . .
<Atking: So what? <myschkin> Watai want to be the woman of her hero and Fischer said "She is just good friend.">Read your post 4 times and still don't understand <what> you mean.
What <so what>? I posted a link to an article and a pic ?! Anything wrong with it ... |
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| Aug-19-08 | | Atking: <myschkin> Do not read my post 5 times, if you understand what I mean in the other part of the sentence that will be enough for me. Esle for the "So what?" it means what did you intend by this post? To answer to some previous post? Which could be natural but need to be more precise. Your actual post is clear and shows that's not the case. You just posted a link to an article (quite famous) and a picture. That's all. |
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| Aug-19-08 | | myschkin: . . .
Arigatou!
Odaiji ni :)
PS: I mark it if I relate to another post. It was just trivia to me - have no special relation to that lady. |
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| Aug-19-08 | | Riverbeast: I don't know Ms. Watai nor the politics and inner workings of the Japan Chess Federation, and her 'real chess strength' is not really a concern of mine. As far as some of the posts I have read, questioning her devotion to Fischer because she did not live with him all the time in Iceland, I would refer people to the New In Chess Fischer tribute edition...In it, friends of Fischer's said she was truly devoted to him and "was better to him than most wives are to their husbands" (I believe it was Helgi Olafsson who said that) Every relationship is different. Some people maintain long distance relationships because they are independent people, and they have different business going on in different locations. Just because she wasn't with him every moment doesn't mean she didn't care about him. We all know Fischer was an independent sort who enjoyed solitude. Maybe she was the same way, and maybe that's what made them compatible? Knowing Bobby's personality, maybe he didn't WANT his partner living with him every single moment. Who knows? |
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| Aug-19-08 | | sleepkid: Regarding chess in Japan.
The local branch of the Japan Chess Association for me was the Matsudo chess club (meeting in Matsudo City just outside of Tokyo) club which had about 40 members, and on days when the chess club would meet anywhere from 5 to 15 members might show up. The Asaka Chess Club in Saitama also had roughly the same figures. So, let's say you have roughly about 100 members in these two chess clubs, and throw in an extra 250 or so for other active chess players in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. So a total of 350 active chess players who go to clubs in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Compare this with Matsudo City (where the Matsudo chess club meets) which has 4 or 5 Shogi clubs each with over 100 members, and a similar number of Go clubs. I would estimate that there are roughly 150,000 or more active Shogi players and maybe 200,000 active Go players in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Add to that the fact that if a Japanese person knows the rules to the game, they will know the rules to Shogi, or Go, but probably not chess. This is why there is no real support for the Japanese Chess Association. As for Watai Miyoko. She is a pawn. She is also a doormat. I feel somewhat sorry for her, because she is quite deluded. |
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| Sep-04-09 | | PinnedPiece: What has Ms. Watai been up to? She seems to have dropped well out of sight. No games since 1999? No more publications?
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| Mar-07-11 | | BLarsen1967: <percyblakeney><Her only wins in her latest Olympiad, six years ago, were endgame grinds against unrated African opponents> That was written in 2008. - Miyoko Watai played at board 1 for Japan(w) in Bled 2002 and she scored 6.5 out of 13
http://chess-results.com/tnr1082.as... |
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Mar-07-11
 | | HeMateMe: She checkmated Fischer's nephews. That must count for something. |
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| Mar-07-11 | | Atking: <BLarsen1967> Indeed <percyblakeney> was right. As for the first board, she expelled in a despicable fashion the woman who was almost every times champion of Japan. <HeMateMe> is right too. Seeing the games the level isn't impressive surely not WIM one really but politically maybe she is able to mate some GM. As she said "I'm a pawn but a pawn which could be promote to a Queen" (For all who still look at her as a victim) |
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| Mar-07-11 | | talisman: and she kind of looks like Miyoko Ono. |
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| Mar-07-11 | | BLarsen1967: <Atking> ok,the moral integrity of Miyoko Watai might be questionable,both in relation to Bobby Fischer and to Naoko Takemoto (a great player the world needs to learn more about),I'm not contradicting that,but my focus was elsewhere,I just got curious to find out,if Watai had any solid chess credentials of her own,so I stumbled upon those 2002 games that <percyblakeney> had mentioned,and I agree,this world has seen some better players... |
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| Dec-09-11 | | hnishy: In 1997, Watai published a beginner's book titled "Saishin Zukai Chesu" (=newest illustrated Chess). On page 202, there is a "study" she claims to have "easily" composed. White:Kc7,Bc6,d3,f4 Black:Kg6,Qe6
Her solution runs: 1.f5+ Kxf5 2.Bd7 and wins. But of course, 2....Qxd7+ 3.Kxd7 Ke5 draws. |
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Dec-09-11
 | | FSR: <hnishy: In 1997, Watai published a beginner's book titled "Saishin Zukai Chesu" (=newest illustrated Chess). On page 202, there is a "study" she claims to have "easily" composed.> Well, yeah. It's harder to compose a study that is actually sound. |
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| Sep-29-18 | | InspirationChess: I hope that she will play again chess someday.
after all, she had the company of the Great Bobby Fischer for some years, she had to have improved her chess. |
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