Refreshing shogi organisation in the UK

The official organisation for shogi in the UK is the British Shogi Federation (BSF). Set up in the 1980s, the BSF ran the British Shogi Championships at which it regularly held its annual general meeting (AGM). Officials (president, secretary and treasurer( were elected at the AGM. The BSF produced a regular magazine (Shoten), and managed the rating system for tournaments. The BSF was also a founder member of the Federation of European Shogi Associations (FESA).

With declining memberships some time in the early 2000s, the BSF started operating more informally, with almost everything being managed by one or two people. Fortunately the most difficult thing to manage was the rating system which is now run by FESA.

More recently, shogi activity in the UK has been increasing. Steven Cain and Kevin Butchart are running two tournaments per year. Tournaments have been run by UK players including Natasha Regan, Matthew Sadler, and Michael Green. A couple of tournaments in Wales have been run by Uwe Frischmuth as part of his campaign to promote shogi. Teaching professional Yasushi Ishikawa has appeared at an event run by Steven and Kevin, and has co-organised events with The Japan Society and London based player Kohtaro Hirota.

Against this background it seems a good idea to be review how shogi is organised in the UK, and perhaps reduce its reliance on one or two key individuals. We have already had some conversations about this at the London shogi club, but it seems appropriate for all UK based players to have the opportunity to join in.

For this reason, we will be having a meeting to discuss UK shogi organisation after the Autumn Shogi Tournament on 15 November 2026. This will be framed as a British Shogi Federation meeting, and will be open to any UK based player who wishes to attend.. It would be great if you could come, but if you can’t  we’d be very happy to talk to you at the London shogi club or by email to shogi.london@gmail.com. If people based away from London want to have a more extended discussion we could probably arrange an online meeting.