From: Reijer Grimbergen <grimberg <at> ETL <dot> GO <dot> JP>
Date: 6 dec 1995
Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 613, 12/6)

Hi all,

I am back and even have access to Shukan Shogi even quicker than expected,
thanks to Iida-san. For everyone interested and without a big header (or
without the patience to scan this header) my new E-mail address is
"grimberg <at> etl <dot> go <dot> jp". Now for the more important stuff: this week's
professional Shogi news:

First of all, Shukan Shogi off course opens with Habu's win in the 5th
game of the Ryu-O. "Habu break" as the headline says, referring to the
tennis service break because Habu managed to win with white. Sato had a
good position in the middle game, but a small slip in defence was enough
for Habu to turn the game around and get the important advantage at 3-2.
Next week the 6th game will be played in Ishikawa-ken and there is a slim
chance that I will be able to visit it.

For those interested in foreign Shogi players, there is an interview with
Glyndon Townhill in this issue of Shukan Shogi. He is an amateur 4-dan
player and also plays go (3-dan). Townhill is also a chess player and is
of course asked about the differences between the two. He thinks in Shogi
the endgame is much more important than in chess, where one mistake in the
middle game often decides the outcome of the game. In Shogi it is often
possible to turn the game around in the end.

In group six of the pre rounds for next year's Ryu-O both Nakai and
Shimizu surprised their male opponents (Noda and Moriyasu respectively).

The Kio tournament has almost finished and the challenger of Habu will be
decided soon. Still in the running are Murayama, Takahashi, Shima and
Yonenage. Murayama and Takahashi have the best chance of becoming challenger.
They have not yet lost a game in the knock-out. The Kio uses a system
where the final four are entitled to a second chance. The winner of the
knock-out meets the winner of the play-off of the three losers. He then has
two chances to gain the right to challenge the title holder (in other words:
the winner of the loser's play-off has to win twice against the winner of
the normal knock-out).

In the Osho tournament Habu is now very close to a rematch with Tanigawa.
By beating Gouda he now has won all four of his games in the Osho league.
His only rival is Nakahara at 3-1. On december 8th both players will meet
to play the next to final game. If Habu wins, he will challenge Tanigawa and
have another try at the seven crown dream (if he can beat Sato in the Ryu-O,
of course).

The back page of Shukan Shogi is for the final of the Oyama ladies tournament,
which was won by Shimizu, who beat Saita by 2-1. Shimizu thereby kept her
title. Shukan Shogi prijst vooral de mentale hardheid van Shimizu om te
herstellen van het verlies in de tweede partij.

That's about all for now,
Reijer (grimberg <at> etl <dot> go <dot> jp)