From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 27 feb 1996 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 624, Feb 28th 1996) I am almost ready to apologize, but there is more Habu this week. Shukan Shogi has 24 pages and 12 pages are for non-standard Shogi news. Of these 12 pages, 7 pages are for Habu this week. Moreover, the most important news is put on the first three and final three pages. In this week's issue, all six are about Habu. Shukan Shogi opens with an interview with the living legend. Main talking points are the tough year he has had (wish I had a tough year like that :-)) and the difference between this year's Osho match and last year's (he felt much more calm and relaxed this time around). Also some words about the next seemingly unbeatable target in this season: Nakahara's 0.855 seasonal average. This record was set by Nakahara in 1967. At the time he was a brilliant young 5-dan and it was thought that no-one would be able to get close to that. Habu now has 0.843 and still has some games to play. Actually, this might be a disadvantage, because he also can lose many games, as he himself wisely pointed out. Habu says he is not really thinking about this record yet. Of course, the really amazing thing is that Nakahara only occassionaly had to play real strong players, while Habu is matched up against the best every time. Finally some bad news for all the other professionals. Habu will try to hang on to all his seven titles at least while he is in his twenties. So, for the next five years it will be Habu time! Page two has an articleby a famous writer on Habu. I have not read the article (my Japanese is not yet good enough), but the title says it all: "Hey Habu, you are too strong!". Page three has another tournament victory for Habu. This time he beat Minami in the final of the television tournament of Tokyo TV. He says he did not have confidence in his position until the very end, but of course we know better :-). The back three pages are for game two of the Kio sen. Takahashi put up a brave fight in this game. The middle game was very close and Takahashi was probably never aware of the fact that he made a small mistake. He thought he had a chance to win until the very end. But then he got his wake-up call when Habu played a brilliant Tsume that Takahashi had overlooked. Only one move difference this time, but it was enough for Habu. Other Habu news: he beat Shima in the Zen-Nihon Pro to reach the best four. His next opponent will be Yashiki and this might be a tough one for Habu. Yashiki is a very unorthodox and very strong player. He was Kisei at 17 and has the nickname "Ninja style". Finally, Habu also lost a game this week. The tournament was not very important (All-star kachi-nuki sen), but the combination of a first loss as a Seven Crown and the attack on his fiancee made opponent Inoue an instant star on all major television networks. The Habu craze is getting a little out of control and with his wedding coming up in a couple of weeks, it will get worse before it will get better... Other news: yet another professional is getting married. Of course there are four new professionals every year, so about three marriages a year can be expected, but the latest wave of proposals is still a bit unusual. This time Fukaura 5-dan is marrying Miss Iwata. Fukaura had been visiting Yasuda hospital a lot lately, but not because of illness... He did not need much time to make up his mind and proposed only 2 months after their first date. Back to Shogi. There is an interesting article in Shukan Shogi about the world of the "Kirokugakari", the timekeepers/gamescorers of professional games. These are mostly Shoreikai pros, having a rather tough time. A typical timekeeper day starts at about 9.30 and finishes after midnight. It is a big article and the space here is limited (I am stretching it as it is), but I am planning to read it later and give some info later on. Final Shogi news: seven out of eight finalists for the Kisei are known. They are: Minami, Sato Yasumitsu, Tanigawa, Yonenaga, Nakahara, Fujii and Miura. They will be joined by the winner of the Takahashi-Yashiki game that still has to be played. A very interesting mixture of young stars and famous veterans. Friday the final round of the A-class Junisen will be played. Ono Yaichio has invited me to see the games, so I will have a detailed report for you next week... Reijer -- Dr. Reijer Grimbergen Electrotechnical Laboratory Palcious Tsukuba 302 1-1-4 Umezono 1-24-8 Ninomiya Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305 JAPAN 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp Tel: 0298-59-1606 WWW: http://www.etl.go.jp:8080/etl/suiron/~grimberg Tel: +81-(0)298-54-5080 extension: 67431 Fax: +81-(0)298-58-5918