From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 2 apr 1997 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 680, April 2nd 1997) This week in Shukan Shogi again interview and preview time. On the front the second preview to the Meijin match between Tanigawa and Habu that will start on April 10th. The most simple data to take into account here is that there have only been 9 Meijins in the 54 years since the abolishing of the lifetime Meijin system. This means it is much easier to defend the title than for the challenger to win it. Not surprisingly, the challenger with the best record in the A-junisen has the best chance of taking the title from the Meijin. Interesting is that the Tanigawa-Habu match is a match between Meijin and former Meijin. This has happened 12 times in the past, but the most recent one was seven years ago, when former Meijin Nakahara took the title from (then) Meijin Tanigawa. The most important data, however, is how these players have done in title matches against each other. In the 12 times they met before, Habu no less than 9 times beat Tanigawa, with an overall score of 48-28 in Habu's favour. This alone makes Habu the overwhelming favourite to defend the title. Handicap for Tanigawa is that he also has to play the match for the Zen Nihon Pro tournament at the same time. However, challenger Morishita is not in brilliant form with only four wins in his last ten games. On the other hand, Morishita has won three of their last five games and has good memories of the Zen Nihon Pro, his only tournament victory to date (in 1991). The interviews this week are with Nakamura and Maruyama, who promoted to B1. Because my Japanese was good enough to understand most of Maruyama's answers, I will not keep them from you: Q: Are you part of a shogi study group? A: I go a lot to VS. (note: must be the name of such a study group) Q: How many times a week? A: That's a trade secret. Q: With whom do play there? A: That's also a trade secret. Q: Can I ask you a private question? A: That's also a trade secret (laughs). Q: Clothes, food, hobbies, what do you like and don't like? A: I don't care about clothes, there is no food I particularly like or dislike and it is not very interesting to write about my favourite hobby. Q: Do you have a motto? A: Nothing in particular. Q: What's your ideal in shogi? A: Nothing in particular. Q: Who are your rivals? A: No-one in particular. I have not thought much about that. Q: What is your shogi style: attacking or defending? A: Nothing I am aware of, only winning is important. Q: When are you happy playing shogi? A: I guess when I am improving my shogi. >From this interview it seems that the way Maruyama got famous, namely by moving his pieces without making a sound, is a reflection of his character :-). I am almost certain that he will play a role in the fight for promotion to the A-class next year. One would almost forget that some games were played as well last week. Most important result was the second quarterfinal of the Kisei-sen. After the defeat of Habu last week, another major player had to bow out this week. Tanigawa made an early mistake in a type of Yagura that punishes early mistakes severely and Goda capitalized quickly to enter the semifinals. In the white group of the Oi, Morishita beat Ono to stay in the running. Morishita is now 1-1 and Ono is 0-2. In the other group Sato and Fujii played for the top spot after both had won their first game. Sato won this game, and he might get another shot at the title for which he was a challenger in 1990 and only lost to Tanigawa in the decisive seventh game. Two other important games last week as far as the record books are concerned. First, Suzuki (5-d) lost to Matsuura, who thereby stopped Suzuki's winning streak at 14. This is a season high. Goda at the moment has 13 wins, but unfortunately for him there are no more games this season, so he has to leave the prize to Suzuki. Another chance for a record was for Kondo, 4-dan. He played his eleventh game as a professional last week and had won all previous ten, tying Matsumoto's record for most consecutive wins from promotion to the professional ranks. Unfortunately, he lost his game to Izumi and thus has to share the record with Matsumoto. More next week, Reijer -- 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