From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 7 jan 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 720, New Year is one of the two main holidays in Japan, which meant most people did not go to work last week. With the computer Shogi championships coming near, I did not have that luxury, but I too tried to make a fresh start by taking a couple of days off. This mail is therefore a little bit late. Since Shukan Shogi and the professionals themselves took last week off as well, there is not much to report anyway. Shukan Shogi opens with the ten biggest news events in 1997. Of course all related to shogi. Here is the ranking: 1) Tanigawa Koji takes the Meijin title to become the 17th Lifetime Meijin and now holds both major titles. 2) Habu may have looked to be in Tanigawa's shadow this year, but the successful defense of four major titles with a score 4-0 (Osho, Tanigawa), 3-0 (Kio, Morishita), 4-1 (Oi, Sato) and 3-0 (Oza, Shima) combining for 14 wins and only one loss can hardly be called a slump. 3) 17-year old Yauchi takes the Ladies Oi title from Shimizu after a tough five game battle and secures her place as the frontrunner of the new teenage stars in women's shogi. 4) The computer beats Kasparov in chess. A computer also solves the Tsume Shogi problem "microcosmos" (1525 moves) after running for about 30 hours. Will Shogi be next? 5) Shimizu may have lost two of her titles, but by winning her fifth straight meijin title she has become only the second Lifetime Ladies Meijin (after Nakai). Tanigawa was not the only Lifetime Meijin of 1997... 6) Yashiki wins the Kisei title by beating Miura after an absence of six years from the major title match stage. More money to spend on the speedboat race tracks :-). 7) For the first time in 1997, the NHK had a special program on the last day of the A-class Junisen, which was several hours long. This proves that Shogi is still growing in popularity, and that there is a "Habu-effect". 8) Biggest surprise of the year was undoubtedly Sanada's run in the Ryu-O tournament. Beating favourite after favourite, he could only be stopped by the title holder himself. 9) Saida took the Ladies Osho title that had been firmly in Shimizu's hands for three years. This meant Shimizu was no longer holding all major women's titles. 10) Recently Shogi's stars have all been in their twenties, but in 1997 Inoue showed that it is still possible to reach the top level at a slower pace. He made his debut in the A-class at 33 years of age, after having spent a long time in the lower classes. For example, it took him seven years to get out of C2. 1998 is also the year of the Tiger. This should be a lucky year for those born 12, 24, 36 and 48 year ago. Among Shogi professionals this would mean another good year for Tanigawa (born 36 years ago). It will be hard for him to top last years' performance. Also watch Nakamura, who also becomes 36 this year. Other professionals born in a Tiger year are Miura and Suzuki Daisuke (both 24 years ago). The only lady Tiger is Funato (1-dan). There were also some games, albeit not many: a) Waki beat Fukaura in Group C of the Kisei league. For both players it is their first game of three, but Fukaura will now have to win against both Nakahara and Yonenaga to go through to the knock-out finals. b) Sato Yasumitsu reached the quarter finals of the Zen Nihon pro tournament. This year's tournament might have an exciting final match with all title holders still in the tournament. c) Minami and Yashiki played in the first round of the first group of the Ryu-O tournament. Minami shows some great form recently and won the game to end Yashiki's 15 game winning streak. In next week's Shukan Shogi much more real Shogi with the first game of the Oi match between Habu and Sato and two A-class Junisen games: Morishita-Shima and Moriuchi-Inoue. Who will start 1998 best? Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp WWW: http://www.etl.go.jp:8080/etl/suiron/~grimberg Tel: +81-(0)298-54-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918