From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 23 jan 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 721, January 21st 1998) This week Shukan Shogi opens with the three remaining games in the seventh round of the A class Junisen. After Morishita already lost against Shima, most attention was on the game between Habu and Yonenaga. Habu could take the lead in the class, while Yonenaga really needed a win to keep to improve his desperate situation (almost at the bottom of the class and so far only two wins). Yonenaga took the game very seriously, because he appeared in formal kimono, the wear usually only used in title match games. I do not know if that was deciding, but Yonenaga did manage to win the game that couls have gone either way. So, still two leaders and some breathing space for Yonenaga. Sato against Kato was a game where both players had three wins and three losses. The momentum was clearly with Sato, though. After a bad start (1-3), he had won his last two games. On the other hand, Kato won his first three games and then lost three in a row. Therefore it was no surprise that Sato won. In the third game Takahashi was beaten by Nakahara. For Takahashi this meant relegation back to B1 after only one year back in the top class. Nakahara scored his fourth win and that means that he secures his place in the top class for another year and still has a chance for another Meijin title. The situation in the A-class with only two rounds remaining is as follows: leaders are Habu and Morishita with 5-2 and they will probably decide who will challenge Meijin Tanigawa. For the remaining relegation spot there are only four players: Moriuchi, Kato, Yonenaga and Inoue. Because the nest round has the game between Yonenaga and Inoue, Kato and Moriuchi need only one win from two games to save themselves from relegation. I think it is very likely that Inoue's stay in the top class will be only one year, despite his great start. In C1 round eight was played last week and there were a lot of surprising results. First of all, leader Sensaki, who needed only one win to promote to B2, lost to Hatakeyama. However, second place Suzuki Daisuke also lost, against Kisei Yashiki. Suzuki now has lost two in a row, which normally would take him out of the fight for promotion considering his bad position in the class. However, he still has the chances in his own hands after Hiura, I.Nakata and Sanada all lost their third game. The only other player with two losses is Kitahama, who had a very bad Junisen season last year and is placed even lower than Suzuki, who promoted last year from C2. Interestingly enough, they are followed by Yashiki, who seemed to have lost all chances after losing his first three games, but then won five in a row. He needs to win both of his remaining games and a loss by Suzuki and Kitahama to promote. For Sensaki the situation still is the same: he needs only one win to promote. Also, if either Suzuki or Kitahama lose, he is also certain of promotion. The fight seems to be for the second spot... The other big headline in Shukan Shogi is for Goda, who after failing to win the decisive game in the Kisei, Oi and Oza last year, finally manages to return to the big stage of a title match, the Kio. A couple of months ago, after losing to Minami in this same tournament, he did not even want to play in the loser's second chance. However, now he will be glad he did, because he beat Minami for the second time in a row to become the challenger of Habu. The Kio match will start on February 14th. In the Kisei leagues there was a surprising win by veteran Kiriyama over Goda. Kiriyama had also won his first game against rookie Kimura, but because of the league system he is still not sure of a place in the quarterfinals. Fukuara bounced back from a loss in the first round against Waki and kept his hopes of reaching the quarterfinals alive after beating Nakahara. Finlly, in the 24th ladies Meijin match, Meijin Shimizu took a 1-0 lead after a convincing win in a Hineribisha opening. -- 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