From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 24 nov 1998 Subject: Re: Habu ...? George Jost SYMPATICO CA> writes: > Do you think Habu will make a come back. I guess he still is doing > well (?3 crowns) but do you think he will go for the Ryu or > Meijin again??? How do you think he fairs against the others. In my opinion Habu does not need to make a comeback, because he has never been away. He still has four major titles and a 66% winning season against very strong opposition. Taking all seven major titles was a unique achievement that will probably never happen again. He is definitely the only one who can do it again, but there seems to be more opposition now. Furthermore, he is already out of the Meijin challenger race, so it will take at least another year. I personally do not believe that Habu can find the burning ambition needed to win all seven crowns again (the "been there, done that" syndrome). But then again, I was surprised that he kept his Oza title after going 2-0 behind (or maybe it was more that Tanigawa lost than that Habu won). > What is Fujii's style? How does it compare to Habu or Tanakawa? Fujii's style is that of a new breed of Furibisha players: the Furibisha attackers. In the times of the great Oyama, Ranging Rook was an opening for defenders. Building a strong castle, waiting for the opponent's attack and then countering with the pieces gained was the classic Furibisha style. This no longer seems true. Young players like Fujii, Suzuki Daisuke, Sugimoto and Kubota now use the Furisbisha as an attacking opening. This has been very successful recently. Fujii has been the best of the lot and this has given him the Ryu-O title this year. Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Games Lab Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp URL: http://www.etl.go.jp/etl/suiron/~grimberg/ Tel: +81-(0)298-54-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918