From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 3 aug 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 800, August 4th 1999) No title match game last week, so only a short report on the 800th issue of Shukan Shogi. In those 800 issues Tanigawa appeared on the cover 254 times, while Habu is second with 222 times. This week it is Suzuki Daisuke who appears on the cover (first time?). He beat Tanigawa in the quarterfinals of the Ryu-O challenger tournament. A tough game where Tanigawa seemed to have the upper hand in attacking Suzuki favourite Shikenbisha Anaguma. However, Suzuki found a very nice defence to stop Tanigawa's attack and even though Tanigawa tried everything, Suzuki won the game. The Ryu-O tournament gives strong young players an ideal platform to show their strength. Will Suzuki be able to get all the way to the title like Fujii last year? It is a little early to take about that, since all of the other three semi-finalists are very strong. Biggest surprise is perhaps Inoue, who beat Meijin Sato. Inoue seemed to take advantage of a Sato mistake in the middle game of the R8e Yokofudori, but when he made a mistake in the endgame he was almost mated. He just managed to survive and get his eight consecutive win. He is in great form, but his next opponent is Maruyama, who has yet to lose a game in the 1999-2000 season. The last semi-finalist is Moriuchi, who showed Hatakeyama Mamoru that it is still possible to get a good win with white in the Yagura. Moriuchi showed that he had judged the middle game better and quickly disposed of Hatakeyama. This year has not been Moriuchi's best with losses in the A class play-off, the Zen-Nihon Pro Tournament and the Kisei challenger final. Of course, an appearance in the Ryu-O title match would more than make up for this. One final interesting detail about the Ryu-O match this year: none of the semi-finalists has played for the Ryu-O title before (and only Moriuchi has title match experience). The match will definitely have a new look. A good week for Goda. After an abysmal season so far, he seems to have the worst behind him. He beat Ono to reach the best 16 in the Kio tournament, but more important was his victory over Nakahara in the semi-finals of the Oza challenger tournament. More than the win, the way he won will be important to Goda. He played very well after an early overplay by Nakahara in the R8e Yokofudori. A combination of solid defence and strong attack got him a spot in the challenger final for the second year in a row. Last year he lost in the final against Tanigawa after an unbelievable blunder. Can do better this year? He will not be the favourite though, since his opponent is the invincible looking Maruyama. More next week, 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