From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 16 nov 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 866, November 15th 2000) No title match game last week, so Shukan Shogi opens with some slightly disappointing news. Top amateur Yamada, who had quickly made a name for himself by beating professionals Nakao, Ouchi and Yashiki to reach the fourth round of the Zen Nihon Pro tournament, was stopped by Chuza. Chuza was under a lot of pressure to uphold the honour of the professional players, but he responded well. Even though he said that he already started sleeping badly a week before the game, this did not show in the game at all. Chuza got a slightly better position after the opening and when Yamada overlooked a combination that cost him a knight Chuza was clearly in the driving seat. However, a double anaguma game is always nasty and Yamada did what he could to stay in the game so Chuza needed some fine play to win. Still, Yamada might have given in a little too early, as he missed an opportunity at the end to make it hard for Chuza again. So no Habu-Yamada in the next round, but Habu-Chuza instead. If Habu can beat Ishikawa, that is... Goda reached the final of the Kio challenger tournament with a win over Maruyama. Since Maruyama took the Meijin title, his form has dropped considerably. Especially for someone as shy as Maruyama, the responsibilities of the Meijin title may weigh heavy and can have a serious negative impact on the level of play. I think that a year ago Maruyama would not have lost this game against Goda. He got a solid advantage after the opening and in his former terminator mode that would have been enough for the win. However, Goda is actually recovering from a long slump and showed that in this game by keeping it close until the endgame. There, Maruyama made a serious mistake that let Goda in to win the game. Last week a lot of activity in the A class Junisen, where no less than four of the five fifth round games was played. Most attention was focussed on the game between Sato and Habu. Both had a 3-1 record going into the game and a win against a rival would mean a big step towards challenging Meijin Maruyama. It became a fine victory for Sato. Habu's tough schedule might have had something to do with it, but all credit to Sato who made the game into a fine example of piece positioning over material. Even though he was a bishop down in the late middle game, all his pieces were working perfectly and Habu had no chance to get back in the game. A major setback for Habu's ambitions to take all seven major titles again, but for Sato this is a vital win to have the chance to revenge his seven game loss of the Meijin title earlier this year. Still, he will have to deal with a very strong Tanigawa, who joined Sato in the lead after an impressive victory over Shima. Tanigawa showed superiority in opening, middle game and endgame and pushed Shima further in the cellar of the A class. Shima now is in dire trouble with a 1-4 score. More bad news for Shima was the victory of Aono over Morishita. Aono had never beaten Morishita in their previous nine encounters, but he picked a great time to end this horrible losing streak. It was not easy, as Morishita seemed to have the advantage in the endgame after an early Aono lead. However, one mistake by Morishita turned around the game and with some fine endgame play Aono got his second A class victory. He is definitely not out of trouble yet, but for the first time this season he is no longer on a relegation spot. He actually jumped over Senzaki, who lost a very important game against relegation rival Tanaka. There was nothing much he could do about that, as an early mistake made his position very hard to hold. Still, in the endgame he missed a chance to make a fight out of it and after that it was all over. To summarise, Sato, Tanigawa and Moriuchi (if he wins his game against Kato on the 24th) will probably decide the challenger of Maruyama. Relegation is even tighter, as Shima, Kato, Senzaki, Aono, Tanaka and even Morishita are 2-3 or worse. Only Habu seems to be heading for a quiet end of the Junisen season. He might welcome a little rest... In B1 the 8th round was played last week and this class is getting more exciting every round as leaders continue to bite the dust. This time it was Minami, who is aiming for a return to the top class after a six year absence. His fine 5-1 record had brought him to the top of B1, but a loss against Kamiya made him drop back into the field. It was a tough loss, as Minami was winning in the endgame, but could not find the right move after using 19 out of the 28 minutes he had left. Kamiya had seen the right one and was very relieved when he saw Minami moving a different piece. Minami was overtaken by Goda, who continued showing good form with a convincing win over Fukuzaki. Goda now has a fine 6-2 record, just like Miura, who beat Mori. Fujii further upped the pressure by beating Inoue in a game that could have gone either way. Fujii now has the same 5-2 record as Minami. It seems that these four players will decide who will promote to the A class next year. It is interesting that the only meeting left between these players is the game between Minami and Fujii in the final round. This means that Miura is actually the only one who does not have his chances in his own hands. With all four players capable of winning all their remaining games, this might become very big. More next week with the 3rd game of the Ryu-O match between Fujii and Habu, which is under way as I write this, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Games Lab Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305-8568 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp URL: http://www.etl.go.jp/etl/suiron/~grimberg/ Tel: +81-(0)298-61-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-61-5918