From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 5 sep 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 907, September 5th 2001) No title match games in Shukan Shogi this week, so this is going to be a short report. The most important games last week was the second round game in the A class Junisen between Tanigawa and Morishita. Morishita had lost his first game, so needed to win to stay in the challenger race. Tanigawa had won his first game, but in this class of champions every game is vital and I'm sure he wants to take revenge for his dramatic loss in the Meijin match against Maruyama. The game was a great fight that could have gone either way. Morishita got out of the opnening with an advantage after an overplay by Tanigawa. However, a mistake in the middle game which had Morishita change his plans turned the tables. Tanigawa, now in the driver seat, had a lot of problems with Morishita's outstanding defensive skills (helped by the strong anaguma), and slowly Morishita clawed himself back into the game and got a chance to win the very close endgame. In byoyomi he made a mistake in the order of moves, overlooking a fine combination by his opponent. In the end it was Tanigawa who won, but he had to work very, very hard for this point. Still, a win is a win and he will be going into the next game with confidence. He will need that, as he plays Fujii next, who also has two wins. Morishita, on the other hand, suddenly finds himself in a struggle with relegation. He has to play Miura next, who is also still looking for his first win. In C2 the third round was played and only six of the 42 players in this class remained undefeated. It was a strange round in that there were quite a number of players late for their games. Every minute late is tripled, so the penalty can be quite severe. The worst latecomer was Yamasaki, who was more than an hour late and therefore had half of his time taken away from him. His opponent, Yamamoto, might have been influenced by this, as Yamasaki won in only 74 moves after a big mistake by his opponent in the middle game. This was Yamasaki's 100th victory as a professional, automatically promoting him to 5-dan. Coming late doesn't always work, as Yagura also was late for his game (in this case only 4 minutes), but still suffered a surprising loss against veteran Maeda. Here some psychology was involved as well, as Yagura got a good position and in his eagerness to win against an opponent that he thought could be beaten, he overplayed his hand. Kondo also fell from the lead, but this was by losing against prodigy Watanabe, who showed better strategic judgment in the middle game of Kondo's "Gokigenbisha" (a quick central rook attack which is Kondo's specialty). The six leaders are now Toyokawa, Tamura, Takano, Matsuo, Ito No and Takeichi. Some surprising names among the leaders, so this year's C2 promises to be a very exciting promotion race. In the next round Toyokawa will play Watanabe in what should be the most interesting game. In the Kio tournament, this year's challenger Kubo started well with a win against Abe. It was a violent aifuribisha game which was finally won by Kubo after 143 moves. Kubo is certain to meet a tough opponent in the next round, as he will play the winner of the game between Fujii and Fukaura. That's all for this week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Department of Information Science Saga University 1 Honjo-machi, Saga-shi, 840-8502 Japan E-mail: grimbergen fu is saga-u ac jp URL: http://www.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp/~grimberg/ Tel: +81-(0)952-28-8821 Fax: +81-(0)952-28-8650