From: Manabu Terao mx3 ttcn ne jp> Date: 14 apr 2006 Subject: Meijin-sen sponsorship Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Is your computer freezing up or slowing down? Repair corrupt files and harmful errors - protect your PC Take a 2-minute PC health check-up at no charge! http://click.topica.com/= caaeE3va2i6YsbnuqMaa/PC Powerscan ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear shogi fans, This might be not so interesting to overseas shogi fans, but it's one of th= e hottest topics in the shogi world in Japan. According to plural sources, the board of Nihon Shogi Renmei(NSR) notified = to Mainichi Shimbun that they would not renew the contract of Meijin-sen with Mainichi from 2007 onwards. Their intention is to switch the sponsorship to= Asahi shimbun to improve their financial situation, since Asahi would be ab= le=20 to afford better money than Mainichi reportedly. The news was at first repo= rted by Sankei shimbun in the morning of April 12. And many papers covered the t= opic and there has been a lot of discussion in BBS and blogs(e.g. the Blog opene= d by Ryuoh Watanabe already have more than 90 comments on this topic) which hand= les shogi topics since the sponsorship of Meijinsen were moved backward and for= ward between Mainichi and Asahi in the history, the decision to quit Mainichi wa= s made in the board without notifying other professional players in advance, = and=20 the way of notification to Mainichi seemed too sudden and lack of courtesy.= The decision of the board is not final in NSR. It should be voted in the= =20 general meeting on May 26. I do not foresee how things are going exactly. B= ut=20 in my opinion, Asahi Open Championship will be no longer held if the sponso= rship of Meijinsen is moved to Asahi. It means less opportunity for Ama and ladie= s pro to play official games with pro players. Manabu Terao --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: = shogi-l shogi net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a2i6Ys.= bnuqMa.= c2hvZ2kt Or send an email to: shogi-unsubscribe topica com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=3DTEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------