Ryu-O semi-finals
The battle for challenging Ryu-O Fujii is also in its final stages. Tanigawa (who else) and Sato Yasumitsu reached the semi-finals with victories over Yashiki and Yonenaga respectively. Sato had a tough battle against Yonenaga and seemed to have a disadvantage for a long time. However, in the endgame he showed that a weak looking castle was actually surprisingly difficult to break down and he won by showing perfect defensive skills.
Tanigawa's victory was not a real surprise. Not only is he in great form, he is the worst possible opponent for Yashiki, who has an abysmal 1-8 score against him. Again a quick victory for Tanigawa in only 92 moves where Yashiki had only one chance to make it interesting. Tanigawa will now play the winner of the game between Habu and Hatakeyama, who beat Yamamoto in an up and down game. Another Habu-Tanigawa game coming up?
Junisen A class
In the A class the final game of the first round was played between former Meijin Sato and Aono. Aono showed his fighting spirit by playing the game in official kimono. When Sato saw this, he followed Aono's example after the lunch break. Aono seemed to have the better position for most of the game, but Sato made it very difficult for him to find the correct way to attack. Aono then made a mistake and lost quickly. A victory that had probably some psychological aspects, as the post mortem analysis surprisingly failed to come up with a win for Aono. His mistake was probably caused by the idea that he had a good position and he tried too hard to force the win. Sato will be happy to get off to a good start, as history has shown that it is very difficult to challenge for the meijin title immediately after a player has lost it.
Mud fight in B1 class
In B1 the third round was played and it seems that we are in for a mud fight for promotion this year. After the dust had settled, Miura was the only undefeated player left. Like in last year's Junisen, he again beat Ryu-O Fujii, who dropped to 2-1. It was a very close game that in the end was decided by the right timing to play a check. Fujii failed to see the significance of this and lost. Co-leader Fukuzaki lost against Kamiya after missing an early chance to get a very good position. Goda, the final player without a loss after two games, lost to Minami. No comments on that one in Shukan Shogi, which to me is an indication that Goda played a bad game. Still everything to fight for in this 13 round class. However, Miura already has stated his promotion claim with wins over Kamiya, Nakahara and Fujii.
Junisen B2 class
In B2 things also promise to be very interesting this year. After the second round there are 6 players with two wins, but only Kubo was named as promotion favourite before the season started. Izumi, Hatakeyama, Tsukada, Tanaka Kaishu and Azuma (surprise win over Suzuki Daisuke) are the other undefeated players, but I doubt if any of them is able to keep his winning streak going. This is good news for promotion favourites Fukaura and Abe, who recovered from a loss in the first round with victories over veterans Tamaru and Ishida. Still, they will probably need to win all of their remaining games to have a chance to get to B1
next year. In the third round the game between Fukaura and Suzuki seems to be very interesting.
Junisen C1 class
Yashiki did it again! Being stuck in C1 for ten years, it seemed finally time for him to say goodbye to the piranha pool and move on. However, this year he has also suffered an early setback as he was beaten by Manabe in the second round. The loss was made extra painful by the fact that he was winning for most of the game, but a blunder in the endgame cost him dearly. Of course it is too early to despair, but Yashiki again will have to come from behind. Undefeated players in C1 after two rounds are Awaji, Manabe (both just dropped from B2), Namekata (promotion favourite number one), Hiura (did not play in the first round, so has only one win), Ogura, Nakata Hiroki, Nishimura and Horiguchi Kazushiza.
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