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Habu vs Tanigawa in Ryu-O

No title match game last week, but some important other games were played. First of all, Habu and Tanigawa met again, this time they played in the challenger tournament of the Ryu-O. A big game, as the winner would play a best-of-three match with Sato Yasumitsu to decide the challenger of Ryu-O Fujii.

The R8e Yokofudori game was very complicated and both players did not have faith in their position, even though in the press room the opinion was that Tanigawa was slightly better. However, Tanigawa had decided to play the position calmly and that might have not been the best strategy, as Habu managed to take the initiative. Tanigawa attacked strongly, and seemed to have good chances when he won a bishop. Habu used the time to take this bishop for strengthening his attack and this turned out to be decisive, even though he needed another Tanigawa mistake to convert his advantage into a win.

So Sato will meet Habu in the challenger match. Habu should be considered the favourite, considering that he has a 38-17 score against Sato, but one can never tell in a short best-of-three match, where the first game is so important. The first game will be played on August 24th.

Other shogi news

Fourth round of B1
Third round of B2
Amateur beats 9-dan!