Yamasaki misses a certain victory
Yamasaki came very close to winning his first major title by beating Kitahama in the second game of the Shinjin-O match after he had already won game 1 of this best-of-three match. Everything seemed to be going to plan as he came out of the Kakugawari opening with a big advantage. However, with the victory almost certain, he played an unbelievable blunder by giving away a bishop for almost nothing. Kitahama jumped at this chance to get the match into a decisive third game. A very tough loss for 19-year old Yamasaki. Can he make the mental adjustment to fire himself up for the final game?
Tanigawa kills Sato in Osho league
In the Osho league a big game was played as leaders Sato and Tanigawa met in the third round. Both had 2-0 scores going into this game and a victory would mean a major step forward to winning the league and challenging Habu for the title. It was another complicated R8e Yokofudori battle where Sato (with
black) won a lance, but Tanigawa had compensation strong pressure
against the king. Even at professional level defence is more
difficult than attack, as Sato made a small mistake that was
enough to give Tanigawa's attack decisive power. Tanigawa is a specialist in quickly killing opponents if he gets a good attack going and in the end he won in only 76 moves. Another
Habu-Tanigawa match to start the 21st century?
|
|
