Upsets in A class
For a while, it seemed that the A class would be clearly divided in a group fighting for challenging Meijin Maruyama and a group fighting relegation. This is still more or less the case, but in the last couple of rounds there have been a number of upsets between these two groups.
Last week there was another one as Kato
(1-3) beat Moriuchi (3-1). Moreover, he did this more or less
straight from the opening. Moriuchi was so unhappy with his
position that he even missed a chance to get back in the game after Kato played his attack a little too quickly. Moriuchi dropped a lance in defence that he needed to set up a strong attack and lost quickly after that. With the lance he had a strong (probably winning) attack, without the lance he had nothing.
So, Moriuchi drops from the lead after two consecutive losses. He does not have time to think about that long, because he plays Tanigawa already this week. Losing that game would end his hopes, but winning this game would mean that he and Tanigawa end up with the same 4-2 score, with only Sato to catch up with.
Tsukada leads in B2
In B2 the 6th round was played last week. After five rounds only
Tsukada had a 100% score and he seems determined to get back to
B1 after being in a slump for a couple of years, sliding down from the A class to B2. Tsukada played Arimori and this was a typical Junisen game. A very slow build-up that lasts all day, followed by a violent fight in the evening.
Tsukada seemed to have the edge, but when he made a mistake in defending against Arimori's desperate attack, things became very complicated. Tsukada needed to find some difficult moves to survive, but he managed to do so and won. He is now very close to returning to B1 as none of his remaining four opponents currently has more than a 2-4 score. Moreover, he only needs three wins out of four to secure promotion. The question seems to be who will accompany him to B1.
The most interesting game in this respect was the game between Kubo (4-1) and Fukaura (3-2). Kubo has just promoted to B2 and two losses with a low Junisen position is almost certainly not enough. Fukaura just missed promotion to B1 last year, so with two losses still can hope to sneak in through the back door this year with his high Junisen ranking. In short, for the loser the Junisen season would be over.
For a long time it looked like this would be Kubo, who seemed to
have a horrible position after the opening. However, this game
was another sign of how deep shogi really is, as Kubo managed to claw back in the game and win without Fukaura making any obvious mistakes. Kubo was even more lucky as Nakagawa and Hatakeyama both lost, so he is now the only player with a 5-1 score. Abe, Nakagawa, Izumi, Hatakeyama, Tomioka and Suzuki Daisuke all have 4-2 scores, waiting for a mistake by Kubo. However, Kubo also seems to have an easy schedule, with only a game against Hatakeyama that might be hard.
A rare incident in C2 class
Also in C2, round 6 was played. The only two players with five wins going into the round were Naganuma and Yamamoto.
However, attention first went to the game between Ito Hatasu and Tachi, which ended early in the afternoon after Ito played two moves in a row. A rare incident in professional games, but of course an immediate loss.
Naganuma had a tough opponent in Chuza, who had a 4-1 record so far. In the middle game he overplayed his position with a king still outside of the castle and lost in only 96 moves. Yamamoto also had a difficult time, as Kubota came out of the opening with a solid advantage. However, in tough times the anaguma can be a great help as Yamamoto did everything to keep the game close and slowly managed to turn things around and win.
So Yamamoto is now the only player without a loss in C2. With his bad Junisen ranking after he completely blew it last season (he is ranked 31st) he can not relax, as he is followed by Nozuki, Chuza, Kobayashi, Naganuma and Akutsu, the surprising 18-year old rookie, who beat Masuda.Moreover, Yamamoto plays Nozuki and Chuza next. The battle for the three spots in C1 is still wide open.
Tanigawa out of reach in Osho league
With a third of the games in the Osho league still left to play,
Tanigawa already has decided the challengership race. He only needed to win against his only remaining rival Nakahara to be out of reach and he did so in great style. After an early mistake by Nakahara he got a solid advantage in the middle game which he carried over to the endgame. There he again showed his exceptional endgame skills with a nice silver sacrifice that finished off Nakahara very quickly. Tanigawa has not had much luck against Habu this year, but maybe this will change in the first Habu-Tanigawa match of the 21st century.
Semifinal in Kio challenger tournament
In the Kio challenger tournament the semi-final between Tanigawa
and Kubo was played. Actually, these two players had met five
days before for their game in the Osho league and for 22 moves the games developed exactly the same way.
Even though he won the game in the Osho league, Tanigawa was the one to choose a different variation this time. He might have been sorry, as he overlooked a nasty Kubo counter to his quick attack and it was all Kubo after that who won in only 86 moves.
Kubo will now meet Goda in the final of the main section of the Kio challenger tournament. Because of the special Kio tournament system, Tanigawa gets a chance to fight his way back through the second chance round, where he will meet Maruyama first.
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