Perhaps even more important than the Kio title matches are the
decisions in all Junisen classes. Especially the final round of the
A class was on the front page of Shukan Shogi, while the second Kio
match game was on the back. Here is an overview of the final round
in all the classes.
A Junisen
In the A class the fight for challenging Meijin Maruyama was down
to two players. Sato and Tanigawa would play for first place in the
A class. It became a rather predictable game. Tanigawa had black and
played his favourite Kakugawari opening, an opening that Sato has had
so much troubles with in their previous Meijin matches. The trauma
increases as Sato again lost a vital game against Tanigawa's ace
opening. Tanigawa therefore gets the chance for another Meijin title.
With Maruyama in a slump for a long time now, Tanigawa is favourite
to win, but he still has a losing record against Maruyama going into
the match (8-9).
The fight against relegation was pretty tight this year. With one round
to play, no player was without hope. Shima, Senzaki, Kato and Tanaka
were all in danger of falling to B1, but winning their final game also
gave them good chances to survive.
Shima played Senzaki and that was
a straight survival game. The winner would be safe, the loser would
almost certainly go down. Surprisingly, Senzaki won this game. Shima
has been flirting with death for a couple of years now and he finally
dropped over the edge. He attacked violently against Senzaki, but
Senzaki kept his cool and won from defence. Shima still had a chance
to save himself if both Kato and Tanaka would lose, but the first game
to finish on the day was the game between Kato and Morishita.
Kato crushed Morishita in what must have been a very frustrating game for
Morishita as all his Meijin title ambitions ended in a rather poor
4-5 record. With Kato winning and Shima losing, Tanaka was also
certain of relegation. His loss in the final game against Habu did
not matter. The final game was between Aono and Moriuchi. With both
players safe there was no real edge to this encounter and this might
have been why Aono scored a very good win. Thought of by everyone as
the number one candidate to drop back to B1 immediately, he ended with
a fine 5-4 record among the best players in the world. The fifth
position in the class next year will give him some breathing space
for the next season.
B1 Junisen
In B1 there was a lot more drama than expected. Miura and Goda were
the players with their chances in their own hands and Fujii could
only hope for a mistake by either of them to get into the A class for
next year. He got more than he hoped for as both Miura and Goda lost
their final game. Miura against Takahashi and Goda against Nakamura.
This meant that Fujii took first place in the class with a 9-3 score
and that Goda became the odd man out after his unfortunate relegation
last year.
Miura was convinced that promotion had slipped away and
when he was told after his game that he promoted anyway, his first
reaction was a single syllable cry of surprise. For Miura it was the
first time that he got promoted after losing his final game. With
Ryu-O Fujii and former Kisei Miura the A class will be stronger than
ever before next year. A very interesting battle to look forward to.
As for relegation, Kobayashi was already certain to go down to B2, but
it was still very much a question who would go down with him. Fukuzaki
was in a very bad position with only three wins, but he still had his
chances in his own hands as his rivals Mori (4-7) and Kamiya (3-8)
played each other. This was good enough for Fukuzaki to save his place,
as he beat Kiriyama in the final game. Kamiya had the upper hand
all through the game, but 54-year old year Mori fought hard to avoid
the inevitable. In the end the long uphill battle took its toll (or
maybe it was the fifteen years age difference) and Mori lost.
B2 Junisen
Probably the most sorry figure in this Junisen season is Tsukada.
He was big star in his early twenties, winning the Oza title and
climbing quickly to the A class, generally impressing with his
"100% attack" shogi style.
However, after he got 30 things started
to get more difficult and he first dropped from the A class and then
also from B1. However, this year would mark his comeback. He was in
the top ten in winning percentage with over 70% and he had a rocket
start in B2, winning his first seven games. After this there was a
small setback against Urano, but with a win in the next to final
round he was still the top seed and needed only to beat Tamaru to
get back to B1. This should be no problem, as Tamaru is having a
terrible season: a 25% winning percentage and only one win from
nine games in B1. But see what happens, Tsukada cracks under the
pressure and loses this all-important game. Goodbye to promotion and
goodbye to his comeback.
No help from his rivals this time as both Kubo
and Abe won their games. Kubo crowns a fine season with his second
promotion in a row and will be a favourite for promotion again
next year. Abe (33) was considered a great talent when he promoted
to 4-dan at 18, but somehow this never translated in great results.
Maybe getting close to the A class will give him the inspiration to
shine.
C1 Junisen
Much less excitement in C1. Many players had a chance to promote at
some point, but in the final round nothing changed in the order as
the two players who had their chances in their own hands both won.
Namekata had an easy game against relegated Sakurai who was crushed
straight from the opening. After only 75 moves and at only 19:22 in
the evening the one-sided fight was over and Namekata had jumped out
of the piranha pool as C1 is sometimes called. The second player
to promote was Sato Shuji. He played Kobayashi Hiroshi and will have
felt some extra nerves when he saw his opponent enter the playing
room in formal kimono. Required in title matches and sometimes worn
in vital challenger games or in the A class, but a rarity this far
down the pecking order.
Kobayashi was still in danger of getting a
relegation marker and wanted to fire himself a little bit more. It
was all in vain, as it brought Kobayashi nothing. Sato was leading
all through the game and didn't seem bothered by his opponent's
appearance at all. Abe promotes in his third year in the class and
has been close every year with 8, 7 and 8 wins, a very good record.
C2 Junisen
In C2 also a lot of drama even though here everything in the end
turned out as was expected before the round. Kobayashi Hiroshi,
Nozuki and Iizuka had their chance in their own hands and they were
the three players to promote.
Kobayashi had only one loss, but he
lost his final game Noda and then had to wait a couple of agonizing
hours for the result of the game between Chuza and Kawakami. If Chuza
won, he would have been promoted, but instead it became a traumatic
experience. In byoyomi Chuza could not find a mate where there might
have been one and after a long sequence of checks that did not lead
to mate he had to resign.
The game that was watched most closely
was the game between Nozuki and the 16-year old genius Watanabe.
The pressure on Nozuki for this game must have been immense, but
he showed that he has nerves of steel by keeping off the "new Habu"
for at least a little longer. As the other results went, Watanabe
would actually have been promoted in his first Junisen year if he
had won this game. Disappointment is said to build character, so
we can expect an even more invincible Watanabe in a couple of years...
I must admit that I am very happy for Iizuka for finally making it out
of C2. He must have been in the close for almost ten years now, and
always seems to be close to promoting. At least once he lost promotion
by losing his final game. At 31 it seems that he spent too much time
in C2 to become a real top player, but maybe it is not too late.
This ends the Junisen season, but there are also some other bits
and pieces:
Quarterfinals in Kisei
The final places in the Kisei challenger finals have been
decided. The four remaining spots in the quarter finals were
won by Goda (beating Awaji), Suzuki Daisuke (a surprise victory over
Moriuchi), Tanigawa (a win over Yonenaga) and Namekata (who beat
Hatakeyama Nariyuki). The quarter final line-up is as follows:
Fujii-Goda, Namekata-Sato Yasumitsu, Nakagawa-Suzuki and
Fukaura-Tanigawa. Interesting games, but one would expect Fujii,
Sato or Tanigawa to be the next challenger of Habu.
Fighting spirit makes Saita Ladies Meijin
Saita won her first Ladies Meijin title by winning the decisive
5th game against title holder Nakai. Becoming ladies Meijin fifteen
years after making her debut as a pro is a little bit of a surprise,
especially with all the girl power in shogi these days. Saita's
fighting spirit is outstanding. She was in trouble in most of the
games in the match, but she never gave up and that brought her the
meijin title. The final game was like the rest of the match. Nakai
got a big advantage after the opening, but Saita made it difficult and
Nakai got confused, losing her way in the endgame.
New professionals dominate
We have two new professionals. Hashimoto Takanori and Sasaki Makoto
did not wait for the full 3-dan league to finish, but already promoted
two rounds before the end (both players also won their final two games
for good measure). Hashimoto is the younger of the two at 18 and plays
both Furibisha and Yagura. He wants to be a popular player. Sasaki is
21 years old and plays Shikenbisha, admiring the Furibisha gang
Fujii, Kubo and Suzuki. He wants to have a long career as a pro.
The dominance of these two players in the 3-dan league promises a lot.
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