21 June 2006            Kisei title match

Sato won the 2nd game of title match against Suzuki on 97 move. Score is 2-0 on Sato and he has a good chances to win Kisei title the 5th time in succession. If it will be happened Sato get the Lifetime Kisei. In previous Kisei title matches Sato beat Goda, Maruyama, Moriuchi and Habu. It seems that Suzuki will be added to this list soon. It is necessary to get 3 wins to be a Kisei titleholder thats why Suzuki are in critical situation. The 3rd game will be played on July, 5.

20 June 2006            Shogi in France

It was held the 2nd Paris Open. 12 players from France, Sweden and Japan took part in this shogi event. The best French player Eric Cheymol won the tournament with result 5-1. The second place took part Kazuhiro Mizutani (Japan) lost the only game against winner. On 3rd place Frederic Pottier (France) with 4 victories. This tournament was a godd practice before European Shogi Championship in Colmar (France).

18 June 2006            Meijin title match

Moriuchi won the 6th game against Tanigawa on 109 move. The score of match is 4-2 on Moriuchi and he keep the Meijin title the 3rd time in succession. It is the 4th Meijin title for Moriuchi and he is the real pretender to be the 18th lifetime Meijin. Some years ago it was seemed that Habu will the 18th lifetime Meijin. Habu also has 4 Meijin titles (it is necessary to get 5 titles to be a lifetime Meijin). But this time the chances of Moriuchi look more preferable.

15 June 2006            65th Meijin tournament

It was started the 65th Meijin. On June 14 Fukaura beat Miura on 75 move in Group A. On June 9 it was started tournament in Group B1. Suzuki and Morishita failed in Group A last year got the victories in first round. The tournament in Group C1 with 29 participants was started on June 6. The tournament in Group B2 will started on June 16, in Group C2 - on June 20.

15 June 2006            Women Osho title match

R.Chiba won the 5th game against H.Nakai on 126 move. The score of match is 3-2 on Chiba. R.Chiba got Osho title the second time. She became the 4th player after Takojima Akiko, Hayashiba Naoko and Shimizu Ichiyu who can save Osho title after first conquest the title.

11 June 2006            Belarus Championship

Belarus Championship is over. Peter Pavlovich won the match for 3rd place against Andrei Kasperivich with score 2-1. The winners of tournament are:
1.S.Korchitskij,
2.A.Lysenko,
3.P.Pavlovich.
There were 14 participants in Belarus Championship and seven of them participated in shogi tournament the first time. Six of beginners are the students of Byelorussian state pedagogical university.

8 June 2006            Women Osho title match

R.Chiba won the 4th game against H.Nakai on 92 move. Score is equal 2-2. The next decisive game will be played on June, 13. Before this match Nakai played two Osho matches from 5 games and won one of them.

8 June 2006            Kisei title match

77th Kisei title match between Sato Yasumitsu and Suzuki Daisuke was started. Sato won the 1st game on 62th move. The 2nd game will be played on June, 20.

Sato won 4 previous Kisei titles and now he has a chance to be a lifetime Kisei if he beat Suzuki in this match. Sato has a good practice in title matches (8 titles in 14 matches). His opponent Suzuki has no such practice. Only once he participated in title match (12th Ryuo). But Suzuki will do all that he can in this match because of failure in Meijin tournament. In preliminary round Suzuki beat Habu, Morishita and Nakahara.

2 June 2006            Meijin title match

Tanigawa won the 5th game against Miriuchi on 111 move. The score is 3-2 on Moriuchi. The 6th game of the match will be played on June, 15-16 in city Nimi (prefecture Ishikawa).

30 May 2006            Women Osho title match

H.Nakai has some psychological advantage after victory in 3rd match game against R.Chiba on 126 move. Nakai spent 56 minutes less than Chiba (she had only 1 minute to the time limit). Nakai lost the 1st game of the match but then she won two games and lead with score 2-1. The 4th game will be played on June, 6.

20 May 2006            Belarus Championship

It was known the champion of Belarus. Sergei Korchitskij won the 3rd game against Andrei Lysenko and became the champion of Belarus the 3rd time. Final score is 3-0. Sergei Korchitskij demonstrates that hi is the best Belarus shogi player really. He won final matches 2004, 2005 and 2006 against opponents (Vladimir Nekrasov, Peter Pavlovich and Andrei Lysenko) with total score 8-0.

19 May 2006            Meijin title match

The forth game of Meijin title match was held 18-19 May. Meijin Moriuchi won the game against Tanigawa on 107th move and lead with score 3-1. It is interesting that Tanigawa didn't save any title match if he lost 1-3. Next game will be held on 1-2 June.

16 May 2006            Women Osho title match

On May 14th it was started Women Osho title match between Chiba Ryoko and Nakai Hiroe. The Osho Chiba won the fisrt game. The 2nd game wiil be played on May 21. It is neseccesory to win 3 games to get Osho title.

This Osho title match is the second one for Chiba (25 years old). Last year she won Osho match against Nakai 3-0. Nakai (36) plays in Osho title matches the 12th time (4 Osho titles). Statistic of games between Chiba and Nakai on May 15: Nakai has 22 wins, Chiba - 18 wins.

16 May 2006            Asahi-2006

Habu won the 4th game against Fujii in Asahi Open. Habu won the match with score 3-1 and became the Asahi champion 3rd time in succession. Before only Tanigawa showed such result but in "All the Japanese professional tournament".

14 May 2006            Belarus Championship

It was started the final of Belarus Championshp between Sergei Korchitskij and Andrei Lysenko. After two games S.Korchitskij leads with score 2-0. The final will be continued on 20 May.

13 May 2006            Meijin title match

The third game of Meijin title match was held 11-12 May in prefecture Kagawa. Meijin Moriuchi lost the game against Tanigawa on 107th move and lead with score 2-1. Next game will be held on 18-19 May.

7 May 2006            World Computer Championship

The 16th World Computer Shogi Championship was held in Japan (prefecture Chiba, city Kisarazu) on May, 3-5, 2006. There were 43 participants in this shogi event. It was a real surprise that a newcomer of championship Bonanza win the 1st prize. It began from lower division (3 May, 24 participants, swiss-style) with result 7 wins in 7 games (7 game, 7 wins). Than Bonanza got the 4th place in upper division (4 May, 24 participants, swiss-style) with results 7 wins in 9 games. In final stage (5 May, 8 participants, round robin) Bonanza had 6 wins and 1 loss and took the 1st place. It is great success of software creator Kunihito Hoki. YSS took the 2nd place, KCC Shogi took the 3rd place. Last year champion Gekisashi got only 5th place.

Not only japanese software took part in this competition. There were 5 programms from Europe, North America and Asia. The results of non-japanese programs in the 16th World Computer Shogi Championship:
1.Bonanza, Canada (creator Kunihito Hoki), 23 games, +20 -3 =0
3.KCC Shogi, North Korea (creators Kyong Nam An, Kwang Hyok Pak, Yong Min Ri, Ryo Hoon Hong), 7 games, +5 -1 =1
18.Shotest v8.0, United Kingdom (creator Jeff Rollason), 9 games, +4 -5 =0
22.SPEAR, Netherlands (creator Reijer Grimbergen), 9 games, +3 -6 =0
39.God Shogi, USA (creator Larry Tu), 7 games, +2 -5 =0.

After the championship it was held the game between world computer champion Bonanza and Yukio Kato - Amateur Ryuo-2004 and Asahi Amateur Meijin-2005. Time limit was 15 minutes and 30 seconds per move byoomi. Yukio Kato played white pieces but dominated in the game. Hi gave the mate to Bonanza's king in the center of the board. All information concearning world computer championship you can find at http: //live.computer-shogi.org/WCSC16/ in Japanese language.

7 May 2006            Finland news

Interesting news came from Finland. Japanese player Osuke Mikami (3 dan) gave a simultaneous display for Finnish shogi players from beginners to national champion. This event was held in the International Activity Centre Toppelius in Oulu on 6th of April, 2006. Osuke Mikami had six opponents. Ilmari Juutilainen and Jouni Tolonen played without handicap, but other players had handicap from 2 for 8 pieces. Osake Mikami got a result 5-1. He lost the only game against Qiyu Zhou. She is a little girl won chess championship of Finland last year in the age group under 10 (she was only 5 years last year). Qiyu Zhou played with great handicap against Osuke Mikami (Rook, Bishop, 2 Lance, 2 Knight, 2 Silver). But inspite of this fact it is big success for little girl.

5 May 2006            Asahi-2006

The 3rd game of final match of 24th Asahi tournament was held in Osaka. Habu won the game against Fujii on 63 move and lead with score 2-1. Habu was the winner of 22th and 23th Asahi and now has a good chance to win the Asahi again. The 4th game will be played on 15th May.

3 May 2006            Top shogi players part in chess tournaments during shogi vacations

Shogi professional players take part in chess tournaments during shogi vacations. As you know T.Moriuchi participated in the 22nd Spring Festival Open in Budapest 23rd-31st March 2006. Moriuchi finished on 5.5/9. The last news – Y.Habu participated in the 8th Dubai Open Chess Championship 22nd April - 2nd May 2006, United Arab Emirates. Habu finished with score 5/9 and took the 51th place from 142 participants. He won 3 games, lost 2 games and 4 games were held to a draw. Only Grandmasters got a wins in games against Habu.

How Habu play in 8th Dubai Open:
1 тур. Grishina Alexandra (wfm, 2052. RUS) - HABU 0-1;
2 тур. HABU - Vaidya C.N. (2229, IND) 1-0;
3 тур. Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (gm, 2584, IRI) – HABU 1-0;
4 тур. HABU - Abdul Majeed Mohamad (fm, 2242, UAE) ½ - ½;
5 тур. Doostkam P. (2188, IRI) – HABU ½ - ½;
6 тур. HABU - Darini Pouria (2194, IRI) 1-0;
7 тур. Babaev Rashad (im, 2481, AZE) - HABU ½ - ½;
8 тур. HABU - Miroshnichenko Evgenij (gm, 2608, UKR) 0-1;
9 тур. Aryanejad Hossein (fm, 2236, IRI) - HABU ½ - ½.

2 May 2006            Shogi professionals – best Japanese chess players

The best Japanese chess players are … shogi professionals Habu Yoshiharu and Moriuchi Toshiyuki. In according to april’s FIDE ratings Y.Habu have a top place in Japanese national rating-list with result 2382 points. T.Moriuchi take the 4th place with rating ELO 2282. Y.Habu has FIDE master rank. T.Moriuchi has no international rank, but it is question of time.

1 May 2006            World Computer Championship

The 16 on May, 3-5, 2006. It is believed that 51 computer programs will participate in this event. The top 3 of the previous tournament (Gekisashi, KCC Shogi, YSS) will start from final stage directly. The preliminary stage is divided into two groups. The lower division tournament will be held on the first day of championship. The top 8 programs by results of 7 round swiss-style games will join the upper division. The upper division consisted of 16 programs will be held on the second day using 9 rounds siwss-style system. The 5 top will play in final stage. The final will be held on the third day. 8 programs will define the winners using round robin system.

30 April 2006            Belarus Championship

Sergey Korchitskij won the second game in semifinal match against Andrei Kasperovich. Total score is 2-0. In final match he will play against Andrei Lysenko who won in other semifinal against Peter Pavlovich with score 2-1. It is necessary to win three games to be a champion of Belarus. A.Lysenko will play in final the first time. But S.Korchitskiy won all previous championships of Belarus and didn't lose any game. P.Pavlovich and A.Kasperovich will fight for 3rd place in match up to two victories.

26 April 2006            Meijin title match

The second game of Meijin title match was held 25-26 April in Nakaoka city (prefecture Niigata). Meijin Moriuchi won the game against Tanigawa on 69th move and lead with score 2-0. Meijin made a real step to keep the title. Next game will be held on 11-12 May.

20 April 2006            Belarus news

It was held the 1st Shogi Championship of Byelorussian pedagogical university. The winner of this event is Sergey Lysenko. Many active byelorussian shogi players were students of pedagogical university before - Sergey Korchitskij, Andrei Kasperovich, Andrei Lysenko, Nicolai Galinovskij and others. Former students of this university began to promote shogi in Belarus in 2000. And it is very good news that new generation of students organized 1st shogi championship. Let to remind that representatives of Byelorussian pedagogical university were very active persons in hexagonal chess in 80th-90th last centure. And Sergey Korchitskij was a European Champion on hexagonal chess.

20 April 2006            Asahi-2006

Fujii won the second game of final match of Asahi Open against Habu. Now score is 1-1. Asahi Open is non-title professional tournament. Professional players, 10 amateurs and 2 women professionals take part in this shogi event. The winner of Asahi will get 20 mln.yen. It is necessary to win 3 games to be a champion of Asahi.

18 April 2006            77th Kisei (2006)

It is known participants of Kisei challengers final. In semifinals Suzuki beats Morishita and Habu beats Moriuchi. The challengers final between Habu and Suzuki will be spent on 8th May. The winner will play against titleholder last four seasons Sato.

15 April 2006            Belarus Championship

Andrei Lysenko won semifinal of Belarus Championship against Peter Pavlovich with score 2-1. P.Pavlovich won the 1st game of the match. But A.Lysenko won two next games and became the first participant of final. His opponent will be known in match Sergei Korchitskij - Andrei Kasperovich. Now champion of Belarus S.Korchitskij leads with score 1-0.

13 April 2006            Meijin title match

The first game of Meijin title match was held 11-12 April in Miyazaki hotel in Nagasaki prefecture. In according to furigoma Tanigawa started the game. The opening was Kakugawari. Challenger Tanigawa played aggressive, but Meijin Moriuchi controlled the fight and won the 1st game on 124 move.

Now there are some interesting information about Meijin Moriuchi and challenger Tanigawa. It is first Meijin title match between Toshiyuki Moriuchi and Koji Tanigawa. In other tournaments opponents played 46 games. Tanigawa has 24 wins, Moriuchi - 22 wins.

Lifetime Meijin Tanigawa won the title 5 times. But last time it was in 1997. Then he lost three Meijin matches with score 3-4. Tanigawa won the first title at 21 years old. This time he is 44 (On 6th April he had a birthday). It is interesting that challenger Tanigawa successfully played the 1st game in Meijin matches – he had 9 wins and 1 loss in start games before match with Moriuchi. He had the victories in all first games in matches that he won. Tanigawa won only those matches in which he began to lead in a score.

Moriuchi participates in Meijin title match the 6th time. He won title Meijin three times but lost two matches. The first Meijin he took in age 32 years. This time he is 35 years old. If Moriuchi began to lead in a score than he has to win Meijin match. Such situation was in all matches he won. In start games Moriuchi has 2 wins and 3 losses. If he lost the 1st game he can win or lose the match. But if he win first game then he win the title.

On the base of this facts it is possible to believe that Moriuchi has more chances to win Meijin title than Tanigawa.

The 2nd game it will be 25-26 April in Nakaoka city (prefecture Niigata).

By materials of japanese resources

Andrei Kasperovich, 2006