Li League Match 3 - Wakagoi vs Fukuoka

 

Match 3 of Round 2 should occur on Friday 13th February at 5pm Japanese time (so 8am UK), it is an important match because both of these teams lost their previous game and are unlikely to want to get in the hole of losing two in a row especially since neither has faced Senko and the Japanese number 1 yet. Fukuoka probably have a slight moral advantage as they lost to the previous years winners and Japanese number 2 but both teams should be up for it.

Pairings are up

Board	Wakagoi	Fukuoka	Result	Winner
Board 1	Ueno Risa	Hoshiai Shiho	?	?
Board 2	Kobayashi Izumi	Kibe Natsuki	?	?
Board 3	Suzuki Ayumi	Yanagihara Saki	?	?

Board 1 Ueno Risa  3179 (W) vs Hoshia Shiho 3001  (B)

Another challenging match for Shiho but she beat the number 2 lady in Japan can she repeat for the number 4? Both these players won their first games plus Risa just lost a championship game to her sister which might impact confidence but probably not.


Board 2 Kobaysahi Izumi 2924  (W) vs Kibe Natsuki 2774 (B)

Both teams swapped out their third player for the fourth possibly so all players get play experience. Neither player has played in the league yet

Board 3 Suzuki Ayumi 3038 (B) vs Yanagihara Saki 2922 (W)

In the opposite situation to Board 1 we have the Fukuoka Captain vs the Wakagoi Vice Captain, both players lost their first games. Ayumi lost to a lower ranked player and Yanagihara fell to the previous Fukuoka Captain so both will have something to prove.