# 64th NHK Cup (shogi)

The 64th NHK Cup, or as it is officially known the 64th NHK Cup TV Shogi Tournament (第64回NHK杯テレビ将棋トーナメント, dairokujūyonkai enueichikeihai terebi shōgi tōnamento) was a professional shogi tournament organized by the Japan Shogi Association and sponsored by Japan's public broadcaster NHK. Play began on April 6, 2014, and ended on March 22, 2015. The 50-player single elimination tournament was won by Toshiyuki Moriuchi. All of the tournament games were shown on NHK-E. The host (司会者, shikaisha) during the NHK-E broadcasts was female professional Ichiyo Shimizu.

## Participants
### Preliminary tournaments

A total of 128 shogi professionals competed in 18 preliminary tournaments to qualify for the main tournament. These tournaments were untelevised one-day tournaments held at the Tokyo Shogi Kaikan and Kansai Shogi Kaikan. Each tournament consisted of seven or eight players. The initial time control for each player was 20 minutes followed by a 30-second byōyomi.
The female professional seed was determined by a single-game playoff between Tomomi Kai 2-crown (Women's ōi and Kurashiki Tōka) and Manao Kagawa (Women's ōshō), which was won by Kagawa. Brackets from two of the preliminary tournaments are shown below.
| 7-player preliminary tournament won by Yasuaki Tsukuda 9d | 8-player preliminary tournament won by Hiroshi Kobayashi 7d |

### Main tournament

The first time control for main tournament games was ten minutes per player. Once this was used up, a second time control of 10 one-minute periods of "thinking time" (考慮時間, kōryō jikan) began. Each player was given 30 seconds to make their move. If they did so, then no thinking time periods were used. If, however, they did not, a thinking time period began and they then had up to one minute (more specifically 59 seconds) to make a move before entering the next thinking time period. This process was repeated until a player had used all ten thinking time periods when the final byōyomi time control of 30 seconds per move began. Sente was determined prior to each game by piece toss.
The 50 players listed below qualified for the main tournament.
| No. | Name | Rank/Title |
| A1 | Masataka Gōda (23) | NHK Cup |
| A2 | Kōji Tosa (12) | 7d |
| A3 | Takanori Hashimoto (10) | 8d |
| A4 | Manao Kagawa (1) | W3d |
| A5 | Manabu Kumasaka [ja] (1) | 5d |
| A6 | Shin'ichi Satō (1) | 4d |
| A7 | Mamoru Hatakeyama (17) | 7d |
| A8 | Kōji Tanigawa (35) | 9d |
| A9 | Hiroshi Kobayashi (9) | 7d |
| A10 | Daisuke Suzuki (18) | 8d |
| A11 | Kōru Abe (3) | 4d |
| A12 | Kōta Kanai (4) | 5d |
| A13 | Toshiaki Kubo (19) | 9d |
| A14 | Hisashi Namekata (18) | 8d |
| A15 | Shingo Sawada (2) | 5d |
| A16 | Takuya Nagase (4) | 6d |
| A17 | Takeshi Fujii (20) | 9d |
| A18 | Hiromu Watanabe (1) | 4d |
| A19 | Yasumitsu Satō (26) | 9d |
| A20 | Akira Watanabe (13) | 2 crown |
| A21 | Takashi Abe (20) | 8d |
| A22 | Yūki Sasaki (2) | 4d |
| A23 | Akira Inaba (2) | 7d |
| A24 | Kōsuke Tamura (10) | 7d |
| A25 | Tadashi Ōishi (4) | 6d |
| No. | Name | Rank/Title |
| B1 | Tadahisa Maruyama (24) | 9d |
| B2 | Ryōsuke Nakamura (2) | 5d |
| B3 | Ayumu Matsuo (11) | 7d |
| B4 | Chikara Akutsu (10) | 8d |
| B5 | Yūji Masuda (4) | 6d |
| B6 | Issei Takazaki (4) | 6d |
| B7 | Tatsuya Sugai (3) | 5d |
| B8 | Yoshiharu Habu (29) | 3 crown |
| B9 | Takeshi Kawakami (6) | 6d |
| B10 | Michio Takahashi (34) | 9d |
| B11 | Kazuki Kimura (16) | 8d |
| B12 | Amahiko Satō (6) | 7d |
| B13 | Toshiyuki Moriuchi (26) | 2 crown |
| B14 | Hiroyuki Miura (19) | 9d |
| B15 | Kensuke Kitahama (14) | 8d |
| B16 | Masayuki Toyoshima (6) | 7d |
| B17 | Akihito Hirose (8) | 8d |
| B18 | Taku Morishita (24) | 9d |
| B19 | Kōichi Fukaura (22) | 9d |
| B20 | Nobuyuki Yashiki (18) | 9d |
| B21 | Kōzō Arimori (4) | 6d |
| B22 | Takayuki Yamasaki (14) | 8d |
| B23 | Hiroki Iizuka (6) | 7d |
| B24 | Yasuaki Tsukada (22) | 9d |
| B25 | Kazuhiro Nishikawa (3) | 4d |
Notes:
* "No." represents the bracket position of the player in their respective block and "Rank/Title" represents the rank or titles held by the player when the original bracket finalized. A dan/ grading system is used for ranking players. The number in parentheses after each player's name represents the number of times said player has appeared in the main tournament.
* Players whose names are in bold were seeded directly into the main tournament as follows:
* 63rd NHK Cup (four players): Gōda (champion), Maruyama (runner-up), Ōishi (semifinalist) and Nishikawa (semifinalist).
* Seven major titleholders (three players): Moriuchi (Meijin and Ryūō), Habu (ōza, ōi, and Kisei), Watanabe (Kiō and ōshō)
* Class A (seven players): Miura, Yashiki, Y. Satō, Fukaura, Tanigawa, Namekata and Kubo
* Class B1 (twelve players): Takahashi, Hashimoto, Yamasaki, Matsuo, Kimura, Hatakeyama, Hirose, Akutsu, Suzuki, Iizuka, Fujii and Toyoshima
* Other tournament winners (two players): Inaba (Ginga-sen), Sasaki (Kakogawa Seiryū-sen)
* Women's professional (one player): Kagawa (Women's ōshō)
* Others with outstanding records (three players): Sugai (Class C1), Nagase (Class C2) and K. Abe (Class C2)
    Among these 32 seeds, the following 14 were given byes in round 1 and began play in round 2: Gōda, Maruyama, Ōishi, Nishikawa, Moriuchi, Habu, Watanabe, Miura, Yashiki, Y. Satō, Fukaura, Tanigawa, Namekata and Kubo.
* The remaining players qualified by winning preliminary tournaments.
The bracket at the start of the tournament is shown below.

## Results
### Round 1

A total of 18 games were played in round 1. Play began on April 6, 2014, and ended on August 3, 2014. The 18 preliminary tournament winners were paired against 18 seeded players. Out of the four players who qualified for the main tournament for the first time, only Manabu Kumasaka was able to make it to the second round. Namekata and Sawada actually had to play two games before a winner was determined. The first game between the two lasted more than two hours before ending in impasse after 252 moves. A second game with sente-gote reversed was then played at a time control of 5 one-minute "thinking periods" followed by a byōyomi of 30 seconds per move and Namekata won in 88 moves.
| No. | Block | Sente | Gote | No. of moves | Date | Guest Analyst |
| 1 | B | Ayumu Matsuo 7d | Ryōsuke Nakamura 5d | 101 | April 6, 2014 | Masataka Gōda NHK Cup |
| 2 | A | Kōsuke Tamura 7d | Akira Inaba 7d | 100 | April 13, 2014 | Isao Nakata 7d |
| 3 | A | Kōta Kanai 5d | Kōru Abe 4d | 223 | April 20, 2014 | Yasuaki Murayama 7d |
| 4 | B | Michio Takahashi 9d | Takeshi Kawakami 6d | 103 | April 27, 2014 | Hisashi Namekata 8d |
| 5 | A | Takuya Nagase 6d | Shingo Sawada 5d | 104 | May 4, 2014 | Tadashi Ōishi 6d |
| 6 | A | Yūki Sasaki 5d | Takashi Abe 8d | 123 | May 11, 2014 | Manabu Senzaki 9d |
| 7 | B | Takayuki Yamasaki 8d | Kōzō Arimori 6d | 91 | May 18, 2014 | Keita Inoue 9d |
| 8 | A | Hiromu Watanabe 4d | Takeshi Fujii 9d | 160 | May 25, 2014 | Kazuo Ishida [ja] 9d |
| 9 | B | Hiroki Iizuka 7d | Yasuaki Tsukuda 9d | 97 | June 1, 2014 | Taku Morishita 9d |
| 10 | A | Kōji Tosa 7d | Takanori Hashimoto 8d | 108 | June 8, 2014 | Daisuke Nakagawa 8d |
| 11 | A | Hiroshi Kobayashi 7d | Daisuke Suzuki 8d | 165 | June 15, 2014 | Takashi Abe 8d |
| 12 | B | Akihito Hirose 8d | Taku Morishita 9d | 114 | June 22, 2014 | Chikara Akutsu 8d |
| 13 | B | Tatsuya Sugai 5d | Issei Takazaki 6d | 103 | June 29, 2014 | Makoto Tobe 6d |
| 14 | B | Yūji Masuda 6d | Chikara Akutsu 8d | 87 | July 6, 2014 | Takayuki Yamasaki 8d |
| 15 | B | Masayuki Toyoshima 7d | Kensuke Kitahama 8d | 73 | July 13, 2014 | Mamoru Hatakeyama 7d |
| 16 | B | Kazuki Kimura 8d | Amahiko Satō 7d | 109 | July 20, 2014 | Akira Watanabe 2 crown |
| 17 | A | Mamoru Hatakeyama 7d | Shinichi Satō 4d | 97 | July 27, 2014 | Takanori Hashimoto 8d |
| 18 | A | Manao Kagawa W3d | Manabu Kumasaka 5d | 96 | August 3, 2014 | Osamu Nakamura 9d |

### Round 2

Round 2 began August 10 and lasted until November 23, 2014. A total of 16 games were played with 14 players receiving first round byes joining the nine winners from round 1. For the second year in a row multiple major titleholder Akira Watanabe loses in round 2. Also, for the second year in a row, Kōta Kanai beats Toshiaki Kubo in the round 2. Takeshi Fujii had to play two games against Yasumitsu Satō before a winner was determined. The first game between the two ended in sennichite after 70 moves. A second game with sente-gote reversed was then played with Fujii winning in 121 moves. Hisashi Namekata and Shingo Sawada also needed two games for a winner to be determined. The first game between the two ended in impasse after 252 moves, and Namekata won the replay with sente-gote reversed in 88 moves.
| No. | Block | Sente | Gote | No. of moves | Date | Guest Analyst |
| 1 | A | Akira Watanabe 2 crown | Yūki Sasaki 5d | 156 | August 10, 2014 | Nobuyuki Yashiki 9d |
| 2 | A | Kōta Kanai 5d | Toshiaki Kubo 9d | 95 | August 17, 2014 | Daisuke Suzuki 8d |
| 3 | B | Nobuyuki Yashiki 9d | Takayuki Yamasaki 8d | 95 | August 24, 2014 | Kensuke Kitahama 8d |
| 4 | A | Tadashi Ōishi 6d | Akira Inaba 7d | 151 | August 31, 2014 | Tetsurō Itodani 6d |
| 5 | A | Hisashi Namekata 8d | Shingo Sawada 5d | 252 | September 7, 2014 | Masayuki Toyoshima 7d |
| 5 | A | Shingo Sawada 5d | Hisashi Namekata 8d | 88 | September 7, 2014 | Masayuki Toyoshima 7d |
| 6 | A | Hiroshi Kobayashi 7d | Kōji Tanigawa 9d | 100 | September 14, 2014 | Takahiro Toyokawa 7d |
| 7 | B | Hiroki Iizuka 7d | Kazuhiro Nishikawa 5d | 105 | September 21, 2014 | Toshiaki Kubo 9d |
| 8 | A | Takanori Hashimoto 8d | Masataka Gōda NHK Cup | 117 | September 28, 2014 | Yasumitsu Satō 9d |
| 9 | B | Kazuki Kimura 8d | Toshiyuki Moriuchi Ryūō | 110 | October 5, 2014 | Kōichi Fukaura 9d |
| 10 | A | Yasumitsu Satō 9d | Takeshi Fujii 9d | 70 | October 12, 2014 | Akihito Hirose 8d |
| 10 | A | Takeshi Fujii 9d | Yasumitsu Satō 9d | 121 | October 12, 2014 | Akihito Hirose 8d |
| 11 | B | Yoshiharu Habu 4 crown | Michio Takahashi 9d | 95 | October 19, 2014 | Hifumi Katō 9d |
| 12 | B | Hiroyuki Miura 9d | Masayuki Toyoshima 7d | 68 | October 26, 2014 | Kazuki Kimura 8d |
| 13 | B | Tatsuya Sugai 5d | Yūji Masuda 6d | 143 | November 2, 2014 | Kōhei Funae 5d |
| 14 | B | Kōichi Fukaura 9d | Taku Morishita 9d | 133 | November 9, 2014 | Akira Shima 9d |
| 15 | B | Ayumu Matsuo 7d | Tadahisa Maruyama 9d | 100 | November 16, 2014 | Michio Takahashi 9d |
| 16 | A | Mamoru Hatakeyama 7d | Manabu Kumasaka 5d | 93 | November 23, 2014 | Daisuke Nakagawa 8d |

### Round 3

Play began on November 30, 2014, and ended on January 25, 2015. Out of the 18 preliminary tournament winners, only Kanai 5d made it to round 3.
| No. | Block | Sente | Gote | No. of moves | width="120"| Date | Guest Analyst |
| 1 | B | Yoshiharu Habu 4 crown | Toshiyuki Moriuchi Ryūō | 100 | November 30, 2014 | Takeshi Fujii 9d |
| 2 | A | Yūki Sasaki 5d | Tadashi Ōishi | 153 | December 7, 2014 | Taichi Nakamura 6d |
| 3 | B | Kōichi Fukaura 9d | Masayuki Toyoshima 7d | 135 | December 14, 2014 | Chikara Akutsu 8d |
| 4 | A | Takanori Hashimoto 8d | Mamoru Hatakeyama 7d | 111 | December 21, 2014 | Hisashi Namekata 8d |
| 5 | A | Kōji Tanigawa 9d | Kōta Kanai 5d | 128 | January 4, 2015 | Taku Morishita 9d |
| 6 | B | Tatsuya Sugai 5d | Tadahisa Maruyama 9d | 129 | January 11, 2015 | Keita Inoue 9d |
| 7 | A | Takeshi Fujii 9d | Hisashi Namekata 8d | 126 | January 18, 2015 | Amahiko Satō 8d |
| 8 | B | Hiroki Iizuka 7d | Nobuyuki Yashiki 9d | 123 | January 25, 2015 | Hirotaka Nozuki 7d |

### Quarterfinals

The eight remaining players were paired off against each other with play beginning on February 1 and ending on February 22, 2015. No major titleholders made it as far as the quarterfinals.
| No. | Block | Sente | Gote | No. of moves | Date | Guest Analyst |
| 1 | A | Yūki Sasaki 5d | Hisashi Namekata 8d | 96 | February 1, 2015 | Yasuaki Murayama 7d |
| 2 | B | Toshiyuki Moriuchi 9d | Tatsuya Sugai 5d | 123 | February 8, 2015 | Kōji Tanigawa 9d |
| 3 | A | Kōta Kanai 5d | Takanori Hashimoto 8d | 102 | February 15, 2015 | Ayumu Matsuo 7d |
| 4 | B | Hiroki Iizuka 7d | Kōichi Fukaura 9d | 112 | February 22, 2015 | Osamu Nakamura 9d |

### Semifinals

The two remaining players from each block with paired against each other to determine the respective block winners. The 1st semifinal game between Kōichi Fukaura 9d (sente) and Toshiyuki Moriuchi 9d (gote) was broadcast on March 1, 2015. Moriuchi won the game in 166 moves to win block B. The guest analyst was Yaumitsu Satō 9d. The 2nd semifinal game was between Hisashi Namekata 8d (sente) and Takanori Hashimoto 8d (gote). The game was broadcast on March 8, 2015, and won by Namekata 8d when Hashimoto 8d was disqualified for making an illegal move (Nifu) on his 92nd move. Namekata thus won block A and advanced to the finals of the tournament for the first time. The guest analyst for the 2nd semifinal game was Kazuki Kimura 8d. The host for both semifinal games was female professional Rieko Yauchi 5d.

### Final

After 109 preliminary tournament games and 58 main tournament games involving 161 players, Toshiyuki Moriuchi 9d and Hisashi Namekata 9d met in the final broadcast on March 22, 2015. This was the first NHK Cup final appearance for Namekata and the fifth appearance for Moriuchi. The piece toss before the game resulted in Namekata being sente. Moriuchi won the game in 134 moves, thus winning the tournament for the third time and becoming the 64th NHK Cup Champion. The guest analyst for the final match were Takeshi Fujii 9d and the hosts of the final were NHK announcer Ryō Nagano [ja] and female professional Ichiyo Shimizu.
The game score and a diagram showing the final position is given below.
Sente: Hisashi Namekata 8d Gote: Toshiyuki Moriuchi 9d Opening: Bishop Exchange 1. P-7f, 2. P-8d, 3. P-2f, 4. G-3b, 5. G-7h, 6. P-8e, 7. B-7g, 8. P-3d, 9. S-8h, 10. Bx7g+, 11. Sx7g, 12. S-4b, 13. S-3h, 14. S-7b, 15. P-9f, 16. P-9d, 17. P-4f, 18. P-6d, 19. S-4g, 20. S-6c, 21. K-6h, 22. S-5d, 23. S-5f, 24. P-4d, 25. G-5h, 26. G-5b, 27. P-3f, 28. K-4a, 29. P-1f, 30. P-1d, 31. K-7i, 32. K-3a, 33. N-3g, 34. P-7d, 35. P-6f, 36. S-3c, 37. R-4h, 38. G5b-4b, 39. K-8h, 40. K-2b, 41. G5h-6h, 42. G4b-4c, 43. P-9h, 44. P-3e, 45. Px3e, 46. S-2d, 47. P-4e, 48. Sx3e, 49. P*3f, 50. Sx3f, 51. Px4d, 52. G4c-4b, 53. B*4f, 54. R-9b, 55. P-1e, 56. Px1e, 57. P*1g, 58. B*5a, 59. R-1h, 60. Sx3g, 61. BX6f, 62. Sx2f, 63. G-5h, 64. Bx7g+, 65. Gx7g, 66. P*6c, 67. Bx9a+, 68. Rx9a, 69. L*2i, 70. B*4f, 71. Lx2f, 72. Bx1h+, 73. Lx1h, 74. R*2h, 75. S-6g, 76. Rx2f+, 77. Lx1e, 78. N*5e, 79. P-1b+, 80. Lx1b, 81. Sx5f, 82. Lx1e, 83. Sx5e, 84. Sx5e, 85. N*7d, 86. K-7c, 87. Nx6b+, 88. Gx6b, 89. B*8b, 90. Sx6f, 91. P*7f, 92. K-2b, 93. Bx9a+, 94. Sx7g+, 95. Nx7g, 96. S*6i, 97. S*3c, 98. Nx3c, 99. Px3c+, 100. Gx3c, 101. N*1d, 102. K-1c, 103. S*2b, 104. Kx1d, 105. G*1c, 106. K-2e, 107. R*6e, 108. L*3e, 109. Rx6i, 110. N*2d, 111. B*4g, 112. S*4f, 113. S*3g, 114. Nx7f, 115. K-7h, 116. Sx4g+, 117. Sx2f, 118. Kx2f, 119. R-2i, 120. N*2g, 121. R*6f, 122. P*4f, 123. Gx4g, 124. B*4e, 125. S*5f, 126. G*6h, 127. Rx6h, 128. Nx6h+, 129. Kx6h, 130. L*6f, 131. P*6g, 132. Px4g+, 133. Sx4e, 134. R*5h sente resigns (diagram)
The final tournament bracket is shown below.

## Other

* In addition to the defending champion Gōda, there were nine other former champions who qualified for the main tournament: Habu (38th, 41st, 45th, 47th—48th, 50th, 58th—61st), Y. Satō (56th—57th), Moriuchi (46th, 51st), Suzuki (49th), Miura (52nd), Kubo (53rd), Yamasaki (54th), Maruyama (55th), Watanabe (62nd).
* Sente won 29 (a little under 60%) of the 49 games.
* The average number of moves for the main tournament games was 120. The most moves played in a single game was 252 (Rd. 2, Namekata vs. Sawada) while the fewest moves played was 68 (Rd. 2, Miura vs. Toyoshima).
* Namekata versus Sawada in round 2 ended in impasse and both players played a second game with sente-gote reversed to determine the final result. Satō versus Fujii in round 2 ended in sennichite after 70 moves. The game was replayed with Fujii being sente at adjusted time controls which Fujii won in 121 moves.
* There was one disqualification due to an illegal move: Hashimoto 8d lost his semifinal game against Namekata 8d for the illegal move "Nifu" on his 92nd move.
* The age breakdown (age at start of the tournament) for the players who qualified was as follows: 10–19 years old, 2 players; 20–29 years old, 15 players; 30–39 years old, 11 players; 40–49 years old, 18 players; 50–59 years old, 4 players. The oldest player was Kōji Tosa 7d (59 years old) and the youngest player was Yūki Sasaki 4d (19 years old).