From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 23 jul 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 747, July 22nd 1998) This week in Shukan Shogi the first game of the Oi match between titleholder Habu and New Meijin Sato Yasumitsu. This match could be a great battle, with two of the best players of this moment facing each other. Last year they also played against each other for the Oi title and then Habu won comfortably with 4-1. The first game of this year's match was a good one and was won by Habu with white. So, Sato again needs to come back from behind, but if anyone can do it against Habu, he can. Here is the game with comments: Black: Sato, Challenger White: Habu, Oi 39th Oi-sen, Game 1, July 16th and 17th 1998 1.P2g-2f 1/1 0/0 The furigoma gave Meijin Sato Yasumitsu black. Sato likes the Aigakari very much and it was a bit of a surprise he did not play it in any of the games in the 1998 Meijin match. His thorough preparation must have given him the idea that against Habu the Aigakari is the better choice. 2.P8c-8d 0/1 1/1 3.P2f-2e 4/5 0/1 4.P8d-8e 0/5 2/3 5.G6i-7h 0/5 0/3 6.G4a-3b 0/5 15/18 7.P2e-2d 5/10 0/18 8.P2cx2d 0/10 2/20 9.R2hx2d 0/10 0/20 10.P*2c 0/10 0/20 11.R2d-2f 1/11 0/20 12.S7a-6b?! 0/11 2/22 Not a very popular move these days. This game is a good illustration of the advantages of the normal 12.S7b. It is not clear why Habu chose this move. Perhaps he wanted to confuse his opponent. 13.P1g-1f 40/51 0/22 14.P1c-1d 0/51 8/30 15.S3i-3h 1/52 0/30 16.P6c-6d 0/52 21/51 17.P7g-7f 1/53 0/51 18.P8e-8f 0/53 1/52 19.P8gx8f 0/53 0/52 20.R8bx8f 0/53 0/52 21.P*8g 2/55 0/52 22.R8f-8b 0/55 0/52 23.P3g-3f 13/68 0/52 24.P3c-3d 0/68 5/57 25.P3f-3e 9/77 0/57 26.P3dx3e 0/77 63/120 27.S3h-3g 2/79 0/120 28.B2bx8h+ 0/79 2/122 29.S7ix8h 0/79 0/122 30.S3a-2b 0/79 0/122 31.S3g-4f 22/101 0/122 32.S6b-6c 0/101 18/140 Habu: "I really wanted to move the silver up to 3c, but...". After 32.S3c Sx3e P*3d P2d Px3e Px2c+ P*2e Rx2e B*3d +Px3c Bx2e +Px3b black is threatening mate. Therefore white has to defend with S6c, but then B*4b K6b G*3h! is bad for white. If the silver had been on 7b instead of 6b, then +Px3b would not have been a mating threat and white would win easily. 33.S4fx3e 60/161 0/140 34.S6c-5d 0/161 4/144 35.K5i-5h 1/162 0/144 36.P*3d 0/162 16/160 37.S3e-4f? 25/187 0/160 Sato misses a chance to get the clear lead in the game. He should have played 37.Sx3d. Then 38.P2d looks dangerous for black (Rx2d P*3c S2e S2c). For example 39.B*3e B*4b P*3c Sx3c Sx3c+ Gx3c P*2b N1c P2a+ G3d B4f S*3e is very bad for black. However, after 39.B*4f! this counter attack is not possible and black can keep the advantage. Now the game changes pace and both players take time to put their pieces in the right places. 38.S2b-3c 0/187 5/165 39.P7f-7e 1/188 0/165 40.K5a-4b 0/188 20/185 41.S8h-7g 11/199 0/185 42.G6a-5b 0/199 31/216 43.S4f-3g 16/215 0/216 44.K4b-3a 0/215 23/239 45.R2f-8f 3/218 0/239 46.P*8e 0/218 0/239 47.R8f-2f 0/218 0/239 48.P4c-4d 0/218 3/242 49.S3g-3f 67/285 0/242 50.G5b-4c 0/285 14/256 51.N2i-3g 17/302 0/256 52.S3c-2b 0/302 29/285 53.G4i-4h 7/309 0/285 54.N2a-3c 0/309 8/293 55.P4g-4f 3/312 0/293 56.P6d-6e 0/312 30/323 57.P5g-5f 8/320 0/323 58.K3a-2a 0/320 23/346 59.R2f-2i 5/325 0/346 60.P9c-9d 0/325 1/347 61.P9g-9f 1/326 0/347 62.B*6d 0/326 10/357 63.G4h-4g 33/359 0/357 64.B6dx7e 0/359 3/360 65.P*7b 37/396 0/360 This leads to the promotion of the black bishop and the general impression was that black was still a little better here. 66.R8bx7b 0/396 22/382 67.S7g-7f 1/397 0/382 68.B7e-6d 0/397 1/383 69.P6g-6f 0/397 0/383 70.P7c-7d 0/397 0/383 71.P6fx6e 0/397 0/383 72.B6d-8b 0/397 0/383 73.B*8c 1/398 0/383 74.R7b-7a 0/398 1/384 75.P*7b 0/398 0/384 76.R7a-6a 0/398 0/384 77.B8cx7d+ 0/398 0/384 78.P4d-4e 0/398 0/384 79.G4g-5g 5/403 0/384 80.P4ex4f 0/403 2/386 81.G7h-6g 26/429 0/386 82.P*7e 0/429 32/418 83.+B7dx7e? 4/433 0/418 A mistake that turns around the game. 83.Sx7e was the only move. Then 84.Sx6e +B5b P*6f +Bx6a Px6g+ Kx6g P4g+ Gx4g P*6f looks very dangerous for black and indeed, black loses after K5g P*4f Gx4f P6g+ or K5h Sx5f Gx5f Bx3g+ or K7h S7f. However, the most dangerous looking move is actually the winning one. After P*6f K6h! white does not seem to be able to win in the attack. For example, Sx5f Gx5f Bx3g+ and now even +Bx3f is not a check, so black can play his own attack. Also, K6h S7f Sx6f G*6g K5i and the black king escapes from the white pieces. Sato: "I did not look at Sx7e that much. I did look at Sx8e, though...". 83.Sx8e N7c P7a+ Rx7a +B8c. Habu: "I see". Sato: "No, I do not think so." After +B8c, black is allright if white plays B9c S7d Nx6e Sx6e. However, if white plays P*8a (instead of B9c), then S7d Nx6e Sx6e Sx6e +Bx6e S*3h is actually good for white. It seems Sato has read this position much deeper than Habu and he is a little unlucky that he missed the right move. 84.B8b-9c 0/433 8/426 Now black has to exchange the promoted bishop. He can make a new one, but that takes just the time Habu needs to get his own attack going. 85.+B7ex9c 2/435 0/426 86.L9ax9c 0/435 5/431 87.P7b-7a+ 2/437 0/431 88.R6ax7a 0/437 5/436 89.B*8b 0/437 0/436 90.P4f-4g+ 0/437 1/437 91.S3fx4g 1/438 0/437 92.R7a-7b 0/438 8/445 93.B8b-6d+ 5/443 0/445 94.P*6c 0/443 4/449 95.+B6d-7e? 3/446 0/449 The decisive mistake. I doubt that Sato has seen that the following Habu attack is very dangerous. If he would have seen it, he would probably have played the correct +B9g, which makes the next move impossible. After 95.+B9g white can play N4e, but then Nx4e Sx4e P*4f S5d and the position is very difficult for both players. 96.B*8h 0/446 5/454 97.N8i-7g 6/452 0/454 98.P*7h! 0/452 0/454 Looks very slow, but this is great judgment by Habu. The attack with the promoted pawn comes just in time. 99.+B7e-6f 23/475 0/454 100.P7h-7i+ 0/475 5/459 101.P*4d 0/475 0/459 102.G4c-4b 0/475 0/459 103.P5f-5e 0/475 0/459 104.N3c-4e 0/475 0/459 105.P5ex5d 0/475 0/459 106.N4ex3g+ 0/475 1/460 107.P*7c 1/476 0/460 108.R7b-8b 0/476 2/462 109.S4g-4f 3/479 0/462 110.+N3g-3h 0/479 8/470 111.R2i-2f 0/479 0/470 112.P5cx5d 0/479 0/470 113.K5h-4g 0/479 0/470 114.N*7d! 0/479 0/470 Very painful for black. The promoted bishop is chased away from a good square and white then wins with the promoted pawn attack. 115.+B6f-7e 0/479 0/470 116.+P7i-7h 0/479 0/470 117.S*4c 0/479 0/470 118.+P7hx7g 0/479 0/470 119.G6g-5f 0/479 0/470 120.+P7gx7f 0/479 0/470 121.+B7ex4b 0/479 0/470 122.G3bx4b 0/479 0/470 123.S4cx4b+ 0/479 0/470 124.R8bx4b 0/479 0/470 125.G*4c 0/479 0/470 126.B*5i 0/479 1/471 127.G4cx4b 0/479 0/471 128.B5i-4h+ 0/479 0/471 Resigns 0/479 0/471 Time: 07:59:00 07:51:00 One move difference. A close and very interesting game in which both players showed their strength. This could be a very interesting match, but if Sato can not win game two, it might all be over very soon. In other Shogi news: ==================== 1) In the A-Junisen two games were played last week. Kato beat Shima after Shima played to quickly in a position that was better for him. Nakahara beat Morishita in a game that became very violent towards the end and where Morishita overlooked a very nice Nakahara pawn drop tesuji. All four players now have one win and one loss from two games, proving how tight the battle in this class is again going to be this year. 2) In C2 the second round was played. In a class with 47 players, every early round is about who can keep his perfect record intact. After round two there are twelve players with two wins. Among them promotion favourites Yagura, Sugimoto, Matsumoto, Kimura, Namekata and Tamura. All of the four rookies had won their first game, but only Sato could also win his second one. There is a lot of difference in strength in this class, which was illustrated by the fact that most of the games were over very early. 3) In the Ryu-O challenger knock-out two quarterfinals were played: Mori against Yashiki and Maruyama against Takahashi. Mori looked like he was going to lose quickly, but showed great fighting spirit by letting Yashiki sweat more than 100 moves after the position that was generally considered to be totally lost by the commentators. However, Yashiki was very patient and did not give Mori a chance to win. So, Yashiki in the semi-finals for the second year in a row. He will have to face the winner of the game between Fujii and Minami. In the other game Maruyama showed that the time that he will challenge for a major title is near. He beat Takahashi convincingly. If Goda was not taking all the attention with his spectacular season so far, Maruyama would probably be considered to be the next great young player to challenge Habu. The semi-final of the Ryu-O will be a great test, because he will have the winner of the game between Goda and Habu. 4) Goda is again one game from a title challenge. I have lost count a little, but I think he is in that situation for the fifth or sixth time in the past year. This time he has reached the challenger final of the Oza title by beating Fukaura. Fukaura is a great talent himself, but Goda more or less effortlessly brushed him aside. He will play another very tough game to get a chance to challenge Habu, since the other finalist is Tanigawa, who beat Minami in familiar style. In a slightly better position he could have played slowly, but he chose an attack that looked slow, but soon became as fast as the speed of light. Minami got only one early chance to stop it, but did not like the move that was needed. 5) Second year pro Nozuki has won the New Faces Quick Shogi Tournament of Tokyo Television. It was his first appearance in the tournament, but he is no stranger to quickplay. As he himself said: "In this quick shogi tournament you have 30 seconds per move, but for me that is long. A little less time would be better". He is not as fast as Tamura (4-dan), but it seems that there are a lot of young professionals now who like to play quickly. In the final Nozuki beat Kubo after a dubious bishop sacrifice he would never have played in normal game. Kubo reacted well and had the upper hand for a long time, but in the end he lost his way in the complicated position and Nozuki won. That is all for this week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Game Lab Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp URL: http://www.etl.go.jp/etl/suiron/~grimberg/ Tel: +81-(0)298-54-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918