From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 5 feb 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 774, February 3rd 1999) Another exciting game in the Osho title match. For a while it looked like Morishita would score an easy win like in the first game, but Habu showed that shogi is not a game that can be captured in general rules. The position that looked to be winning easily turned out to be very complicated. Habu found the only way to wriggle out of the trouble he got himself into and now leads the match 2-1. Here is the game: Black: Habu, Osho White: Morishita, Challenger 48th Osho-sen, Game 3, January 27th and 28th 1999 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/1 2/2 3.G6i-7h 3/4 0/2 4.G4a-3b 0/4 5/7 5.S7i-6h 2/6 0/7 6.P3c-3d 0/6 6/13 7.P6g-6f 2/8 0/13 8.S7a-6b 0/8 4/17 9.P5g-5f 4/12 0/17 10.P5c-5d 0/12 3/20 11.S3i-4h 8/20 0/20 12.S3a-4b 0/20 1/21 13.K5i-6i 4/24 0/21 14.K5a-4a 0/24 3/24 15.G4i-5h 3/27 0/24 16.G6a-5b 0/27 4/28 17.S6h-7g 19/46 0/28 18.S4b-3c 0/46 3/31 19.B8h-7i 3/49 0/31 20.B2b-3a 0/49 1/32 21.P3g-3f 6/55 0/32 22.P4c-4d 0/55 8/40 23.G5h-6g 67/122 0/40 24.P7c-7d 0/122 11/51 25.S4h-3g 4/126 0/51 26.B3a-6d 0/126 4/55 27.B7i-6h 21/147 0/55 28.G5b-4c 0/147 5/60 29.K6i-7i 1/148 0/60 30.K4a-3a 0/148 1/61 31.K7i-8h 3/151 0/61 32.P9c-9d 0/151 22/83 33.P1g-1f 17/168 0/83 34.K3a-2b 0/168 25/108 35.S3g-4f 22/190 0/108 36.S6b-5c 0/190 14/122 37.N2i-3g 0/190 0/122 38.P1c-1d 0/190 1/123 39.P2g-2f 14/204 0/123 40.S3c-2d 0/204 2/125 41.L1i-1h 22/226 0/125 42.P8d-8e 0/226 58/183 43.R2h-3h 20/246 0/183 44.N2a-3c 0/246 28/211 The end of the first day. As often happens in two day games, the position after the first day is not new. 45.P9g-9f 12/258 0/211 46.S5c-4b 0/258 14/225 This is a new move. 46.P4e is an alternative, but looks risky. S4b is more typical of Morishita's defensive style. 47.P6f-6e 14/272 0/225 48.B6d-7c 0/272 5/230 49.B6h-5g 0/272 0/230 50.P6c-6d 0/272 48/278 Black is planning to put the bishop on 6f, where it is very well positioned. White can not allow that without getting something in return, so Morishita attacks the vanguard pawn. 51.P6ex6d 29/301 0/278 52.B7cx6d 0/301 0/278 53.P*6e 1/302 0/278 54.B6d-7c 0/302 42/320 55.B5g-6f 37/339 0/320 56.R8b-6b 0/339 6/326 57.P5f-5e 12/351 0/326 58.R6bx6e 0/351 16/342 59.P5ex5d 1/352 0/342 60.P8e-8f! 0/352 2/344 Strong move. 61.S7gx8f! 32/384 0/344 Some people in the press room already thought that Habu had blundered in the same way as in game one. The natural 61.Px8f P*8e Px8e N9c is bad for black but 61.Sx8f seems even worse... 62.R6ex6f 0/384 42/386 63.G6gx6f 0/384 0/386 64.B*2g 0/384 0/386 65.R3h-6h 17/401 0/386 66.B2gx3f+ 0/401 1/387 67.G6f-5f 0/401 0/387 68.+B3fx4g 0/401 14/401 69.R6h-6a+ 1/402 0/401 70.P*5a 0/402 0/401 71.G5f-5g 13/415 0/401 72.+B4gx4f 0/415 0/401 73.G5gx4f 0/415 0/401 74.B7cx4f 0/415 0/401 The moves from 61.Sx8f are almost forced and all general shogi rules say that this position is an overwhelming advantage for white: white has two generals for the rook, white's king is completely safe with the anchor pawn on 5a and black's king looks like the defense can be broken down easily. However, Habu has deeply calculated this variation when he played 61.Sx8f and correctly judged that it is far from easy. The promoted rook on 6a is working very well in defense. If Morishita has an advantage here, it is only marginal. 75.P5d-5c+! 10/425 0/401 Did Habu see everything here, including move 87? If so, he proves again that he is the strongest player on the planet. 76.G4cx5c 0/425 0/401 77.P*4c 0/425 0/401 78.G5cx4c 0/425 22/423 If 78.G3bx4c then after 79.P*3h the white king suddenly does not look that safe anymore, while white has no good moves to attack. 79.P*5b 0/425 0/423 80.P*6f 0/425 1/424 81.P5bx5a+ 16/441 0/424 82.S*6i 0/441 6/430 83.+R6ax6f 8/449 0/430 84.S6ix7h+ 0/449 4/434 85.K8hx7h 0/449 0/434 86.P*5f 0/449 0/434 Morishita thought this was winning, since 87.+P5b B5g+ is very good for white. Habu's next move must have been an unpleasant surprise. 87.K7h-8h! 6/455 0/434 "An early escape is worth eight moves". This looks desperate, but shogi is sometimes a strange game. 88.P*6g 0/455 10/444 89.P*6i 2/457 0/444 90.P6g-6h+ 0/457 0/444 91.P6ix6h 1/458 0/444 92.P*6g 0/458 0/444 93.+R6fx6g 3/461 0/444 94.P5f-5g+ 0/461 1/445 95.+R6g-6a 2/463 0/445 96.+P5gx6h 0/463 1/446 97.+P5a-5b 2/465 0/446 Morishita skillfully created a tokin, but now it is Habu's turn to attack. 98.P*5a 0/465 3/449 99.+P5bx4b 1/466 0/449 100.G4cx4b 0/466 0/449 101.R*5f! 0/466 0/449 Again the only move to keep the position together. This forces white to drop a gold on 4a, a gold he would much rather have used in attack. 102.B4fx3g+ 0/466 4/453 103.R5fx5a+ 1/467 0/453 104.G*4a 0/467 0/453 105.+R5a-5g 0/467 0/453 106.N3c-4e?! 0/467 5/458 Better would have been 106.+B5i followed by +B6i. However, the position is still difficult. 107.+R5gx6h 0/467 0/458 108.+B3g-5e 0/467 0/458 109.S8f-7g 3/470 0/458 110.N*8e 0/470 7/465 111.S7g-6f 3/473 0/465 112.+B5e-4f 0/473 4/469 113.+R6h-4h 0/473 0/469 114.+B4f-3g? 0/473 2/471 Here Morishita missed a good chance. After 114.+B5f P*5g the hidden move N*3g! would still have given him the better chances. +Rx3h G*7h is mate, while Px5f +Nx4h is good for white. 115.+R4h-5h 0/473 0/471 116.P*6e 0/473 0/471 An alternative is 116.P*5g +R6g P*6e +Rx6e N7c +R6a, but white has no pawns in hand and therefore can not continue the attack. 117.P*4c 0/473 0/471 118.G3bx4c 0/473 0/471 119.S*5b 3/476 0/471 120.P*5a 0/476 1/472 121.S5bx4a+ 0/476 0/472 122.G4bx4a 0/476 0/472 123.S*5b 0/476 0/472 124.G4c-4b 0/476 1/473 125.S5bx5a+ 0/476 0/473 126.+B3g-4f? 0/476 5/478 Here Morishita misses his final chance. Best was 126.G3a +S5b G4b-3b. Then G*4b G*2a only leads to sennichite. Habu planned on playing +S4a Gx4a +Rx4a G*3a +Rx8a Px6f N*4c, but after +B6d, which works both in attack and defense, it seems white has the better chances. After the game, the players looked at P*3c instead of N*4c, and it seemed that black indeed has the better position after Sx3c N*2e. However, Morishita should have tried this, since 126.+B4f is not good enough, Habu is one move quicker to mate. 127.+S5ax4a 0/476 0/478 128.S*7i 0/476 0/478 129.K8h-9h 0/476 0/478 130.G*8h 0/476 1/479 131.+R5hx8h 0/476 0/479 132.S7ix8h+ 0/476 0/479 133.K9hx8h 0/476 0/479 134.G4bx4a 0/476 0/479 135.G*2a 0/476 0/479 Resigns 0/476 0/479 Time: 07:56:00 07:59:00 After 135.K1b S*1c Sx1c Gx1a Kx1a G*2a Kx2a +Rx4a G*3a G*3b K1b G*1a white is mated. Another tough game and again Habu emerges as the winner. It is strange that a position like the one after the 74th move is not good for white. Morishita beaten by one of those exceptions to the general rules... In other shogi news: ==================== 1) The last game of the 7th round of the A class Junisen was played between Maruyama and Habu. Maruyama had a 3-2 score and still had hopes of becoming the challenger of Meijin Sato. Habu, on the other hand, was still in danger of relegation with a surprisingly bad 2-4 record. I do not know if it was planned, but Maruyama seemed to be playing to tire out Habu. At eleven o'clock at night, only about 50 moves were played and when the real fighting started it was already past midnight. Planned or not, it worked for Maruyama. Habu, perhaps tired from playing four games in little over a week, made a mistake in the endgame that gave Maruyama a nice way to finish his attack. So Maruyama keeps his chance to challenge for his first major title, while Habu is still not sure of his spot in the top class next year. The post mortem of the game lasted until 2:30 and 8 hours later, Habu already had to be at Tokyo station to get to the third game of the Osho. Tough schedule... 2) There were some games played in the Kisei leagues, but there was only one decision. Nakahara beat Hatakeyama Mamoru to get his second win in a row and qualify for the knock-out finals. Namekata is also close to the finals, after a good win over Meijin Sato. Namekata has now two wins, but since he is a qualifier in the Kisei league he is still not sure of a spot in the final eight. Sato is in trouble as well, with a game against Ryu-O Fujii as his final task. He must win this game to secure his spot in the quarterfinals. That's all for this week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Games 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