From: Pieter Stouten EMBL BITNET> Date: 18 may 1990 Subject: Game 3 (professional, full annotation by professional). Below follows a game with Nakahara Makoto (family names are always given first) as black. At the time of that game Mr. Nakahara held the Meijin title, the most prestigious of all Shogi titles. Mr. Nakahara has been by far the best Shogi player for a long time. Nowadays young professionals like Mr. Tanigawa and Mr. Habu are very tough opponents for him, but Mr. Nakahara still plays a significant role. His opponent Murooka Katsuhiko is our (European) regular source of Shogi games, results and comments. Once Mr. Murooka visited all European Shogi playing countries as an official representative of the Nihon Shogi Renmei (Japanese Shogi Association). He enjoyed his stay so much that he returned many times in the years to follow and now he has become a very welcome guest. In this game he beats Mr. Nakahara whose grade is 9-dan. You might be surprised that the allotted time is 2 hours per player and that no number of moves is mentioned. In Shogi, however, you have a specific amount of time for all your moves. Once you have used up your time, you get into "byoyomi", which means that you have a certain time slice for every move (typically half a minute to a minute). Either a byoyomi-keeper or an electronic Shogi clock counts down the time to zero and by that time you must have made your move. By the way, if anything in the things that I post is unclear (if you don't see the mate e.g.), don't hesitate to post your question to me or to the list. After all this list flourishes best when lots of information flow from and to its members. Pieter Stouten bitnet: stouten@embl ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Meisho tournament. Quarter final. September 1986. 2 hours per player. Black: Nakahara Makoto (Meijin); White: Murooka Katsuhiko (5-dan pro) 1.P7f P3d 2.P2f P4d 3.S4h S3b 4.P5f R4b 5.K6h K6b 6.K7h S7b 7.S5g G4a-5b 8.B7g K7a 9.K8h S4c 10.L9h(A) S5d 11.P6f K8b 12.K9i P6d 13.S8h P7d 14.G7i G6c 15.G5h N7c 16.P2e B3c 17.P3f P4e(B) 18.G5h-6h(C) P9d 19.G6h-7h P9e 20.B5i P8d 21.B3g S8c(D) 22.S6h(E) G7b 23.S6h-7g P8e(F) 24.P1f P1d 25.P1e(G) Px1e 26.P2d Bx2d(H) 27.P6e Px6e(I) 28.P8f(J) Px8f 29.Sx8f P6f(K) 30.P*6d G6c-6b 31.Rx2d Px2d 32.P7e R*4i 33.B*5a R2b(L) 34 Px7d Sx7d 35.Bx6b+ Rx6b 36.G*8d S8c 37.Gx8c(M) Kx8c 38.S7e P6g+(N) 39.S*7d(O) K9b 40.P6c+ +Px7h(P) 41.Gx7h P*8g 42.Gx8g(Q) B*6g 43.P*7i R6i+ 44.G7g P*8g 45.resigns (A) 10.L9h Mr. Nakahara chooses the Anaguma system. This is one of his favourite systems. He played this system twice in the latest Meijin Match against Oyama. (B) 17. ... P4e I must avoid 18.P3e Px3e 19.S4f (C) 18.G5h-6h Another possibility is 18.G6g followed by 19.B5i 20.B3g 21.R7h This is quite a popular line. (D) 21. ... S8c This might be dangerous, but it is the only way to reach an eqal position. (E) 22.S6h A quiet move. Another possibility is 22.P5e Sx5e 23.P2d Px2d 24.P3e Px3e 25.Bx5e. (F) 23. ... P8e To prevent 24.P8f. (G) 25.P1e!? This move was quite a surprise! Mr. Nakahara continues with a super sharp attack. 25. ... R5h or any other move would lose the initiative. (H) 26. ... Bx2d 26. ... Px2d 27.P3e S4c 28.B5e or 27.... P3e 28.Lx1e Lx1e 29.P*3d gives black the better position. (I) 27. ... Px6e After 27. ... Sx6e black follows with 28.B5e L1d 29.B1a+ N1c 30.N3g and black has the better position. (J) 28.P8f! A strong move. He wants a pawn to use on square 6d. 28.Lx1e Lx1e 29.P*6d G6c-6b 30.Rx2d Px2d 31.Bx1e Rx2h results in an unclear position. White might be a little better. (K) 29. ... P6f With intention 30. ... P6g+ 31.Gx6g P*8g and white wins a silver. (L) 33. ... R2b 33. ... P6g+ 34.Bx4b+ +Px7h 35.Gx7h G7f 36.Px7d Sx7d 37.+B4a! and black is better. 33. ... R5b would be inaccurate because of 34.Bx2d+ Rx2i+ 35.+B5g and again black has a clearly better position. (M) 37.Gx8c 37.S7e? or 37.S8e? will meet 37. ... Sx8d 38.Sx8d G*7d! (N) 38. ... P6g+?! Best move ist probably 38. ... G*8d but then I cannot avoid a long and difficult fight with a weak king. Would you like to play for a win in that kind of position against the Meijin ? (O) 39.S*7d?? Wasting a move and therefore a serious inaccuracy. 39.P6c+ Rx6c and only then 40.S*7d and now: (a) 40. ... K9b 41.Sx6c+ Sx6c 42.P*7d or (b) 40. ... K9c 41.Sx6c+ Sx6c 42.Bx7c+!! and black has in both variations good winning chances. (P) 40. ... +Px7h!! From this moment all variations end up in a winning position for me: 41.+Px7b +Px8i 42.Gx8i Rx8i+ 43.Kx8i R6i+ with an easy mate. 41.+Px6b +Px7i 42.R*9d B*9c and white wins. (Q) 42.Gx8g 42.+Px7b Px8h+ 43.Gx8h Rx8i+ 44.Gx8i B*7g and again an easy mate. 42.Sx8g P87g 43.G8h G*7i 44.+Px6b B*6g and white wins.