From: Reijer Grimbergen NICI KUN NL> Date: 31 oct 1995 Subject: Annotated game from the EC A couple of weeks ago, Pieter asked me to translate the article on the European Championships that I had written in the magazine of the Dutch Shogi Association and put it on Shogi-L. Reluctantly I agreed, mainly because of the recent discussion about the lack of annotated games. Unfortunately I am not able to read the comments by Mr. Noyama on the RICOH Shogi page, so I have not been able to use his comments here (Noyama is much stronger than I am). So here it is, and I hope some of you have some use for it... Reijer Grimbergen grimbergen nici kun nl (until November 25th) ***************************************************************************** 11th European Shogi Championships by Reijer Grimbergen At the start of the European Championships my chances of winning it for the third time seemed a little bleak. First of all, the tournament line up looked very strong. Seven of the top ten players on the European ELO list were present. The three players absent were the holder of the European titel Shuji Takahara, who returned to Japan, former European Champion Stephen Lamb, who seems to have lost some of his interest in Shogi and the strong Japanese Hayamizu, who could not find the time to attend this three day tournament. The EC was also quantitatively strong with a top group consisting of 24 players. A big surprise was the participation of Pieter Stouten, who was able to plan a holiday around the EC. The second reason I was not very optimistic about winning the tournament was the fact that I had just been informed that my application for a two year fellowship for research in Japan would be granted. I feared that the fullfilment of one of my greatest wishes (that is, being payed to do Shogi research) would be bad for my concentration. The third reason was that I expected other players to be much more eager to win than I was. I especially expected Cheymol and Fukumura to be very motivated to win. Eric because he had thus far been unable to add lustre to his high position on the ELO list by winning a European title. Fukumura is the only 5-dan currently active in Europe but has not been able to win a tournament, despite coming very close on several occasions. Finally, I was a bit suspicious about the venue. Not that there was anything wrong with it. On the contrary, it is almost ideal for a major European tournament. However, last year my performance in Brussels was very poor, even to the extent that I started complaining about the pairing that I thought to be unfair to me. Of course this crybaby behaviour was ignored by the tournament organisers. This tournament was different, though. Everything went smoothly from the first game. I won one game after another, while my rivals lost important games. In the first two rounds I had considerable problems beating Verhaeven and Watanabe, but I managed to squeeze out a win none the less. Meanwhile, Cheymol lost to Blackstock and Geuns staged a major upset by beating Fukumura. In the third round I miraculously escaped defeat against Pieter Stouten, while Van Oosten lost to Blackstock. After losing to Watanabe in round four, Van Oosten could no longer compete for the top position. In round five I won a difficult game against Blackstock and was the sole leader in the tournament. However, I still had to play Cheymol and Fukumura so the tournament was far from decided. Against Fukumura Lady Luck was again by my side and for a while it looked like the final game did not matter. Litjens had beaten Blackstock and Segers had a very good position against Cheymol. However, in byoyomi Segers lost his advantage and the game. This meant the tournament got a real final. I had to play Eric Cheymol in the final round. If he would win, we would both have 6 points out of 7 games and a play-off would be necessary. This is what happened: E.Cheymol - R.Grimbergen 11th European Championships, 7th round Brussels, August 27th 1995 1.P2f P3d 2.P7f P4d 3.S4h S3b 4.P5f R4b I have been a Static Rook player for years, but lately I have experimented with Fourth File Rook again at the Nijmegen Shogi club. Shikenbisha is an old favourite of mine. I have been playing this opening until I reached dan level, but I still like the perfect (albeit delicate) balance between the pieces. It was my intention to play Shikenbisha in every game in this tournament. Only Watanabe tricked me into playing Static Rook. 5.G4i-5h K6b 6.P9f P9d 7.K6h K7b 8.K7h K8b 9.P3f S7b 10.S6h G4a-5b 11.S6h-5g S4c 12.G6i-6h P5d 13.P1f P1d 14.P4f?! Even though this can not be called a mistake, black should be very careful when combining P4f-P4e with a gold on 6h as will be shown in the variations below. With a gold on 6h it is better to choose 14.P2e B3c followed by the Quick Attack S4f or the Bogin S3g-S2f. 14... P6d 15.P2e B3c 16.S4g During the game I thought this was an inaccuracy because it weakens square 3g. However, it turns out that we could have reached a well-known position from a different move order. Often black plays the inferior 16.P4e?! here. White can get a slightly better position now by playing 16... P7d 17.N3g G6c (17... N7c 18.P2d Px2d 19.Px4d Sx4d 20.P'4e Sx4e 21.Nx4e Bx8h+ 22.Kx8h Rx4e 23.B'3b N3c 24.Bx5d+ G6d is also interesting for white because he has a good attack with N'8d-N6e) Px2d 19.Px4d Sx4d 20.P'4e Sx4e 21.Nx4e Bx8h+ 22.Kx8h Rx4e 23.B'2c R2e 24.Rx2e Px2e 25.Bx3d+ N'8d 26.S'7g P'3g 27.R'4a G6a-6b. Of course this is a very long variation with many possible side variations, so the situation is not completely clear. Still, it can be seen why a gold on 6h is not so good, since white always has the counter attack with N'8d. 16... G6c 17.P4e L1c?! Not necessary and therefore a waste of time. It is better to play 17... P7d and bring the knight on 8a into play. It is important that this knight goes to 6e later on to help the counter attack. For example 18.N3g N7c 19.P2d Px2d?! (19... Bx2d 20.Px4d Sx4d 21.P'4e S3c is better, see comment below) 20.P3e! Px3e 21.Px4d S3d 22.S5g-4f Rx4d 23.P'4e (23.Bx4d Bx4d 24.P5e P'4e 25.Nx4e Sx4e 26.Rx2d Sx4f 27.P'4e Rx4d 28.Px4f is unclear) R4c 24.Bx3c+ Rx3c 25.B'2b with advantage for black. 18.Px4d?! This gives white more options to counterattack. After 18.N3g P7d 19.P2d Bx2d 20.Px4d Sx4d 21.P'4e S3c 22.S5g-4f N7c we would have reached a well-known position. There could have been followed 23.R2i (23.N2e S2b 24.Px4d N3c 25.Nx3c+ Sx3c followed by taking the pawn on 4d is no use) P6e! 24.R3i (24.B9g R4a 25.B8f P8d 26.B7g R4b helps only white) S2b 25.N2e N3c 26.Nx3c+ Bx3c 27.Bx3c+ Sx3c 28.P3e Px3e 29.Sx3e N'6d and white has a good attack. Here again, the vulnerable position of the gold on 6h becomes clear. At this point Eric had used more than half of his available time, reaching a pretty normal position. At our level the game is decided very late, and Eric would regret his unfortunate time distribution. 18... Sx4d 19.P2d Px2d For a long time I contemplated the possibility of taking with the bishop. During the game I feared 19... Bx2d 20.P'4c Rx4c 21.Rx2d Px2d 22.B'3b. It was only by studying this variation at home that I discovered that 22.... R4b 23.Bx2a+ R'4a! is possible and that 24.N'3c Sx3c 25.Bx3c+ Rx4g+ 26.Gx4g Rx4g+ is very risky for black. For example, N'6e is a strong threat. The real reason for taking with the pawn, however, was that I was worried about the fact that 3g is not available for a drop later on. I now feel that Bx2d is playable and might be in fact better than Px2d. For example 19... Bx2d 20.P'2b N3c 21.P2a+ P5e and black tokin is not doing anything. 20.N3g P5e I think this is a well-timed counter, but it might not be succesful. This pawn is eventually lost, but white gets all kinds of counter chances with a drop on 5g combined with knights on 6e and/or 4e. 21.P'4e Sx4e 22.Nx4e Rx4e 23.S5g-4f R4b Previously, I had seriously looked at 23... R2e. Fortunately, I realised just in time that after 23... S'2f I would have to resign. 24.Sx5e? Looks strange. Perhaps black feared 24.Px5e P'5f followed by N'6e. After playing quietly 25.P'4e, followed by S4g-4f and P3e there seems to be little wrong with black's position. White has no time for P7d-N7c-N6e because P3e is very fast. The most active plan seems to be 24... P'4e 25.S5g N'6e 26.S6f (26.S5g-5f P4f 27.S3h P'5d! 28.Px5d Bx8h+ 29.Kx8h B'3i 30.Rx2d N5g+ is very dangerous for black) P4f 27.S5f P'5g 28.G4h and black seems to survive. I can understand why Eric preferred not to play a position like that with many loose pieces. 25.S3g also looks unatractive. Still, this would have been better than the variation played in the game. 24... P'5g 25.G5hx5g N'6e? A big mistake that gets white into major trouble. The simple 25... N'4e would have given white a big advantage. For example 26.G5g-5h N3g+ 27.P'4c Rx4c 28.P'4d R4b 29.R2f +N4g 30.Gx4g and all of black pieces are out of position and he has no pawns in hand. I have no good explanation for not playing N'4e. I only considered a knight attack on 5g combined with a open rook line, attacking the silver on 4g. However, this silver will never be in danger. 26.P'4c Of course. The silver on 5e becomes a threat, white's attack is stopped and I also lose material. 26... R5b 27.S4d P'5e 28.Sx3c+ Nx5g+ 29.Gx5g Nx3c 30.S'4f! Very good move. White desperately seeks counterplay for the material lost by using the knight on 2a. If black allows N4e the weakness of his king will be fatal. For example 30... Rx2d? 31.N4e G5h 32.Px5f and black's attack comes too late. 30... S'4e 31.Sx5e G'3g 32.Rx2d Gx4g 33.Gx4g P'4f 34.Sx4f Sx4f 35.Gx4f N4e 36.B3c+ Not 36.Gx4e Rx5f and white promotes his rook. After that, black needs to defend very accurately, since there is a big difference in the protection of the kings. 36... S'3b! Good fighting move. If white allows P4b+ he will be destroyed. After S'3b black has to retreat his horse into the defence, since offensive moves like 37.B2b+ or 37.+B4d are answered by 37... S'3c 37.+B7g N5g+ 38.N'5e S3c This silver now comes into play with tempo. 39.R2a+ fails to 39... R2b and white strengthens his attack with a rook. 39.R2g G5d 40.Rx5g? Natural move. After all, black takes the only attacking piece that white has. However here black could have won easily by playing 40.S'6c!. After 40... Sx6c 41.Nx6c+ both rook and silver are attacked and after 40... R2b 41.P'2c R2a 42.Sx5d+ followed by N6c+ white is finished. It should be noted that Eric was almost in byoyomi here. 40... R2b 41.P'2g S4d 42.G'7i? Last move before going into 30 second byoyomi and a little panicking. By playing 42.N'2f! black could have kept the white rook out forever and steadily try to cash in on his material advantage. 42... Gx5e 43.Gx5e S'4f 44.R5i S4dx5e 45.B'3c? Probably the decisive mistake. Now white can promote his rook and his attack gains decisive power. Still N'2f is enough for black to win. The silver on 5e cannot move and will be lost soon. 46... Rx2g+ 46.Bx5e+ +R3h 47.G'6h Sx5e 48.+Bx5e B'2f 49.R5g Of course 49.R6i is met by N'5g!. 49... B4h+ 50.S'5h N'6e 51.+Bx6e Px6e 52.N'8f G'6c Good solid defence. Now black can forget about playing a knight drop on 7d forever. 53.P4b+ B'2d 54.N'6i P'4f 55.P'4i +Bx5g 56.Nx5g P4g+ 57.Sx4g +Rx4g 58.P9e? Now black is quickly lost. He could have made it a lot harder for white by playing 57.S'5h, but after the simple 57... +Rx4b white still has a won position. 58... Bx5g+ 59.Gx5g +Rx5g 60.S'6h R'5h 61.S'7g N'6f 62.Px6f G'6g 63.K8h Gx7g 64.Nx7g Rx6h+ 65.Gx6h +Rx6h 66.N'7h S'7i And because 67.K9g S'8h 69.K9f Px9e 70.K8e G'8d is an easy mate, black resigned. So, by luckily escaping from a bad position three times I became European Champion again. Looking at the results, it seems it was a rather easy. However, the game shown here tells a different story. The difference between me and the other players is solving more than 3000 tsume Shogi problems, giving me a considerable advantage in the endgame, compensating for rather mediocre strategic middle game play. My advise to win a European Championship therefore: throw away all opening books and solve more tsume Shogi problems!