From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 28 may 1996 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 637, May 29th 1996) So, what really happened in game 4 of the Meijin-sen? Black: Moriuchi, Challenger White: Habu, Meijin Meijin-sen, game 4, May 20th & 21st 1.P7f P3d 2.P2f P4d 3.P2e B3c 4.S4h R4b Before the match it was expected that at some point one of the players would choose Furibisha with white. That it took until the fourth game before this opening appears, is probably because it is difficult to get the initiative with this opening. Playing an active game is always the first priority of professional players. Now that Habu is 3-0 up, he feels it safe to try something. He was probably bored by looking at the same type of position over and over again :-). 5.K6h K6b 6.K7h S7b 7.P5f K7a 8.B7g K8b 9.G4i-5h S3b 10.P9f P9d 11.B6h S4c I first thought that Habu had planned to play this move before the game, but as Shukan Shogi pointed out, Moriuchi is showing some very clever opening play here. By moving up the bishop (8.B7g), black threatens to make an anaguma castle (K8h-L9h-K9i-S8h). This forces white to move the silver to 3b, because only with this silver a positive attack against the anaguma is possible. However, after that Moriuchi quickly switches to another attack with B6h, aiming at P2d. There are many examples of games played with 11... P4e 12.S8h R4c, but in all cases white is in trouble. After only 11 moves, Moriuchi has gotten Habu in serious trouble. 11... S4c took him 67 minutes. 12.P2d Px2d 13.Bx2d R2b 14.Bx3c+ Rx2h+ 15.+Bx4c G4a-5b 16.+Bx4d +Rx1i 17.+Bx1a +Rx2a 18.S5i Counting the pieces, the situation seems not so bad. White has two rooks and black has two bishops. Furthermore, black has a knight for a silver. However, in this kind of position the difference between having 5 generals to play with and having only three generals to play with is very significant. In the analysing room most professionals felt that Moriuchi had an overwhelming advantage here. After 18.S5i, a very good defensive move, Habu has again a big decision to make. If he plays 18... R'2h or 18... R'1i, black just plays 19.S7i-6h and it is very hard to continue the attack. Furthermore, if black gets a knight in hand, the attack on 7d (combined with a horse on 5e) or an edge attack will be very dangerous. 18... P3e! Great move. Habu abandons his ideas for a semeai (mutual attack) for a while. The purpose of this move is two-fold: attacking with P3f and making a tokin and pulling the rook back in defence. 19.+B6f +R2d This rook now defends against the edge attack P9e. 20.P'2e +R3d 21.B'1b +R3b 22.+B1a N3c Without Moriuchi having made a bad move, the situation has gotten very complicated again. It is clear that the judgment of the professionals in the analysing room was a little premature, but it is also one of the mysteries of Shogi that a position that seemed very good for black can change without a specific reason. From now on, both players again have to fight to win. 23.+B2a +R4a 24.+B2b Nx2e 25.L'4f P'4b? Critizised by Habu himself. He thought that it had been much better if he had played 25... +R5a 26.B3d+ Nx3g+ 27.L4c+ Gx4c 28.+Bx4c P'4b and black is in trouble. After the actual move, Moriuchi takes the lead again. 26.B3d+ R'2h 27.S7i-6h P3f 28.P'2d?! This results in a very close endgame. Moriuchi could have spared himself some anxious moments if he had played the simple 28.Px3f N3g+ 29.P'2d +R2g 30.P2c+ in which case his attack is the same, but white's attack is weaker than in the actual game. 28... Px3g+ 29.P2c+ +P3f 30.+P3b +R5a 31.+Px4b Gx4b 32.Lx4b+ +Rx4b 33.+B2b-3c +Rx3c 34.+Bx3c N3g+ 35.R'4a B'1d 36.Rx6a+ There is no way back now. 36... Sx6a 37.+B4c R'4a? The decisive mistake. By dropping the rook at a distance on 1a, white could have kept his hopes of winning the game alive. For example, 37... R'1a 38.P9e +Px4g 39.+Bx5c L'6b 40.Px9d P'9b is unclear. 38.S'5b Rx4c 39.Sx6a+ R4e Defends against a later knight on 8e and a gold on 7e. 40.S'7a K9c 41.N7g +Px4g 42.G'5e! Winning move. Shutting out the rook from the defence and threatening mate with N8e. Game over. 42... L'8d 43.P9e Px9e 44.Gx4e +Px5h 45.Lx9e P'9d 46.Lx9d Kx9d 47.P'9e And with only one move difference, this game ends. Because 47... Kx9e 48.P'9f Kx9f 49.P'9g Kx9g 50.G'8h K9f 51.R'9g is a pretty (no pieces in hand) but easy mate, Habu resigned. Other Shogi news: Maruyama won his fourth consecutive game in the white group of the Oi-sen. With one game still to play, he has already the winner of this group and will play the winner of the red group for the right to challenge Habu. It would be his first shot at a major title if he would win that game. Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Electrotechnical Laboratory Palcious Tsukuba 302 1-1-4 Umezono 1-24-8 Ninomiya Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305 JAPAN 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp Tel: 0298-59-1606 WWW: http://www.etl.go.jp:8080/etl/suiron/~grimberg Tel: +81-(0)298-54-5080 extension: 67431 Fax: +81-(0)298-58-5918