From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 3 jul 1997 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 693, July 2nd 1997) After a couple of Habu-Tanigawa matches with deep Shogi and slow build-ups, only erupting at the very end, I must admit that I find the 68th Kisei match very refreshing. Yashiki and Miura don't pull their punches. Admittedly, the first game also had a rather slow start, but then became a great fight. The second game was a mud slinging party almost from the start. Here is how it went: Black: N.Yashiki, Challenger White: H.Miura, Kisei 68th Kisei-sen, Game 2, June 24th 1997 1.P2g-2f 1/1 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/1 1/1 3.P2f-2e 1/2 0/1 4.P8d-8e 0/2 0/1 5.G6i-7h 0/2 0/1 6.G4a-3b 0/2 0/1 7.P2e-2d 8/10 0/1 8.P2cx2d 0/10 0/1 9.R2hx2d 0/10 0/1 10.P*2c 0/10 0/1 11.R2d-2f 0/10 0/1 12.S7a-7b 0/10 1/2 13.P1g-1f 0/10 0/2 14.P1c-1d 0/10 2/4 15.S3i-3h 0/10 0/4 16.P6c-6d 0/10 0/4 17.P7g-7f 1/11 0/4 18.P8e-8f 0/11 2/6 19.P8gx8f 0/11 0/6 20.R8bx8f 0/11 0/6 21.P9g-9f 11/22 0/6 22.R8f-8b 0/22 3/9 23.P7f-7e 6/28 0/9 24.K5a-4a 0/28 9/18 25.N8i-7g 6/34 0/18 26.P3c-3d 0/34 8/26 27.K5i-4h 11/45 0/26 28.S3a-4b 0/45 0/26 29.P*8e 4/49 0/26 30.S7b-6c 0/49 8/34 31.R2f-7f 5/54 0/34 32.P2c-2d!? 0/54 23/57 A very interesting new move by Miura. Being the hard worker that he is (it is rumoured that he studies Shogi for as long as 10 hours a day), he must have prepared this thoroughly (Miura after the game: "I looked briefly at this before..."). Since it was a little surprising that Yashiki played Hineribisha instead of Aigakari, the 23 minutes Miura used were probably to decide if he would really play such a new strategy with 1-0 down in a title match. 33.S7i-6h 9/63 0/57 34.B2b-4d 0/63 2/59 35.K4h-3i 26/89 0/59 36.P2d-2e 0/89 13/72 37.P5g-5f?! 1/90 0/72 A positive move, but 37.P*2g is probably better. However, playing P*2g is something you would want to avoid at almost all costs in the Hineribisha. If it turns out that 37.P*2g is the only move here, Miura's new strategy might prove to be a serious blow to the Hineribisha strategy. 38.P2e-2f 0/90 5/77 39.S6h-5g 4/94 0/77 40.N2a-3c 0/94 1/78 41.S5g-4f 30/124 0/78 42.P5c-5d 0/124 39/117 43.P3g-3f 18/142 0/117 44.P1d-1e 0/142 3/120 45.P1fx1e 6/148 0/120 46.P*1g 0/148 4/124 47.L1ix1g 29/177 0/124 48.N3c-2e 0/177 0/124 49.L1g-1f 0/177 0/124 50.N2e-1g+ 0/177 0/124 51.N2ix1g 0/177 0/124 52.P2f-2g+ 0/177 0/124 53.S3hx2g 0/177 0/124 54.B4dx1g+ 0/177 0/124 55.P*2h 2/179 0/124 56.N*2d 0/179 10/134 57.N*2i 3/182 0/134 58.+B1g-6b? 0/182 24/158 After an almost forced sequence, white has screwed up black's castle and promoted his bishop. His opening strategy has been a success. Retreating the bishop to 6b is a mistake, though. After 58.+B5c B7i P6e Nx6e +B6d white has a clear advantage. 59.B8h-7i 4/186 0/158 60.P7c-7d 0/186 59/217 61.P7ex7d 0/186 0/217 62.R8b-7b 0/186 6/223 63.B7i-5g 14/200 0/223 64.S6cx7d 0/200 5/228 65.P*7e 19/219 0/228 66.S7d-6c 0/219 9/237 67.P3f-3e 9/228 0/237 68.P6d-6e 0/228 21/258 69.P5f-5e 11/239 0/258 70.P5dx5e?! 0/239 11/269 After this, the game becomes a slugfest. Miura could have kept Yashiki's Ninja tactics under control by playing 70.+B4d P8d P5e P8c+ R5b and after Px5f next, white still has a slight advantage. 71.S4f-4e 3/242 0/269 72.P3dx3e 0/242 6/275 73.P8e-8d 11/253 0/275 Yashiki has made something out of very little. From now on the game becomes very interesting and very difficult. 74.P*8b 0/253 6/281 Painful. 75.P8d-8c+ 14/267 0/281 76.P8bx8c 0/267 0/281 77.P*8b 0/267 0/281 78.R7bx8b 0/267 8/289 79.P7e-7d 1/268 0/289 80.S6c-6d 0/268 0/289 81.P7d-7c+ 4/272 0/289 82.S6dx7c 0/272 0/289 83.P*5d 5/277 0/289 84.S7c-6d 0/277 0/289 85.P6g-6f 1/278 0/289 86.P*7e 0/278 0/289 87.R7f-8f 1/279 0/289 88.P4c-4d 0/279 2/291 89.P6fx6e 2/281 0/291 90.P4dx4e 0/281 5/296 91.P6ex6d 1/282 0/296 92.S*5f 0/282 0/296 93.B5gx7e? 7/289 0/296 A mistake that gives Miura the advantage again. After 93.B6f +B4d P5c+! Sx5c P6c+ the endgame becomes very close. Yashiki had not seen P5c+. 94.P4e-4f 0/289 0/296 95.P4gx4f 3/292 0/296 96.P*4h 0/292 0/296 97.K3ix4h 0/292 0/296 98.P*7d 0/292 0/296 99.B7e-6f 0/292 0/296 100.+B6b-4d 0/292 0/296 101.P6d-6c+ 2/294 0/296 102.P*6e 0/294 0/296 103.N7gx6e 0/294 0/296 104.S5fx6e 0/294 0/296 105.B6f-8h 0/294 0/296 106.N2d-3f 0/294 1/297 107.K4h-5h 0/294 0/297 108.P*4g 0/294 0/297 109.P5d-5c+ 0/294 0/297 110.P4g-4h+ 0/294 0/297 111.G4ix4h 1/295 0/297 112.N*6f 0/295 0/297 113.B8hx6f 0/295 0/297 114.S6ex6f 0/295 0/297 115.S2gx3f 1/296 0/297 116.P5e-5f 0/296 0/297 117.N*2d 0/296 0/297 In the television program Igo-Shogi weekly Tanigawa suggested S*2a as quicker, but commented that black in that case also seems to be a move too late. 118.P3ex3f 0/296 0/297 119.N2dx3b+ 0/296 0/297 120.K4ax3b 0/296 0/297 121.+P5cx4b 0/296 0/297 122.R8bx4b 0/296 0/297 123.S*2d 0/296 0/297 124.P5f-5g+ 0/296 1/298 125.G4hx5g 0/296 0/298 126.S6fx5g+ 0/296 0/298 127.K5hx5g 0/296 0/298 128.N*6e 0/296 0/298 129.K5g-4g 0/296 0/298 130.G*5g 0/296 0/298 131.K4gx3f 0/296 0/298 132.S*3e 0/296 0/298 133.S2dx3e 0/296 0/298 134.B*4g 0/296 0/298 135.K3f-2f 0/296 0/298 136.P*2e 0/296 0/298 137.K2f-1g 0/296 0/298 138.+B4dx3e 0/296 0/298 139.K1g-1h 0/296 0/298 140.P2e-2f 0/296 0/298 141.S*3g 0/296 0/298 142.S*3h 0/296 0/298 143.+P6c-5c 0/296 0/298 144.+B3e-3f 0/296 0/298 Resigns 0/296 0/298 Time: 04:56:00 04:58:00 After 145.Sx3f Bx3f+ K1h S*1h is mate. Now that is what I expect from a shogi game! The match is now even at 1-1 and I am eagerly awaiting the following games. Game three is being played today (July 3rd), but I am afraid I will not see the moves until next week. In other Shogi news: 1) In the A-Junisen Morishita beat Yonenage in the first round. Yonenaga, being very low in the ranking this year and with some of the relegation rivals winning their first game, has to be very careful this year. Morishita is still looking for that illusive first major title. 2) The complete line-up for the Ryu-O knock-out tournament has been decided. Moriuchi beat Shima in the replay of a sennichite game that ended at 11 in the evening. Ryu-O title hopefuls are Tsukada, Sato Yasumitsu, Waki, Moriuchi, Yashiki, Sensaki, Namekata, Abe, Sanada, Matsumoto and Kondo. Only Waki and Tsukada are in their thirties, all the others are younger... 3) Goda beat Minami to claim the final spot in the semi-finals of the Oza match. He will meet Morishita next. The other semifinal is between Shima and Hatakeyama. 4) In B1 Junisen the second round was played. The game between Murayama and Maruyama was postponed because Murayama was in the hospital for an operation. A-Junisen veterans Tanaka Torahiko, Minami and Fukuzaki won their second game in a row. 5) In B2 Junisen the first round had some big upsets. Promotion favourites Goda and Fujii lost against Tomioka and Ono respectively. Nakagawa had a tough game against Kamia but won. Tsukada also started with a victory. Tsukada had a horrible season last year, but seems to have found his form back lately. 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)298-54-5918