From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 16 jul 1997 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 695, July 16th 1997) Another exciting title match game! The first game of the Oi match between Habu and challenger Sato went from the opening straight into the endgame with both players missing chances to win the game. Finally it was Habu who made use of the time troubles of Sato (Sato was in byoyomi very early) and scored the first win. Here is what Shukan Shogi (and I :-) ) have to say about it: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Oi 38th Oi-sen, Game 1, July 8th and 9th 1997 1.P2g-2f 4/4 0/0 A little unexpected. Sato is a specialist in the Yagura and commentators expected that he would choose his favourite strategy in this all-important first game. However, recently Sato has played Ai-gakari a lot, so this is far from unfamiliar ground for him. 2.P8c-8d 0/4 3/3 3.P2f-2e 1/5 0/3 4.P8d-8e 0/5 0/3 5.G6i-7h 1/6 0/3 6.G4a-3b 0/6 1/4 7.P2e-2d 0/6 0/4 8.P2cx2d 0/6 1/5 9.R2hx2d 0/6 0/5 10.P*2c 0/6 3/8 11.R2d-2f 0/6 0/8 12.S7a-7b 0/6 3/11 13.K5i-5h 15/21 0/11 This move is unusual, but Sato is known for his thorough preparation and has undoubtedly deeply studied this line of play. 14.P1c-1d 0/21 26/37 15.P7g-7f 50/71 0/37 16.P8e-8f 0/71 33/70 17.P8gx8f 0/71 0/70 18.R8bx8f 0/71 0/70 19.P*8g 5/76 0/70 20.R8f-8d 0/76 6/76 21.P1g-1f 19/95 0/76 22.K5a-5b 0/95 43/119 23.G4i-3h 50/145 0/119 24.R8d-7d 0/145 16/135 25.P9g-9f 12/157 0/135 26.P9c-9d 0/157 11/146 27.R2f-5f 8/165 0/146 28.S3a-4b 0/165 26/172 29.P3g-3f 13/178 0/172 30.S7b-8c 0/178 15/187 31.S7i-6h 8/186 0/187 32.G6a-7b 0/186 0/187 33.N2i-3g 23/209 0/187 34.P3c-3d!? 0/209 71/258 Habu has been unable to find the right plan against black's opening strategy. "If I allow P3e I have no more moves" (Habu). 34.P3d is a move white hates to play, as it puts the gold in an awkward position after the bishop exchange, but white feels he has no choice. 35.B8hx2b+ 31/240 0/258 36.G3bx2b 0/240 0/258 37.S3i-4h 0/240 0/258 38.N2a-3c 0/240 29/287 39.N8i-7g 38/278 0/287 40.R7d-5d! 0/278 44/331 A very brave move and the only way to stay in the game. 41.R5fx5d 87/365 0/331 42.P5cx5d 0/365 0/331 43.P3f-3e 0/365 0/331 44.R*2i 0/365 29/360 45.G3h-3i 4/369 0/360 46.R2ix1i+ 0/369 3/363 47.P3ex3d 0/369 0/363 48.P*3h 0/369 34/397 49.G3i-4i? 21/390 0/397 "I was a little over-optimistic" (Sato). This natural gold move is a mistake that gives Habu the advantage. Better would have been 49.Px3c+ Gx3c N*5c! (N*4e is another possibility) Px3i+ B*6a K5c R*5b K4d Bx7b+ and black seems to be winning even though after K3e things are not 100% clear. 50.B*6i 0/390 8/405 51.K5hx6i 44/434 0/405 52.+R1ix4i 0/434 0/405 53.S4h-5i 1/435 0/405 54.L*5h 0/435 23/428 55.P3dx3c+ 1/436 0/428 56.G2bx3c 0/436 1/429 57.R*2a 4/440 0/429 58.G*3a 0/440 15/444 59.R2ax1a+ 1/441 0/444 60.L5hx5i+ 0/441 0/444 61.S6hx5i 0/441 0/444 62.S*5h 0/441 0/444 63.K6i-7i 0/441 0/444 64.+R4ix5i 0/441 1/445 65.K7i-8h 0/441 0/445 66.S5h-6i= 0/441 1/446 67.G7h-7i 34/475 0/446 68.S*7h? 0/475 5/451 Habu's turn to make a big mistake that might have cost him the game. 68.S6h is better, even though the situation is by far not as easy as it looks. 69.L*5c! 4/479 0/451 "Sato Magic". Sato plays a kind of surprising endgame move that has been played by Habu so many times in the past. From now on the advantage again shifts to black, but Sato used his final minutes before byoyomi for this move. 70.K5b-6b 0/479 5/456 71.G7ix7h 0/479 0/456 72.S6ix7h+ 0/479 6/462 73.K8hx7h 0/479 0/462 74.G*6h 0/479 8/470 It seems like 74.G*7i is an easy win after K8h +R6h K9g +Rx7g because black does not seem to have a defense against N*8e K9h +R7h Any*8h +R8i. For example, S*8e N*8e P*8f and black wins. However, there is a hidden defence: +Rx3a!. Now N*8e K9h +R7h G*8h Sx3a Gx7h is winning for black. Also N*8e K9h +R6h N*8h Sx3a B*5a K7a S*6b and black just has enough material to mate the white king. 75.K7h-8h 0/479 0/470 76.+R5i-7i 0/479 0/470 77.K8h-9g 0/479 0/470 78.+R7ix9i 0/479 0/470 79.K9g-8f 0/479 0/470 80.L*8d 0/479 1/471 81.L*8e 0/479 0/471 82.L8dx8e 0/479 1/472 83.N7gx8e 0/479 0/472 84.P*8d 0/479 1/473 85.+R1ax3a! 0/479 0/473 If Sato would have won, this would have been the decider. 86.P8dx8e 0/479 0/473 87.K8f-7e 0/479 0/473 88.P7c-7d 0/479 2/475 Creates an excape route for the king and thereby complicates the black task. 89.K7e-6f 0/479 0/475 90.L*6d 0/479 0/475 91.K6f-5f 0/479 0/475 92.S4bx3a 0/479 0/475 93.B*5a 0/479 0/475 94.K6b-7a 0/479 0/475 95.B5ax3c+? 0/479 0/475 Until now Sato has played the endgame perfectly, but finally byoyomi is costing him the game. White has no mate, so if black can make a strong mating threat he will win. Sato planned to play 95.L5b+ but calculated just in time that P5e K4e G*4d K3f R*3b would cost him the lance. With no time left to look for another mating threat he plays the safety Bx3c+. Black could have won here by playing 95.N*8d Sx8d L*8c. If Gx8c then S*7b Kx7b B*6a K8b S*7a K9c Bx8c+ leads to mate. 96.R*3f 0/479 0/475 97.K5f-4e 0/479 0/475 98.R3fx3c 0/479 0/475 99.P*3d 0/479 0/475 100.R3c-3b 0/479 3/478 101.S*3c? 0/479 0/478 The final mistake. If black plays 101.L*3c white would have found it much harder to win. 102.+R9i-2i 0/479 0/478 103.S3cx3b= 0/479 0/478 104.S3ax3b 0/479 0/478 105.R*3a 0/479 0/478 106.K7a-8b 0/479 0/478 107.B*7a 0/479 0/478 108.G7bx7a 0/479 0/478 109.R3ax3b+ 0/479 0/478 110.N*6b 0/479 0/478 111.P3d-3c+ 0/479 0/478 112.B*2e 0/479 1/479 113.+P3cx4c 0/479 0/479 114.S*3d 0/479 0/479 Resigns 0/479 0/479 Time: 07:59:00 07:59:00 In other Shogi news: 1) I just read in the paper that Yashiki has won the fourth game of the Kisei match, thereby winning the series 3-1 and taking the Kisei title. Probably Patrick will put the moves on Shogi-L. Next week more on this game. 2) The Ryu-O knock-out started with two games. Kondo (winner group 6) beat Matsumoto (winner group 5) and Sanada (winner group 4) beat Abe (2nd place in group 3). Kondo continued his great form in his rookie year, but will have to face Namekata next. Sanada plays Moriuchi for a place in semi-finals. 3) Shima is the first to reach the challenger final of the Oza tournament. Being white-washed by Habu last year, he will certainly want another go at this title and show that he can beat Habu. To do that he will have to win one more game against the winner of the game between Morishita and Goda. More next week, 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