From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 4 jun 1997 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 689, June 4th 1997) Some old-fashioned Habu magic to keep him alive in the meijin match. Here is what happened: Black: Tanigawa Koji, Ryu-O White: Habu Yoshiharu, Meijin 55th Meijin-sen, Game 5, May 29th and 30th 1997 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 33/33 It is highly unusual to think that long about a move this early, but not without precedent. When Habu was asked about this, he did not want to say much about it: "I was thinking about several things". I could not help thinking about the usual scene at the beginning of Habu games where he closes his eyes and almost seemed to have fallen asleep. Might it be that this type of concentration had become more difficult lately and that he decided to use more time getting that old feeling back? 3.G6i-7h 15/15 0/33 4.P8d-8e 0/15 21/54 5.B8h-7g 2/17 0/54 In the NBA they give the ball to the player who is scoring until he stops doing so (or to Michael Jordan until he says to stop doing so :-) ). Tanigawa has been very successful with this type of Bishop Exchange opening (he also won the deciding game 5 of the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament with this opening), so he gives it another try. 6.P3c-3d 0/17 2/56 7.S7i-6h 3/20 0/56 8.G4a-3b 0/20 3/59 9.S3i-3h 4/24 0/59 10.S7a-7b 0/24 3/62 11.P2g-2f 16/40 0/62 12.B2bx7g+ 0/40 19/81 13.S6hx7g 0/40 0/81 14.S3a-4b 0/40 0/81 15.P1g-1f 11/51 0/81 16.P1c-1d 0/51 21/102 17.P9g-9f 9/60 0/102 18.P9c-9d 0/60 11/113 19.P4g-4f 7/67 0/113 20.P6c-6d 0/67 26/139 21.S3h-4g 6/73 0/139 22.S7b-6c 0/73 3/142 23.K5i-6h 8/81 0/142 24.S6c-5d 0/81 2/144 25.S4g-5f 18/99 0/144 26.S4b-3c 0/99 16/160 27.G4i-5h 12/111 0/160 28.P6d-6e 0/111 12/172 29.K6h-7i 36/147 0/172 30.K5a-4b 0/147 5/177 31.P2f-2e 68/215 0/177 32.G6a-5b 0/215 36/213 Habu's sealed move. 33.P3g-3f 24/239 0/213 34.K4b-3a 0/239 65/278 35.N2i-3g 4/243 0/278 36.P4c-4d 0/243 2/280 37.R2h-4h 37/280 0/280 38.G5b-4c 0/280 89/369 39.K7i-8h 10/290 0/369 40.K3a-2b 0/290 0/369 We are already well into the second day of play, but instead of expecting an opening attack, both players seem to have run out of moves. 41.G5h-6h 2/292 0/369 42.G4c-4b 0/292 3/372 43.L1i-1h 24/316 0/372 44.G4b-4c 0/316 13/385 45.G6h-5h 24/340 0/385 46.G4c-4b 0/340 2/387 Here a sennichite was expected by the professionals watching the game. Habu can do nothing but wait, because the only other development move is P7d and that would be extremely dangerous since it opens the diagonal to the rook, giving black all kinds of possibilities for a bishopfork on rook and king when attacking by the natural P4e. On the other hand, without P7d the attack with P4e is an overplay (for professionals at least). 47.G5h-4g?! 44/384 0/387 A brave decision to avoid the sennichite. Tanigawa himself said of it: "Sennichite with black is a little embarrassing". The only other way of attacking is 47.B2f, but after 48.G3b-4c P4e Px4e Sx4e P*4d black can not give his attack any power. 48.G4b-4c 0/384 12/399 49.R4h-2h 0/384 0/399 50.G4c-4b 0/384 5/404 51.P4f-4e 7/391 0/404 Half past four on the second day. The slowest build-up to the opening of the fight in this meijin match. 52.P4dx4e 0/391 1/405 53.N3gx4e 0/391 0/405 54.S5dx4e 0/391 37/442 It is a bit unusual to take the knight in an attack like this, but in this case it can not be helped. If white plays 54.S4d, then he has no moves after 55.P*4f and black can take the time to exchange pawns on the second file and after that start a solid attack on the third file by P3e. An alternative would have been 54.P*4f, but after 55.Nx3c+ G3bx3c G4h N*4d P3e black is better. For example N3f Px3d Nx2h+ Px3c+ and now Gx3c B*7a, Nx3c P*3d or Kx3c S*3e and black has the upper hand. 55.S5fx4e 0/391 0/442 56.P8e-8f 0/391 1/443 57.P8gx8f 0/391 0/443 58.P6e-6f! 0/391 13/456 Great move. Everyone expected the joining pawn attack 58.P*8e, which is good for white if black follows the main line 59.P3e Px8f Px3d N*8e. However, after 59.S*7a black gets the better position. For example 60.R8d (if 60.R7b? then P3e is allright) Px8e Rx8e P*8f Rx8f P*8g (Sx8f? B*5e) R8e P3e P6f G5f Px6g+ Gx6g and no good moves for white. 59.P6gx6f 8/399 0/456 60.P*8e 0/399 0/456 61.P3f-3e 12/411 0/456 No choice, after Px8e Rx8e the silver on 4e is lost. 62.B*6i! 0/411 22/478 If 62.Px8f P*8c Rx8c B*5f the black bishop is ideally positioned for both attack and defense. 63.B*5f 8/419 0/478 64.N*4d! 0/419 4/482 More Habu magic. None of the professionals watching the game expected this move, which seems to put the knight in an awkward spot, since it can be taken by the silver at any time. However, the point of not dropping the knight on 6d will soon become clear. Also, Habu finds a remarkable way of using this knight later in attack. 65.B5f-6e 20/439 0/482 Good or bad? Professionals do not like to take a piece that can be exchanged at any time too early, but having to move the bishop from the good square 5f is also not very appealing. Trapping the bishop after 65.Sx4d Sx4d S*5h comes to mind, or 65.Sx4d Sx4d Px8e S4e! N*2f! (Bx4e! Rx8e). 66.P8ex8f 0/439 0/482 67.P*8c 0/439 0/482 68.R8b-6b 0/439 0/482 69.P3ex3d 1/440 0/482 70.R6bx6e 0/440 19/501 With the knight on 6d this exchange would not have been possible. 71.P6fx6e 0/440 0/501 72.B*6g! 0/440 2/503 Overlooked by Tanigawa and more or less the decisive move. Habu manages to keep his attack going while his own king is still safe. 73.G7hx6g?! 22/462 0/503 Both players seemed to hardly given it any thought, but 73.Sx8f might have been better here. For example 74.Bx4e+ Px3c+ G4bx3c S*5f and the position still looks difficult. 74.P8f-8g+ 0/462 0/503 75.K8h-7i 0/462 0/503 76.B6ix4g+ 0/462 0/503 77.B*6i 1/463 0/503 78.+B4gx6i 0/463 7/510 79.K7ix6i 0/463 0/510 80.B*4g 0/463 0/510 81.S*5h? 2/465 0/510 The losing move. After 81.B*5h black still seems to have a fighting chance. After 82.Bx5h+ Kx5h G*3g R2f +P7h P5f things are still complicated. 82.N4d-3f! 0/465 0/510 The decider. If the rook moves, white's attack is winning after N4h+. If black takes the knight as in the game, the white position is suddenly completely safe. 83.P3dx3c+ 3/468 0/510 84.G4bx3c 0/468 0/510 85.S4ex3f 17/485 0/510 86.B4gx3f+ 0/485 0/510 87.P*3d 0/485 0/510 88.G3cx3d 0/485 3/513 89.N*2f 0/485 0/513 90.G3d-3c 0/485 1/514 91.P*3d 0/485 0/514 92.G3c-4c 0/485 0/514 93.P2e-2d 13/498 0/514 94.G*7h! 0/498 9/523 Better than S*7h. 95.K6i-5i 0/498 0/523 96.+B3f-3g 0/498 0/523 97.R*4h 4/502 0/523 98.P*4g 0/502 1/524 99.B*6f 1/503 0/524 100.K2b-3a 0/503 4/528 101.S5hx4g 1/504 0/528 102.S*3i 0/504 0/528 Resigns 2/506 0/528 Time: 08:26:00 08:48:00 Tanigawa took two minutes to decide that there was nothing left to play for. The mating threat 103.Sx4h+ Rx4h R*7i is impossible to defend against. The desperate 103.G6h fails to P*6g. So Habu pulls one back to try and defend his meijin title. Game 5 is scheduled for June 10th and 11th. In other Shogi news: 1) Not all was bad for Tanigawa last week. He managed to beat Morishita in the deciding fifth game of the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament. It was Tanigawa's sixth victory in the fifteen times the tournament has been held. For Morishita yet another second place in a major tournament. 2) Shima was the first to reach the semi-finals of the Oza tournament and seems headed for a rematch with Habu later this year. Shima beat Tanaka Torahiko in a Quick attack Yagura that seemed controlled by Tanaka until the endgame. Unfortunately for him, an oversight cost him the game and a spot in the semi-finals. 3) In a battle of the rookies, Kondo (4-dan) beat Nozuki (4-dan) to win group 6 of the 10th Ryu-O tournament. Both promoted in September last year to 4-dan and must have played many games together. Kondo now will advance to the knock-out tournament to decide the challenger of Tanigawa. That's all for this 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)298-58-5918