From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 18 jun 1997 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 691, June 18th 1997) The sixth game of the meijin match is an illustration of how difficult shogi really is. Almost a week after the game it is still unclear what happened. Habu seemed to have the upper hand, but lost the game. Kawada-san already showed his frustration at the explanations during the game (or the lack of, as it turned out) and I can only add to that after watching Igo-Shogi weekly and reading Shukan Shogi. So far no professional player seems to have been able to figure out why Habu lost. Here is what Shukan Shogi wrote about the game, but do not expect any answers: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Meijin White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger 55th Meijin-sen, Game 6, June 10th and 11th 1997 1.P7g-7f 9/9 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/9 4/4 3.S7i-6h 11/20 0/4 4.P3c-3d 0/20 0/4 5.P6g-6f 1/21 0/4 6.P8d-8e 0/21 51/55 7.S6h-7g 30/51 0/55 8.S7a-7b 0/51 2/57 9.P5g-5f 33/84 0/57 10.S7b-8c 0/84 9/66 11.B8h-7i 23/107 0/66 12.S8c-8d 0/107 11/77 Tanigawa has taken some time to decide that he will try his luck in a quick climbing silver attack. It is the first time he has played this strategy against Habu. 13.G6i-7h 26/133 0/77 The normal defence. 13.R8h is another possibility. 14.G4a-3b 0/133 47/124 15.P2g-2f 21/154 0/124 16.S3a-4b 0/154 26/150 17.S3i-4h 34/188 0/150 18.K5a-4a 0/188 29/179 19.G4i-5h 5/193 0/179 20.P6c-6d 0/193 42/221 21.G5h-6g 34/227 0/221 The sealed move. The importance of the game and indeed the whole match is being reflected in the cautious way both players set up the game, thinking about each opening move for a long time. 22.S8d-9e?! 0/227 50/271 Positively ahead as is Tanigawa's style. However, this may be an overplay. 23.B7i-6h 16/243 0/271 24.P6d-6e 0/243 1/272 25.S4h-5g 7/250 0/272 26.P8e-8f 0/250 21/293 27.P8gx8f 1/251 0/293 28.S9ex8f 0/251 0/293 Looks like white is just giving up a silver, but in fact he is only giving up a pawn. This loss is also significant though... 29.S7gx8f 1/252 0/293 30.P*8h 0/252 0/293 31.N8i-7g 48/300 0/293 Not good is 31.Gx8h Px6f Sx6f P*6e S6f-7g Rx8f and black is in big trouble after both Sx8f Bx8h+ and B5g R8b. 32.R8bx8f 0/300 38/331 33.P*8g 2/302 0/331 34.R8f-8d 0/302 1/332 35.G7hx8h 1/303 0/332 White has sacrificed a pawn to mess black's position up a little. Still, since white can not continue attacking, it was generally thought that Habu had the advantage. Habu himself also seemed confident in the position. 36.P6ex6f 0/303 11/343 37.S5gx6f 6/309 0/343 38.P1c-1d 0/309 0/343 39.K5i-6i 40/349 0/343 40.K4a-3a 0/349 2/345 41.K6i-7h 4/353 0/345 42.P3d-3e?! 0/353 17/362 It seems that first 42.B1c is better. After 43.P4f P3e followed by R3d and N3c the position is difficult. 43.S*4f! 25/378 0/362 A strong silver drop that gives Habu the advantage. 44.P7c-7d 0/378 41/403 45.P2f-2e 50/428 0/403 46.N8a-7c 0/428 2/405 47.B6h-5g 10/438 0/405 48.P7d-7e 0/438 38/443 49.S6fx7e 5/443 0/443 50.R8d-4d 0/443 0/443 51.P*6d 4/447 0/443 52.G6a-6b 0/447 5/448 53.B5g-6f 10/457 0/448 54.R4d-3d 0/457 3/451 55.P6d-6c+ 13/470 0/451 56.G6bx6c 0/470 3/454 57.B6fx2b+ 0/470 0/454 58.K3ax2b 0/470 0/454 59.B*4e! 0/470 0/454 A painful drop that seems to decide the game. Tanigawa: "I realised that I was losing and was already thinking about the seventh game". However, things are not that easy... 60.B*3i 0/470 1/455 61.R2h-3h?! 6/476 0/455 On "Igo-Shogi weekly", the saturday morning television program, 61.R6h was looked at and thought of as an improvement. Shukan Shogi gives 61.R6h R5d P5e P4d B1h R6d P*6e G7d! as a good figting chance for white. 62.B3ix7e+ 0/476 1/456 63.P7fx7e 5/481 0/456 64.R3d-6d 0/481 0/456 65.P*6e 6/487 0/456 66.G6c-5d 0/487 12/468 67.P6ex6d 7/494 0/468 68.G5dx4e 0/494 0/468 69.S4fx4e 9/503 0/468 70.B*2g 0/503 1/469 71.R3h-2h 5/508 0/469 72.B2gx4e+ 0/508 0/469 So what went wrong. Habu does not seem to have made any mistakes, but now the position is very unclear with chances for both players. The general opinion after the game was that Habu was still a little better but there are many moves to chose from and it is easy to get lost in this position, especially with time running out. 73.P2e-2d 0/508 0/469 74.P2cx2d 0/508 0/469 75.P6d-6c+ 1/509 0/469 76.P*6f 0/509 6/475 77.G6gx6f 1/510 0/475 78.P*6e 0/510 0/475 79.G6f-5e 1/511 0/475 80.S*6g! 0/511 4/479 No comments from Shukan Shogi or Shogi Weekly on the moves before this one, but now it seems clear that Tanigawa has at least as good a chance to win this game as Habu. This silver can not be taken: 80.Kx6g S*6f and white takes the gold on 5e. Black's king is suddenly in danger and the position of the gold on 8h is beginning to hurt. 81.K7h-8i 2/513 0/479 82.+B4e-2c 0/513 3/482 83.P*2e 2/515 0/482 84.P2dx2e 0/515 0/482 85.+P6cx5c 3/518 0/482 86.S4bx5c 0/518 1/483 87.B*5a? 1/519 0/483 Shukan Shogi suggests 87.R*7d P*5d P*2d +Bx2d Rx7c+ as better. It is hard to believe that this is the decisive mistake. 88.S5c-4b 0/519 1/484 89.B5ax7c+ 0/519 0/484 90.P*7f 0/519 2/486 91.P*2d 1/520 0/486 92.+B2cx2d 0/520 0/486 93.G5e-4e 0/520 0/486 94.S*6f 0/520 2/488 95.G*3d 1/521 0/488 96.P7fx7g+ 0/521 17/505 97.G8hx7g 0/521 0/505 98.S6fx7g+ 0/521 3/508 99.+B7c-5e 0/521 0/508 100.S*3c 0/521 1/509 101.+B5ex7g 0/521 0/509 102.G*7h 0/521 0/509 103.R2hx7h 1/522 0/509 104.S6gx7h+ 0/522 0/509 105.K8ix7h 0/522 0/509 106.P*7f 0/522 3/512 107.G3dx2d 2/524 0/512 108.P7fx7g+ 0/524 0/512 109.K7hx7g 0/524 0/512 110.S3cx2d 0/524 1/513 111.S*3d?! 2/526 0/513 Handing over the meijin title. The best fighting chance would have been 111.B*5e B*3c R*8b Bx5e Px5e, but after P*7f K8f P*8e Kx8e B*6c P7d Bx4e black can not save himself. 112.G*6f 0/526 9/522 113.K7g-8f 0/526 0/522 114.R*8a 0/526 1/523 115.N*8d 5/531 0/523 116.R8ax8d 0/531 0/523 117.K8f-9f 0/531 0/523 118.B*6c! 0/531 4/527 Black has no mate, but this move makes sure that black can not suddenly mate the white king. 119.R*7d 0/531 0/527 120.R8dx7d 0/531 1/528 121.P7ex7d 0/531 0/528 122.B6cx4e 0/531 0/528 123.S3dx4e 0/531 0/528 124.R*7f 0/531 0/528 Resigns 1/532 0/528 Time: 08:52:00 08:48:00 The only thing that seems to be clear is that Habu lost his Meijin title. Even though he still has four titles in his possession, Tanigawa has now taken the two major ones from him and can be considered the new number one player in shogi. Also, by taking the title, Tanigawa now has collected five Meijin titles which also gives him the title of Lifetime Meijin. In modern shogi only Kimura (14th Lifetime Meijin), Oyama (15th LM) and Nakahara (16th LM) have acquired this special title and Tanigawa now has added his name to this list. Habu will certainly be next, but he will have to wait a couple of more years. In other shogi news: 1) The A-junisen started with two games. Inoue played Nakahara and did not show any debut nerves. It was Inoue's first game in the top class where Nakahara has played 27 years, but Inoue beat Nakahara convincingly. The other promoted player from B1, Takahashi, did not do as well. He was beaten by Kato. This game might prove to be vital in the end as far as relegation to B1 is concerned. 2) In C1 the complete first round was played. Most favourites won, but Kisei challenger Yashiki lost to Horiguchi and will again find it tough to promote. Yashiki is probably of A-class strength, but year after year fails to get out of C1. 3) Shimizu took a 2-1 lead over challenger Saita in the Ladies Osho. She now only needs one more win out of the remaining two games to defend her full set of ladies' titles. That's all for now, 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