From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 26 jun 1997 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 692, June 25th 1997) Yashiki had the sweat literally dripping from his face after the first game of the kisei. Admittedly, it has gotten very warm in Japan, but it was clear that the game took a lot out of him. Here is how it went: Black: Miura, Kisei White: Yashiki, Challenger 68th Kisei-sen, 1st Game, June 14th 1997 1.P2g-2f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 5/5 3.P2f-2e 0/0 0/5 4.P8d-8e 0/0 0/5 5.G6i-7h 0/0 0/5 6.G4a-3b 0/0 0/5 7.P2e-2d 0/0 0/5 8.P2cx2d 0/0 0/5 9.R2hx2d 0/0 0/5 10.P*2c 0/0 0/5 11.R2d-2h 0/0 0/5 12.P8e-8f 0/0 6/11 13.P8gx8f 0/0 0/11 14.R8bx8f 0/0 0/11 15.P*8g 0/0 0/11 16.R8f-8d 0/0 0/11 17.S3i-3h 2/2 0/11 18.P3c-3d 0/2 9/20 19.P9g-9f 3/5 0/20 20.S7a-7b 0/5 4/24 21.P4g-4f 1/6 0/24 22.S7b-8c 0/6 12/36 23.P7g-7f 11/17 0/36 24.S8c-7d 0/17 1/37 25.B8hx2b+ 11/28 0/37 26.S3ax2b 0/28 0/37 27.N8i-7g 1/29 0/37 28.K5a-4b 0/29 6/43 29.S3h-4g 16/45 0/43 30.S2b-3c 0/45 10/53 31.S7i-8h 5/50 0/53 32.P9c-9d 0/50 9/62 33.S4g-5f 12/62 0/62 34.R8d-8b 0/62 14/76 35.K5i-6h 4/66 0/76 36.G6a-5b 0/66 3/79 37.G4i-5h 15/81 0/79 38.K4b-3a 0/81 11/90 39.K6h-7i 14/95 0/90 40.P1c-1d 0/95 12/102 41.P1g-1f 10/105 0/102 42.P6c-6d 0/105 15/117 43.G5h-6h 4/109 0/117 44.S7d-6c 0/109 21/138 45.P8g-8f 6/115 0/138 46.P7c-7d 0/115 1/139 47.S8h-8g 14/129 0/139 48.P4c-4d 0/129 2/141 49.P3g-3f 11/140 0/141 50.S6c-5d 0/140 29/170 51.P6g-6f 6/146 0/170 52.G5b-4c 0/146 4/174 53.K7i-8h 22/168 0/174 54.K3a-2b 0/168 9/183 Actually, the game is only beginning now. Both players have taken their time to build the strongest possible position. 55.G6h-5h 19/187 0/183 56.S3c-2d 0/187 13/196 In the pressroom there was already talk of sennichite, after repeatedly G5h-6h-5h and S3c-2d-3c. However, Miura actually has a cunning plan... 57.G5h-6g 3/190 0/196 58.S2d-3c 0/190 5/201 59.G6g-6h 0/190 0/201 60.S3c-2d 0/190 4/205 61.P4f-4e! 7/197 0/205 Brilliant opening play by Miura. By playing the triangle gold manouver G6h-6g-6h he has managed to get the optimal defending position while Yashiki has weakened his king with S2d. This is the time to start to attack. 62.P4dx4e 0/197 10/215 63.N2i-3g 8/205 0/215 64.P*8e! 0/205 15/230 Great counter by Yashiki. Miura would have been very happy if Yashiki would have played 64.P4f immediately: 64.P4f? P*4d Gx4d B*7a R5b Rx2d Px2d S*4a and black wins. However, with blacks pawn on 8e, white has the counter P*8f Sx8f P*8g and the rook sacrifice on 2d would be too dangerous for black. 65.P8fx8e 0/205 0/230 66.P4e-4f 0/205 2/232 67.P8e-8d! 12/217 0/232 This move is actually very difficult to deal with. After 68.Rx8d P*8f the weakness on the head of the black king is gone and the white rook no longer works well in defense. After 68.P*8f Sx8f Rx8d P*8g black's castle is also intact. Finally, in the future black has the sacrifice P8c+ Rx8c B*6a. 68.P4f-4g+ 0/217 19/251 69.S5fx4g 3/220 0/251 70.P6d-6e?! 0/220 1/252 A mistake that opens the diagonal to the rook. From now on, white has to worry about a bishop fork on rook and king on every move. 71.P6fx6e 17/237 0/252 72.P7d-7e 0/237 1/253 73.P7fx7e 3/240 0/253 74.R8bx8d 0/240 1/254 75.P*8e 0/240 0/254 76.R8d-8b 0/240 3/257 77.B*6d 3/243 0/257 78.B*7c 0/243 4/261 79.P7e-7d? 10/253 0/261 A mistake that tips the scales slightly in Yashiki's favour. After 79.S5f the position is unclear. 80.B7cx6d 0/253 0/261 81.P6ex6d 0/253 0/261 82.P*8f 0/253 2/263 83.S8g-7f 0/253 0/263 84.S2d-3c 0/253 5/268 85.P6d-6c+ 15/268 0/268 86.S5dx6c 0/268 0/268 87.P*2d 5/273 0/268 88.P2cx2d 0/273 0/268 89.P*2c 0/273 0/268 90.G3bx2c 0/273 3/271 91.P*2e 2/275 0/271 92.P2dx2e 0/275 11/282 93.P*2d 0/275 0/282 94.G2cx2d 0/275 2/284 95.N3gx2e 0/275 0/284 96.P*2g 0/275 8/292 97.R2hx2g 0/275 0/292 98.P*2f! 0/275 3/295 The right move. Very tempting is the bishop drop 98.B*4i, but both players had seen that after 99.Nx3c+ Gx3c Rx2d Gx2d B*5e P*4d S5h white has no continuation. 99.R2gx2f 0/275 0/295 100.B*4d 0/275 0/295 101.P3f-3e 1/276 0/295 102.P*7e 0/276 1/296 103.S7fx7e 3/279 0/296 104.P*7f 0/279 0/296 105.N2ex3c+ 0/279 0/296 106.G4cx3c 0/279 0/296 107.R2fx7f 0/279 0/296 108.N*6d 0/279 0/296 109.S7ex6d 2/281 0/296 110.S6cx6d 0/281 0/296 111.P*2e 3/284 0/296 112.G2dx3e 0/284 1/297 113.P2e-2d 7/291 0/297 114.S*8g 0/291 1/298 115.G7hx8g 0/291 0/298 116.P8fx8g+ 0/291 0/298 117.K8hx8g 0/291 0/298 118.G*7e 0/291 0/298 119.R7fx7e? 3/294 0/298 The losing move. Miura had planned to play 119.Rx7e Sx7e B*6e, but realised too late that he would be mated after Rx8e: K7h (Nx8e R*8h) R*8h K6i Rx6h+ Kx6h R8h+ and after any drop on 7h, the game is finished after Bx7g+. If Miura would have seen this earlier, he would probably have found the correct 119.S*2c Gx2c Px2c+ Kx2c B*4a S*3b P*2d and white does not get the time to play the simple hisshi Gx7f Kx7f R*6f K8g Rx6h+. 120.S6dx7e 0/294 0/298 121.K8g-9h 2/296 0/298 122.S7e-8f 0/296 0/298 A very interesting way to lose. White has no immediate mate, but black can only attack by giving white the material he needs to mate. 123.B*4a 1/297 0/298 124.K2b-3a 0/297 0/298 125.P*4b 1/298 0/298 126.R8bx4b 0/298 0/298 127.G*5a 1/299 0/298 128.R4bx4a 0/299 0/298 129.G5ax4a 0/299 0/298 130.K3ax4a 0/299 0/298 131.R*6a 0/299 0/298 132.B*5a 0/299 0/298 133.P*4b 0/299 0/298 134.K4ax4b 0/299 0/298 Resigns 0/299 0/298 Time: 04:59:00 04:58:00 Black has no mate, and there is no defense against G*8g K8i P*8h K7i R*8i. A hard fought battle and that might be the pattern of this match. I just read in the newspaper that Miura has won game 2 to level the match. The second game took 144 moves, so this was another tight one. Comments on the second game next week. In other Shogi news: 1) Sato Yasumitsu beat Goda Masataka in the play-off game to decide the challenger of Habu in the next Oi match. It is the second time Sato will take a shot at the Oi title. The last time was seven years ago when he was still a young and promising 5-dan. Now being at the top of his shogi and in great form, this promises to be a very interesting match. 2) Hatakeyama Nariyuki scored a surprising win over Fukaura in the quarterfinals of the Oza tournament. It is the first time Hatakeyama has come this far in a major tournament and he will face last year's challenger Shima next in the semi-final. Also in the semi-finals is Morishita, who had a hard game against Abe, but needed only one small mistake in move order by his opponent to turn the tables. Morishita will meet the winner of the game between Goda and Minami. 3) Sato may be in great form, but playing in the A-class of the Junisen is always hard. Sato played his first game against Shima, who has been fighting against relegation in the past couple of years. Shima seemed determined not to let that happen again this year, because he convincingly beat Sato. 4) In C2 there are so many players (49) and so many favourites for promotion that after every round one can only say which of the favourites went down. In the first round there were not many. Matsumoto, second year pro, was expected to do well, but lost against the rookie Kondo, who does not seem to be bothered at all by playing the big guys (his score is 7-2 this season). Other surprising losers were Tamura, who lost against veteran Kikuchi and Chuza, who lost to Sato Yoshinori. 5) In the ladies osho match, Saida showed some remarkable toughness by levelling the match at 2-2. A final fifth game now has to decide if Shimizu can keep her full set of lady titles. 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