From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 23 may 1997 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 687, May 21st 1997) Busy week, so this is late. Good times for Tanigawa are here again. I reported the win in the Meijin-sen before, but he also equaled the score in the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament last week. This is how it went: Black: Tanigawa Koji, Ryu-O White: Morishita Taku, 8-dan 15th Zen Nihon Pro Tournament, Game 4, May 13th 1997 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 0/0 3.G6i-7h 0/0 0/0 4.G4a-3b 0/0 0/0 5.S7i-6h 0/0 0/0 6.P3c-3d 0/0 0/0 7.B8h-7g 0/0 0/0 8.P4c-4d 0/0 5/5 Morishita is one of the best defenders in Shogi and chooses a defensive strategy. Not very wise, since Tanigawa is probably the best attacker in Shogi. Also, in the games Morishita won he played much more positively. Shogi tends to award the positive players... 9.S3i-4h 0/0 0/5 10.S3a-4b 0/0 0/5 11.P4g-4f 1/1 0/5 12.S7a-6b 0/1 3/8 13.S4h-4g 0/1 0/8 14.P5c-5d 0/1 0/8 15.S4g-5f 2/3 0/8 16.S6b-5c 0/3 0/8 17.R2h-4h 2/5 0/8 18.N2a-3c 0/5 5/13 19.K5i-6i 5/10 0/13 20.G6a-5b 0/10 1/14 21.P3g-3f 1/11 0/14 22.K5a-4a 0/11 1/15 23.K6i-7i 1/12 0/15 24.G5b-4c 0/12 2/17 25.N2i-3g 46/58 0/17 26.K4a-3a 0/58 4/21 Four generals, bishop and knight to defend the white king. Is it enough to defend against black's ideal attack of rook, bishop, silver and knight? 27.P4f-4e 4/62 0/21 28.P4dx4e?! 0/62 24/45 Morishita was sorry to have played this move. Better is probably 28.Nx4e Nx4e Px4e Bx2b+ Kx2b P3e and now white has the counter B*3g Sx4e Bx4h+ Gx4h R*3i K8h Rx3e+ and black is in trouble. 29.P3f-3e 0/62 0/45 30.P3dx3e 0/62 0/45 31.N3gx4e 0/62 0/45 32.N3cx4e 0/62 0/45 33.B7gx2b+ 2/64 0/45 34.G3bx2b 0/64 0/45 35.P*4d 16/80 0/45 36.S5cx4d 0/80 56/101 After 36.N3g+ Px4c+ +Nx4h +Px5c black is clearly better. 37.S5fx4e 0/80 0/101 38.S4dx4e 0/80 0/101 39.R4hx4e 0/80 0/101 40.P*4d 0/80 0/101 41.R4ex3e 0/80 0/101 42.P*3d 0/80 0/101 43.R3e-6e 0/80 0/101 Morishita did not see this move long enough in advance. 44.N*6d 0/80 0/101 Can't be helped, but white would have liked to use this piece somewhere else. Also, the gold on 2b is painful. 45.P*4e 11/91 0/101 46.P4dx4e 0/91 4/105 47.B*7a 1/92 0/105 48.R8b-7b 0/92 0/105 49.B7a-2f+ 0/92 0/105 50.S*3e 0/92 1/106 51.+B2f-3g 3/95 0/106 52.P4e-4f 0/95 5/111 53.N*7e! 6/101 0/111 Great attacking move. Defense is difficult... 54.R7b-6b 0/101 25/136 If 54.G5c then N8c+ R5b R7e and black wins. 55.N7ex6c+ 2/103 0/136 56.R6bx6c 0/103 0/136 57.S*5b 0/103 0/136 58.P*6b 0/103 0/136 59.S5bx6c= 11/114 0/136 60.P6bx6c 0/114 0/136 61.P*3f 0/114 0/136 62.S3e-4d 0/114 11/147 63.R*7a 1/115 0/147 64.K3a-3b 0/115 0/147 65.+B3gx4f 1/116 0/147 66.P*4e 0/116 0/147 67.+B4f-3g 11/127 0/147 68.G2b-2a 0/127 0/147 Tries to reposition the bad gold, but there is no time. 69.R7ax8a+ 3/130 0/147 70.B*9b 0/130 0/147 This attack on dragon and rook looks painful for black, but Tanigawa has calculated it all in advance. 71.R6ex6d! 1/131 0/147 72.B9bx8a 0/131 3/150 After 72.Px6d +Rx9a white's position is even worse. 73.R6dx8d 0/131 0/150 74.B8a-9b 0/131 0/150 75.R8d-8b+ 1/132 0/150 76.R*2i 0/132 8/158 77.N*3i 3/135 0/158 78.P5d-5e 0/135 1/159 79.+R8bx9a 2/137 0/159 80.B9b-6e 0/137 0/159 81.L*2f?! 0/137 0/159 It is hard to play a perfect Shogi game. If black would have played 81.N*4g he would have won more quickly. For example 82.S*4f +B3h Rx1i+ N3e! and the double threat of Nx2c+~+Rx2a and +Bx6e is decisive. 82.G2a-3a 0/137 5/164 83.S6h-7g 11/148 0/164 84.P1c-1d 0/148 1/165 85.K7i-8h 0/148 0/165 86.N*4f 0/148 8/173 87.S7g-6f 4/152 0/173 88.B6ex7f 0/152 0/173 89.P*7g 0/152 0/173 90.B7f-5d 0/152 3/176 91.+B3g-4g 4/156 0/176 92.R2i-2h+ 0/156 0/176 93.S6f-6e 0/156 0/176 94.S*6i 0/156 0/176 95.P*4h 0/156 0/176 96.N4f-5h+ 0/156 0/176 97.S6ex5d 2/158 0/176 98.G4cx5d 0/158 0/176 99.B*7f 1/159 0/176 100.S*4c 0/159 0/176 101.+B4gx5h 4/163 0/176 102.S6ix5h= 0/163 0/176 103.G4ix5h 0/163 0/176 104.+R2hx3i 0/163 0/176 105.N*6f! 2/165 0/176 It kind of looked like Morishita was getting back into it, but this decides the game in Tanigawa's favour. 106.G5d-5c 0/165 0/176 107.N*5d 0/165 0/176 108.S4d-3c 0/165 0/176 109.N5dx4b+ 0/165 0/176 110.S3cx4b 0/165 0/176 111.S*5d 0/165 0/176 112.N*8f 0/165 2/178 113.P8gx8f 0/165 0/178 114.P*8g 0/165 0/178 115.B7fx8g 0/165 0/178 116.N*7e 0/165 0/178 117.S5dx4c+ 2/167 0/178 118.G5cx4c 0/167 0/178 119.B8gx4c+ 0/167 0/178 120.K3bx4c 0/167 0/178 121.S*5d 0/167 0/178 Mate next after 122.K3c G*4c K2b +Rx3a Sx3a G*3c etc. Resigns 0/167 0/178 Time: 02:47:00 02:58:00 In other Shogi news: 1) After six years Yashiki is back on the big stage of a title match. A convincing win in the challenger final of the Kisei over Goda makes him the challenger of Miura. With a combined age of 48 (Yashiki is 25 and Miura is 23), this will be another battle between young stars. Both will probably fancy their chances, now neither Habu nor Tanigawa is in this match. 2) In the Oi league Nakamura kept his chances alive to appear in a title match for the first time in 10 years. He beat Fukaura and is now 3-1, one point behind leader Sato Yasumitsu. However, he will have to beat Sato twice in a row to become the winner of the red group. In the white group Goda beat Maruyama to get to 4-0. Morishita is now the only other player contesting Goda; he is 2-1. Only three consecutive wins will give Morishita the win in the white group. All in all, it looks like it will be a challenger game between former Oi title holder Goda and former Oi challenger Sato. 3) Shimizu took the first game in the ladies osho against challenger Saita. It was a very close game that was decided only at the very end. Hopefully Saita is not too disappointed by the final result so that we will see more exciting shogi like in this game. 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)298-58-5918