From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 1 oct 1997 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 706, October 1st 1997) Last week was the third game of the Oza match between title holder Habu and challenger Shima. Here is how it went: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Oza White: Shima Akira, Challenger 45th Oza-sen, September 26th 1997 1.P2g-2f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 1/1 3.P2f-2e 1/1 0/1 4.P8d-8e 0/1 0/1 5.G6i-7h 0/1 0/1 6.G4a-3b 0/1 0/1 7.P2e-2d 0/1 0/1 8.P2cx2d 0/1 0/1 9.R2hx2d 0/1 0/1 10.P*2c 0/1 0/1 11.R2d-2f 0/1 0/1 12.S7a-7b 0/1 4/5 13.P9g-9f 3/4 0/5 14.P1c-1d 0/4 1/6 15.P7g-7f 0/4 0/6 16.P8e-8f 0/4 1/7 17.P8gx8f 0/4 0/7 18.R8bx8f 0/4 0/7 19.S3i-3h 1/5 0/7 20.P6c-6d 0/5 4/11 21.N8i-7g 2/7 0/11 Habu likes to play many different types of openings. In the first game we saw a Yagura, in the second game a Shikenbisha and now a Hineribisha opening. 22.K5a-4a 0/7 16/27 23.K5i-4h 16/23 0/27 24.S3a-4b 0/23 1/28 25.P1g-1f 19/42 0/28 26.R8f-8b 0/42 4/32 27.P7f-7e 0/42 0/32 28.P9c-9d 0/42 13/45 29.P*8e 7/49 0/45 30.S7b-6c 0/49 0/45 31.R2f-7f 1/50 0/45 32.P3c-3d 0/50 0/45 33.S7i-6h 5/55 0/45 34.K4a-3a 0/55 0/45 35.P6g-6f 11/66 0/45 36.B2b-3c 0/66 27/72 37.S6h-6g 2/68 0/72 38.G6a-7b 0/68 0/72 39.S6g-5f 20/88 0/72 40.S6c-5d 0/88 0/72 41.B8h-9g 1/89 0/72 42.G7b-6c 0/89 0/72 43.K4h-3i 3/92 0/72 44.K3a-2b 0/92 1/73 45.R7f-8f 0/92 0/73 46.P4c-4d 0/92 51/124 Normal is 46.P*8c, but white's idea here is to postpone that defense only move as long as possible. If black should play 46.P8d to promote the pawn, then 47.N9c P8c+ P*8e! is a good white counter. 47.P4g-4f 12/104 0/124 48.B3c-2d 0/104 0/124 49.G7h-6h 0/104 0/124 50.B2dx4f 0/104 0/124 51.P6f-6e 3/107 0/124 52.P*8c 0/107 6/130 53.P7e-7d 3/110 0/130 54.P7cx7d 0/110 8/138 55.P*7b 0/110 0/138 A well-known combination. White can not take this pawn because of 57.P8d. 56.N8a-7c 0/110 34/172 Up until this point the position is identical to the fourth game of last year's Oi match between Habu and Fukaura. Habu won that game, but there were chances for both players and Fukaura initially had the advantage. If Shima had confidence that this position would be good for white, the next simple move changes that... 57.P7b-7a+! 3/113 0/172 In the Oi game Habu played 57.S5f-4g and got into trouble. This pawn promotion is much better, because the bishop is in a vulnerable position at 4f. Shima's choice of opening is questionable, since Habu will have studied what went wrong in the Oi game against Fukaura. From now on Habu has the advantage. 58.P6dx6e 0/113 3/175 59.+P7a-7b 7/120 0/175 60.R8bx7b 0/120 7/182 61.P8e-8d 0/120 0/182 62.R7b-8b 0/120 0/182 63.S5fx6e 3/123 0/182 64.P*6g 0/123 17/199 65.G6hx6g 26/149 0/199 66.P*6f 0/149 2/201 67.S6ex5d 20/169 0/201 68.P6fx6g+ 0/169 1/202 69.S5dx6c+ 0/169 0/202 70.B4fx5g+ 0/169 0/202 71.G*4h 3/172 0/202 72.+B5g-7e? 0/172 16/218 Not good. It gives black the opportunity to bring his bishop on 9g into play with tempo. Necessary was 72.+B6h P*4c Sx4c Px8c+ +Bx7g +Px8b +Bx8f Bx8f R*2f P*2g Rx8f +Sx5c and white has dangerous counterchances after B*7e and/or N*5f. 73.R8f-2f 5/177 0/218 74.+B7ex8d 0/177 3/221 75.P*8e 8/185 0/221 76.N7cx8e 0/185 2/223 77.N7gx8e 0/185 0/223 78.+B8dx8e 0/185 18/241 79.B9g-6d 0/185 0/241 80.G*3e 0/185 1/242 81.R2f-2g 11/196 0/242 82.N*5f? 0/196 7/249 Now the game is lost. After the simple 82.R9b white still has chances to survive. For example 83.+Sx5c Sx5c Bx5c+ S*4b +Bx4d S3c and white can drop pawns on the fifth and fourth file to strengthen his own attack, while the rook works defensively. Also 82.R9b 83.P*5d Px5d S*4a G3a S5b+ N*2f kills the black rook threats while attacking, leading to a difficult position. 83.G4h-4g 30/226 0/249 84.+P6g-5h 0/226 2/251 85.G4ix5h 1/227 0/251 86.+B8ex5h 0/227 0/251 87.S*4i! 0/227 0/251 The decider. White has nothing but to pull the horse back. After that the loss of the rook on 8b and its consequent use in attack decides the game. 88.+B5h-7f 0/227 21/272 89.B6dx8b+ 2/229 0/272 90.+B7f-5d 0/229 0/272 91.R2g-2h 8/237 0/272 92.+B5dx6c 0/237 0/272 93.G4gx5f 0/237 0/272 94.P*6h 0/237 0/272 95.P*4c 10/247 0/272 96.S4b-3a 0/247 0/272 97.N*4g 13/260 0/272 98.G3e-4e 0/260 1/273 99.G5fx4e 1/261 0/273 100.+B6cx4e 0/261 0/273 101.G*4a 3/264 0/273 102.P6h-6i+ 0/264 0/273 103.G4ax3a 8/272 0/273 104.G3bx3a 0/272 0/273 105.R*6b 7/279 0/273 106.G*3b 0/279 0/273 107.S*4b 0/279 0/273 108.G*4a 0/279 3/276 109.+B8bx9a! 0/279 0/276 Some nice endgame play by Habu. By dropping the silver on 4b first before taking the lance, a lancedrop on 2g is very powerful because white cannot defend by the natural G*3c. 110.+P6i-5i 0/279 5/281 111.L*2g 2/281 0/281 112.S*2d 0/281 4/285 113.L2gx2d 5/286 0/285 114.P2cx2d 0/286 0/285 115.S4bx4a= 0/286 0/285 116.G3ax4a 0/286 0/285 117.R2hx2d 0/286 0/285 118.P*2c 0/286 0/285 119.R2dx2c+ 0/286 0/285 120.K2bx2c 0/286 0/285 121.P*2d 0/286 0/285 122.K2cx2d 0/286 0/285 123.P*2e 0/286 0/285 124.K2dx2e 0/286 0/285 125.N2i-1g 0/286 0/285 Resigns 0/286 0/285 Time: 04:46:00 04:45:00 Black has mate: 126.K1f S*2e K2f G*1f or 126.K2f G*2e K1f N*2h or 126.K2d P*2e K3c S*2d K2b G*2c and simpel mate. A convincing win by Habu, giving himself a nice birthday present (Habu was born 27 years ago on September the 27th). For Shima one has to feel a little sorry after losing in straight games for the second year in a row. Habu has now won 6 Oza titles in a row and lost only one game in the process. He really is in bad form, is he? :-) In other shogi news: 1) A sensation in the Ryu-O tournament! Sanada ("only" 5-dan) beat Kisei Yashiki in a nerve wrecking decisive game in the challenger play-off to become the challenger of Ryu-O Tanigawa. After a gruelling endgame where Yashiki missed chances to get an entering king, Sanada won after 203 moves to make his first appearance in a major title match. Can he continue his run against the much more experienced Tanigawa? First game on October 16th and 17th in Australia. 2) The osho league this year is very strong with only Maruyama without major title match experience. Other members are Tanigawa, Murayama, Nakahara, Takahashi, Moriuchi and Sato Yasumitsu. The first game was between Nakahara and Takahashi and won comfartably by Nakahara. Does he have one more title in him or not? 3) Shimizu is slowly feeling the heat of the new teenage challengers to her reign. This time it is Yauchi who is challenging her for the ladies Oi match and came very close to beating her. However, in the end it was still Shimizu's experience that decided the game and she is now well on her way to another successful title defence in this best-of-five match. Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp WWW: http://www.etl.go.jp:8080/etl/suiron/~grimberg Tel: +81-(0)298-54-5919 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918