From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 10 apr 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 732, April 8th 1998) This week of course the Meijin-sen between Tanigawa and Sato started, but there is another very interesting match under way. Childhood rivals Habu and Moriuchi play a best-of-five match for the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament. Even though this tournament is not called a title match, it is clearly the most important tournament outside of the seven majors. To stress this, the first game of this match was played outside of Japan in Hong Kong. This is the first time this has happened. Here is the game: Black: Moriuchi, 8-dan White: Habu, 4K 16th Zen Nihon Pro Tournament, Game 1, April 2nd 1998 1.P2g-2f 0/0 0/0 This year the first game of the Zen Nihon Pro tournament was held for the first time outside of Japan. The game was played in Hong Kong. Game recording was not done by a Shoreikai professional, but by the experienced Kitajima (4-dan). His high pawn toss at the furigoma gave five tokins and so Moriuchi starts with black. 2.P8c-8d 0/0 1/1 3.P2f-2e 0/0 0/1 4.P8d-8e 0/0 0/1 5.G6i-7h 0/0 0/1 6.G4a-3b 0/0 0/1 7.P2e-2d 0/0 0/1 8.P2cx2d 0/0 0/1 9.R2hx2d 0/0 0/1 10.P*2c 0/0 0/1 11.R2d-2f 0/0 0/1 12.S7a-7b 0/0 1/2 13.P1g-1f 0/0 0/2 14.P1c-1d 0/0 1/3 15.S3i-3h 0/0 0/3 16.P6c-6d 0/0 2/5 17.P7g-7f 1/1 0/5 18.P8e-8f 0/1 1/6 19.P8gx8f 0/1 0/6 20.R8bx8f 0/1 0/6 21.P*8g 0/1 0/6 22.R8f-8b 0/1 0/6 23.P3g-3f 0/1 0/6 24.P3c-3d 0/1 2/8 25.P3f-3e 0/1 0/8 The Nakahara attack in the Ai-gakari opening. The Zen Nihon Pro tournament is a one-day best-of-five match with both players having 3 hours for the game. The limited time puts the emphasis more on opening preparation than in longer matches. Moriuchi indoubtedly studied this opening deeply before the game. 26.P3dx3e 0/1 2/10 27.S3h-3g 0/1 0/10 28.S7b-6c 0/1 11/21 29.S3g-4f 1/2 0/21 30.S6c-5d 0/2 4/25 31.G4i-3h 0/2 0/25 32.B2bx8h+ 0/2 11/36 33.S7ix8h 0/2 0/36 34.S3a-2b 0/2 0/36 35.K5i-5h 29/31 0/36 36.S2b-3c 0/31 0/36 37.S4fx3e 0/31 0/36 38.P*3d 0/31 10/46 39.S3e-4f 0/31 0/46 40.K5a-4b 0/31 0/46 41.P7f-7e 10/41 0/46 42.K4b-3a 0/41 3/49 43.S8h-7g 2/43 0/49 44.P4c-4d 0/43 8/57 45.S4f-3g 1/44 0/57 46.G6a-5b 0/44 1/58 47.P9g-9f 7/51 0/58 48.P9c-9d 0/51 0/58 49.R2f-8f 11/62 0/58 50.P*8e 0/62 0/58 51.R8f-6f 0/62 0/58 52.G5b-6c 0/62 14/72 53.R6f-2f 6/68 0/72 54.P4d-4e 0/68 5/77 55.S3g-3f 4/72 0/77 56.P7c-7d!? 0/72 6/83 White is in trouble. Black has slowly taken all his moves and has a big strategic advantage. Oyama's shogi is based on prefering not to give the opponent anything concrete, even if that means not having anything oneself. Habu's shogi is the other way around: if you allow your opponent to attack, you will be able to attack yourself. You could say that Oyama likes to win 1-0, while Habu likes to win 10-8. The move 56.P7d is a good example. Habu opens up the game in a bad position and his gold will be in a very bad spot throughout the game. Rather than wait, he prefers to do something. It is probably one of the reasons he sometimes loses badly. 57.P7ex7d 23/95 0/83 58.G6cx7d 0/95 4/87 59.N2i-3g 13/108 0/87 60.P8e-8f 0/108 22/109 61.P8gx8f 2/110 0/109 62.N8a-7c 0/110 0/109 63.N3gx4e 20/130 0/109 64.N7c-6e! 0/130 31/140 There is no way back. 64.S4d is being answered by 65.P*3c Nx3c Nx3c+ Gx3c N*6f and black wins. 65.N4ex3c+ 26/156 0/140 Black has no choice but to take. After the quiet 65.S6f white can play S4d, since the move N*6f is no longer possible. 66.N2ax3c 0/156 1/141 67.S*4d? 2/158 0/141 "Drop where your opponent wants to drop". Morichi feared B*4d and N*4d, so he drops a piece there himself. He did not like either B*4d and N*4d so decided to play S*4d. However, better would have been the natural 67.S6f. Then 68.N*4d B*7a R8c P*7c! and because of the threat Bx5c+, white is almost forced to play Rx7c, after which B6b+ is very severe. Also, 68.B*4d is easily met with the simple R2i and black has nothing to worry about. 68.N*4e! 0/158 16/157 Now white also gets a strong attack. 69.S7g-6h 7/165 0/157 70.R8bx8f 0/165 5/162 71.S4dx3c= 7/172 0/162 72.G3bx3c 0/172 6/168 73.P*8g 0/172 0/168 74.B*4d 0/172 5/173 75.P*3e 1/173 0/173 76.P*7g 0/173 1/174 77.N8ix7g 3/176 0/174 78.N6ex7g+ 0/176 0/174 79.G7hx7g? 2/178 0/174 The losing move. Moriuchi probably thought that he could still weather the storm here. However, after Gx7g the rook comes into play and white's attack gets decisive force. There was no other way but to go all out after 79.Px8f +Nx7h Sx4e Sx4e R*7a P*4a B*6c S*3b Bx4e+ and black has good prospects to win the semeai (mutual attack). 80.N4ex5g+ 0/178 1/175 81.K5hx5g 0/178 0/175 82.N*4e 0/178 0/175 83.K5g-4h 1/179 0/175 84.R8f-5f! 0/179 1/176 The deciding move. 85.P*5h 0/179 0/176 Or 86.P*5g Nx5g+ Sx5g S*5i K5h Rx5g+ Kx5g Bx7g+ P4f S*3g! and white has a nice hisshi. For example: Gx3g +B6h K4g G*4h K5f G6e mate. Also R*7a followed by Rx7d+ does not work because of simple +B6h. It must be a great feeling for Habu that there is a variation where he is able to use his gold on 7d after all. 86.S*3g 0/179 0/176 In good Habu fashion going straight for the kill. 87.G3hx3g 0/179 0/176 88.N4ex3g+ 0/179 0/176 89.K4hx3g 0/179 0/176 90.P3dx3e 0/179 0/176 91.S3fx3e 0/179 0/176 92.P*3f 0/179 1/177 93.R2fx3f 0/179 0/177 94.R5fx3f 0/179 0/177 95.K3gx3f 0/179 0/177 96.R*3i 0/179 0/177 97.P*3g 0/179 0/177 98.G*4e 0/179 0/177 Resigns 0/179 0/177 Time: 02:59:00 02:57:00 After 99.K2g Gx3e K2h S*3h black has no defense. Morichi will be disappointed he lost this game after having had such a good position in the middle game. In other Shogi news: ==================== 1) Habu could not repeat his double victory in the two television tournaments of two years ago. Last week he won the final of the NHK tournament against Murayama, but in the quick shogi tournament of Tokyo Television he was beaten in the final by Goda. Goda thus far had not managed to get beyond the best eight in this tournament, but this time ended his great season with a tournament victory. 2) Fujii beat Yonenaga in the quarterfinals of the Kisei Challenger tournament. He will now play Tanigawa in the semi-final. The other semi-final is between Goda and Murayama, but because Murayama has taken the year off, Goda will advance to the final without playing. 3) Murayama did end the year well by winning his final game in the Oi league against rookie Kimura. Murayama is now 2-1 in the white group, but will lose his other two games. Kimura's chances for a spectacular debut at the top level have now gone with a 1-2 score. 4) In the Oza two games in the challenger tournament were played. Yashiki ended Shima's hopes of becoming the first player since Ouchi more than 20 years ago to challenge for the Oza three times in a row. In the other game Minami beat former Kise Miura. 5) The prices for the best performances in the 97-98 season have been awarded: Taisho (MVP): Tanigawa (5th time, last time 6 years ago) Shukunsho (Outstanding performance): Yashiki (first time) Kantosho (Fighting spirit): Goda (first time) Ginosho (Technique): Sato Yasumitsu (3rd time) Highest winning percentage: Goda (0.762, edging Sugimoto who had 0.761 !!) Highest number of games: Goda (63) Highest number of wins: Goda (48) Longest winning streak: Yashiki (15) Shinjinsho (Best young player): Sanada Best woman player: Shimizu (5th year in a row) More next week, 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)298-54-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918