From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 23 apr 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 734, April 22nd 1998) Two good matches going on at the moment and this week it is the second game of the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament between Habu and Moriuchi that is the focus of attention. Habu won like he wins a lot of games: the opponent gets close, but makes the final mistake in a difficult and close endgame. Here is the game with comments: Black: Habu, 4K White: Moriuchi, 8-dan 16th Zen Nihon Pro Tournament, Game 2, April 16th 1998 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 0/0 3.P2g-2f 1/1 0/0 4.P4c-4d 0/1 0/0 5.P2f-2e 1/2 0/0 6.B2b-3c 0/2 0/0 7.S3i-4h 1/3 0/0 8.S3a-3b 0/3 0/0 9.P5g-5f 0/3 0/0 10.S3b-4c 0/3 0/0 11.K5i-6h 2/5 0/0 12.R8b-2b 0/5 0/0 13.K6h-7h 0/5 0/0 14.K5a-6b 0/5 0/0 15.G4i-5h 2/7 0/0 16.K6b-7b 0/7 0/0 17.B8h-7g 2/9 0/0 18.K7b-8b 0/9 2/2 19.K7h-8h 0/9 0/2 20.S7a-7b 0/9 0/2 21.S7i-7h 1/10 0/2 22.P9c-9d 0/10 2/4 23.P9g-9f 1/11 0/4 24.G4a-5b 0/11 14/18 25.S4h-5g 11/22 0/18 26.P6c-6d 0/22 3/21 27.P6g-6f 1/23 0/21 28.G5b-6c 0/23 21/42 29.G5h-6g 0/23 0/42 30.P7c-7d 0/23 10/52 31.P8g-8f 10/33 0/52 32.P5c-5d 0/33 19/71 33.S7h-8g 31/64 0/71 34.N8a-7c 0/64 14/85 35.G6i-7h 2/66 0/85 36.P6d-6e 0/66 5/90 37.L9i-9h 4/70 0/90 38.P8c-8d 0/70 16/106 39.K8h-9i 3/73 0/106 40.R2b-3b 0/73 0/106 41.S5g-6h 24/97 0/106 42.P6ex6f 0/97 6/112 43.B7gx6f 0/97 0/112 44.P3d-3e 0/97 8/120 No quick attacks in this game and it was expected that there would be a long middlegame before the fight would finally start. However, Moriuchi decides to sacrifice a pawn for an attacking position. A brave decision. Not that Moriuchi had much choice, though. He realised that after 44.S8c P3f he would soon run out of moves. 45.B6fx8d 9/106 0/120 46.P4d-4e 0/106 13/133 47.S6h-7g 3/109 0/133 48.S4c-4d 0/109 10/143 49.B8d-4h 18/127 0/143 50.P5d-5e 0/127 3/146 51.P9f-9e 12/139 0/146 52.P9dx9e 0/139 0/146 53.P2e-2d 0/139 0/146 54.P2cx2d 0/139 0/146 55.P7f-7e 0/139 0/146 56.P5ex5f 0/139 8/154 57.P*9b 9/148 0/154 58.L9ax9b 0/148 1/155 59.P7ex7d 0/148 0/155 60.G6cx7d 0/148 4/159 61.P*9c 1/149 0/159 62.L9bx9c 0/149 0/159 63.B4hx9c+ 0/149 0/159 64.K8bx9c 0/149 0/159 65.L*3d 0/149 0/159 Both players were not sure about this position. Habu: "Wasn't sacrificing the bishop a little violent?". Moriuchi: "The dropping of this lance gave me a bad feeling about this position". It looks like black might be a little better here. There is a big difference between the position of the black king and the white king. 66.R3b-6b 0/149 5/164 67.L3dx3c+ 0/149 0/164 68.S4dx3c 0/149 0/164 69.P*5d 4/153 0/164 70.B*4d 0/153 2/166 71.B*5c 2/155 0/166 72.P5f-5g+ 0/155 3/169 73.B5cx6b+?! 3/158 0/169 This is not the right move. The simple 73.Gx5g was better. Then after 74.R6i+ Bx4d+ Sx4d R6h or 74.Bx7g+ (the move Moriuchi had planned) Gx7g R6i+ Lx9e P*9d Lx9d Kx9d B*5h forking dragon and king, black has no worries. 74.G6ax6b 0/158 1/170 75.G6gx5g 0/158 0/170 76.K9c-8b 0/158 2/172 77.R*4a 1/159 0/172 78.P*7f 0/159 3/175 79.S8gx7f 3/162 0/175 80.P*7e 0/162 0/175 81.S7f-8g 0/162 0/175 82.L*7f 0/162 2/177 83.P*9d 8/170 0/177 84.N7c-6e 0/170 1/178 85.P9d-9c+ 1/171 0/178 86.K8b-7c 0/171 0/178 87.G5g-6g 0/171 0/178 88.L7fx7g+ 0/171 0/178 89.G6gx7g 1/172 0/178 90.N6ex7g+ 0/172 0/178 91.N8ix7g 0/172 0/178 92.P*8h 0/172 1/179 93.G7hx8h 2/174 0/179 94.G*6f! 0/174 0/179 A strong move that keeps the game close. Moriuchi was not so sure though: "I don't know if this is best". It could have been good enough after Habu's reply. 95.R2hx2d? 3/177 0/179 If Habu would have lost this game, this would have been the losing move. There is still a black win in this position after 95.R4c+. For example: a) 96.S6c P*6g Gx7g (Gx6g N*5f) L*6f and black is safe. b) 96.K6d P*6g and white can not play Gx7g because of the fork N*5f. c) 96.P*5c L*6g! Gx6g Px5c+ and white has no defense. After Gx5c follows N*6e and if he does not defend then +Rx4d followed by B*8b is mate. 96.G6fx7g 0/177 0/179 97.R2dx4d 0/177 0/179 This looks very strong because black threatens mate with B*8b and white can not take the rook because of 97.Sx4d B*8b K6c R4c+ P*5c L*6i P*6d Gx7g. However, with a rush of checks, Moriuchi is able to stop this double threat. 98.G7gx8h 0/177 0/179 99.K9ix8h 0/177 0/179 100.N*7f 0/177 0/179 101.S8gx7f 0/177 0/179 102.S*7g 0/177 0/179 103.K8h-8g 1/178 0/179 104.B*6i 0/178 0/179 105.K8gx7g 0/178 0/179 106.P7ex7f 0/178 0/179 107.K7g-6h 0/178 0/179 108.P*6g 0/178 0/179 109.K6h-5g 0/178 0/179 110.P*5f 0/178 0/179 111.K5gx5f 0/178 0/179 112.P*5e 0/178 0/179 113.K5fx4e 0/178 0/179 "...and white wins" was the opinion in the press room. The square 7e is free for the white king, so there is no mate. 114.S3cx4d?? 0/178 0/179 A terrible blunder. After 114.Bx4g+ white is safe and black has no defence. However, in byoyomi it was not easy to see through all the variations. For example 114.Bx4g+ B*8b K8d Bx5e+ and black has defended mate with a mating threat. Still, white can win after S*5f +Bx5f G*3d Rx3d Sx3d. 115.R4ax4d+ 0/178 0/179 116.B6ix4g+ 0/178 0/179 117.S*8b 0/178 0/179 Resigns 0/178 0/179 Time: 02:58:00 02:59:00 Because the rook on 4d is now promoted, there is an easy mate after 117.K6d +Rx5e and also after 117.K8d B*6f. In other Shogi news: ==================== 1) Minami continued his good form into the new season by beating Sato in the semifinals of the first group of the Ryu-O. Minami has now qualified for the challenger tournament, while Sato has to try his luck in the loser's round to try and achieve the same thing. 2) In the Oi league the third round of the white group was completed. We are heading straight for a repeat of last year's tournament, since Goda beat Hiura for his third straight win and seems headed for a challenger game with Sato, who is dominating the red group. However, Abe still has hopes for a turnaround, since he beat Yashiki to keep the pressure on Goda. Abe has now a 2-1 score, but will get a free point against Murayama in the next round. 3) In the Oza tournament Hatakeyama Nariyuki beat Ono and Fukaura beat Ariyoshi to get to the quarterfinals. They will play each other next to decide who will go through to the semifinals. 4) This year 1200 children competed for the title of Primary School Meijin. This was no less than three times as much as last year and an indication that the popularity of Shogi among young children is rising again. The Primary School Meijin championships are a good indication of professional potential as can be seen from past winners like Tamura, Suzuki Daisuke, Nozuki, Kubota and of course Habu. Winner was Takazaki from Miyazaki prefecture, who beat Funae from Hyogo prefecture in the final. I can say from personal experience that the level of these 11 and 12 year old kids is already very high. The number three in the tournament, Tobe Makoto, is from Ibaraki where I live. I have seen him play a couple of times and I played him once, a game I lost without much of a chance. 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