From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 5 aug 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 749, August 5th 1998) Another exciting game between Habu and Sato in the Oi title match. Habu looked to be cruising to victory, but Sato managed to get back into the game only to lose it again in byoyomi. Interesting stuff, but Sato is now 2-0 down and that is a big mountain to climb. Here is game 2 with some comments: Black: Habu, Oi White: Sato, Challenger 39th Oi-sen, Game 2, July 30th and 31st 1998 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/1 6/6 3.P2g-2f 3/4 0/6 Habu's choice of opening is clearly motivated by psychology. After the Meijin match there was a lot of talk about the reasons why Tanigawa did not choose the Kakugawari in game 7. After all, Sato had lost all games with white against this opening in that match and seemed at a loss when confronted with this opening. Habu is not known to be an expert in the Kakugawari, but he plays it anyway because this might be Sato's achilles heel. The risk is of course that Sato has prepared something that he planned to use in game 7 of the Meijin match. 4.G4a-3b 0/4 12/18 5.G6i-7h 3/7 0/18 6.P8d-8e 0/7 0/18 7.B8h-7g 3/10 0/18 8.P3c-3d 0/10 0/18 9.S7i-8h 0/10 0/18 10.S3a-4b 0/10 7/25 11.B7gx2b+ 2/12 0/25 12.G3bx2b 0/12 0/25 13.S8h-7g 0/12 0/25 14.S7a-6b 0/12 6/31 15.S3i-3h 31/43 0/31 16.P6c-6d 0/43 14/45 17.P4g-4f 8/51 0/45 18.S6b-6c 0/51 1/46 19.S3h-4g 0/51 0/46 20.G2b-3b 0/51 1/47 21.G4i-5h 3/54 0/47 22.P1c-1d 0/54 10/57 23.P1g-1f 22/76 0/57 24.K5a-4a 0/76 17/74 25.K5i-6h 15/91 0/74 26.K4a-3a 0/91 1/75 27.K6h-7i 5/96 0/75 28.S6c-5d 0/96 5/80 29.P3g-3f 25/121 0/80 30.P4c-4d 0/121 15/95 31.S4g-5f 0/121 0/95 32.P6d-6e 0/121 36/131 33.N2i-3g 18/139 0/131 34.G6a-5b 0/139 1/132 35.P9g-9f 5/144 0/132 36.P7c-7d 0/144 95/227 37.P9f-9e 51/195 0/227 38.N8a-7c 0/195 4/231 39.R2h-4h 33/228 0/231 40.G5b-6c 0/228 32/263 41.P2f-2e 11/239 0/263 42.S4b-3c 0/239 17/280 43.B*2f 33/272 0/280 44.B*6d 0/272 60/340 45.R4h-4i 32/304 0/340 46.S5d-4c 0/304 2/342 47.P6g-6f! 15/319 0/342 If the white position is what Sato had prepared, he needs to get back to the study room. This risky looking move which starts a fight close to the black king, is giving Sato all kinds of trouble. 48.P6ex6f? 0/319 66/408 Now Habu gets a clear advantage. The press room extensively analysed 48.G5d. Then 49.Px6e 50.Gx6e is the natural continuation. After this, Sato feared 51.P4e P3e Px4d S3cx4d most. However, Habu also disliked this variation and would not have played it. Other moves are 51.Sx6e Gx6e S6f P8f Px8f P*8g Gx8g Bx8f and it is unclear if black has any good moves, or 51.R6i S5d Sx6e Nx6e S6f P8f Px8f Bx8f P*8g P*6h! R2i (G5hx6h then Bx6h+! Gx6h P*6g! and a strong white attack) B6d G5hx6h S*4g and black can not get a good attack going. Sato: "Even if it loses, I should have played G5d". 49.S7gx6f 0/319 0/408 50.P5c-5d 0/319 0/408 51.P4f-4e 25/344 0/408 52.B6d-5c 0/344 2/410 53.S6f-7g 5/349 0/410 54.K3a-2b 0/349 3/413 55.G5h-6h 22/371 0/413 56.B5c-6b 0/371 16/429 57.P2e-2d 32/403 0/429 58.P2cx2d 0/403 0/429 59.P*2e 0/403 0/429 60.P2dx2e 0/403 8/437 61.N3gx2e 0/403 0/437 62.S3c-2d 0/403 0/437 63.P4ex4d 0/403 0/437 64.S4c-5b 0/403 0/437 65.R4i-4e 1/404 0/437 66.P*4b 0/404 12/449 White is clearly in big trouble. It would have been nice if 66.P3e would have worked, but after 67.Bx3e Sx3e Px3e the white king position is too weak (for example P*2c). From now on Sato shows some real Meijin toughness in defense. 67.B2f-3g 10/414 0/449 The direct 67.P4c+ Bx2f +Px3b Kx3b P*2b N3c Nx3c+ Kx3c P2a+ P4c gives the white king to much room to escape. 68.S5b-5c 0/414 2/451 69.P*2f 2/416 0/451 70.S5cx4d 0/416 1/452 71.R4e-4i 0/416 0/452 72.P4b-4c 0/416 0/452 73.P*6d 12/428 0/452 74.G6c-5c 0/428 0/452 75.G6h-5h 0/428 0/452 76.B6b-5a 0/428 6/458 77.R4i-6i 0/428 0/458 78.R8b-6b 0/428 0/458 79.K7i-8h 2/430 0/458 80.R6b-6a 0/430 12/470 81.B3g-4f 9/439 0/470 82.P*6e 0/439 2/472 83.S5fx6e 0/439 0/472 84.N7cx6e 0/439 0/472 85.R6ix6e 0/439 0/472 86.S4d-5e 0/439 1/473 87.P6d-6c+ 9/448 0/473 88.R6ax6c 0/448 1/474 89.R6ex6c+ 0/448 0/474 90.G5cx6c 0/448 0/474 91.R*6a? 0/448 0/474 The general feeling was that this game would be over quickly. This rook drop seemed to seal it. White can not defend the gold on 6c with 92.B6b because of Bx2d. The only move is to play Sx4f, but playing the silver away from the black king looks very bad..... 92.S5ex4f 0/448 0/474 93.R6ax5a+ 0/448 0/474 94.R*2h 0/448 1/475 Now Sato is suddenly back into this game. This rook drop is actually very hard to defend against. For example 95.G5h-6h P*6g G6hx6g P*6f G6g-6h and both S*6g and B*4e look very strong. If Habu would have realised how powerful this counter attack actually is, he would have played the correct 91.Bx5e instead of R*6a. Then 92.Px5e and now 93.R*6a is winning: 94.B6b P*6d S*5b Rx9a+ Gx6d +R9b and after P*6a black plays L*6g. 95.P*4h 12/460 0/475 With regret Habu drops his last pawn. 96.R2hx2f+ 0/460 0/475 97.N*3h 0/460 0/475 98.+R2fx2e 0/460 0/475 99.N3hx4f 0/460 0/475 100.S2d-3c 0/460 0/475 101.B*4a 3/463 0/475 102.P7d-7e 0/463 0/475 Sato has had to wait patiently for his chance, but finally he gets the opportunity to attack. 103.B4ax6c+ 2/465 0/475 104.P7ex7f 0/465 0/475 105.S7gx7f 0/465 0/475 106.N*6f 0/465 0/475 This knight drop is as strong as it looks. The game has now gotten very close with attack for both black and white and white with chances of getting an entering king. 107.S*4a 6/471 0/475 108.G3b-3a 0/471 2/477 109.+B6c-6d 2/473 0/477 110.S*4b 0/473 0/477 111.G5h-6h 2/475 0/477 112.P*6c 0/475 1/478 113.P*2d 0/475 0/478 114.+R2ex2d 0/475 0/478 115.G*3b 0/475 0/478 116.G3ax3b 0/475 1/479 117.S4ax3b+ 0/475 0/479 118.K2bx3b 0/475 0/479 119.G*3a 1/476 0/479 120.K3b-2c 0/476 0/479 121.+B6dx4b 0/476 0/479 122.S3cx4b 0/476 0/479 123.+R5ax4b 0/476 0/479 124.B*5e? 0/476 0/479 In byoyomi Sato gives it all away. Correct was 124.Nx7h+ Gx7h B*3c +Rx3c +Rx3c S*2e B*4d B*7g S*6f Sx3d +Rx3d Nx3d Sx7g+ Nx7g R*2i with the mating threat B*7i Gx7i Bx7g+ Kx7g Rx7i+ R*7h N*6e Sx6e S*6h. A very long and difficult variation to read in one minute. Furthermore, it is still unclear how is winning in this position. However, the reply to B*5e is easy, so Sato should have tried his luck with 124.Nx7h+. 125.S*7g 0/476 0/479 126.N6fx7h+ 0/476 0/479 127.G6hx7h 0/476 0/479 128.G*2b 0/476 0/479 At this stage of the game, the switch from attack to defense is in general a sign of having lost the battle. 129.N4fx3d 1/477 0/479 130.+R2dx3d 0/477 0/479 131.S*3e 0/477 0/479 132.+R3d-3c 0/477 0/479 133.P*2d 0/477 0/479 134.K2c-1b 0/477 0/479 135.+R4bx3c 0/477 0/479 136.G2bx3c 0/477 0/479 137.R*5b 0/477 0/479 138.P*2b 0/477 0/479 139.G3a-3b 0/477 0/479 140.R*2i 0/477 0/479 141.G3bx2b 0/477 0/479 Resigns 0/477 0/479 Time: 07:57:00 07:59:00 A tough game where Sato came very close to winning. Instead, he finds himself 2-0 down after two games. He desperately needs to win game 3 now... In other Shogi news: ==================== a) Goda lost another challenger game! After losing two years in a row in the final game of the Oi tournament, he has done the same in the Oza tournament. Last year he lost in the final to Shima, this year to Tanigawa. The loss against Tanigawa will haunt Goda for a long time because he gave away a won position by overlooking a mate in one!! He was not even in byoyomi at that point of the game. Tanigawa actually looked embarrassed in the TV interview for "Igo Shogi Weekly" last Saturday. It has been more than a year since Habu and Tanigawa faced each other in a title match, so it might be interesting to see if Tanigawa can be as successful as in his last two attempts when he first took the Ryu-O title and then the Meijin title from Habu. b) Moriuchi beat Inoue in the second round of the A-class Junisen to become the only player with two wins. Moriuchi played well in the middle game, but when he mistimed his attack Inoue came very close to winning. However, in the end Moriuchi just managed to keep his advantage and win. Inoue now has a 0-2 score and must start worrying about relegation. c) In the Kio four other players qualified for the final sixteen. Fujii beat former Kisei Yashiki, Kiriyama beat Naito, Shima escaped against Tomioka after a bad mistake in the opening and Nakata Hiroki beat Kato Hifumi. That's all for this week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Game Lab Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp URL: http://www.etl.go.jp/etl/suiron/~grimberg/ Tel: +81-(0)298-54-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918