From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 13 aug 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 750, August 12th 1998) I am off to Holland for three weeks starting next Monday, so this is my last contribution to shogi-l for a while. I hope I will be able to catch up on Shukan Shogi after I return. No special celebration in Shukan Shogi for the 750th issue, just the normal every week shogi news. The opener is of course the third game of the Oi title match. Meijin Sato really needed to win this one to avoid going 3-0 behind, which would virtually mean the end of the match. Sato managed to win, but it took a lot of sweat in a close endgame as Habu was fighting back strongly after a bad opening. So, the score is now 2-1 and "come-back kid" Sato has now again everything to fight for. Game four will be played on August 17th and 18th. Here is game three with comments: Black: Sato, Challenger White: Habu, Oi 39th Oi-sen, Game 3, August 6th and 7th 1998 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/1 2/2 3.S7i-6h 1/2 0/2 4.P3c-3d 0/2 1/3 5.P6g-6f 1/3 0/3 6.S7a-6b 0/3 2/5 7.P5g-5f 1/4 0/5 8.P5c-5d 0/4 2/7 9.S3i-4h 0/4 0/7 10.S3a-4b 0/4 3/10 11.G4i-5h 1/5 0/10 12.G4a-3b 0/5 10/20 13.G6i-7h 3/8 0/20 14.K5a-4a 0/8 2/22 15.K5i-6i 1/9 0/22 Being the Meijin brings a lot of responsibilities and Sato is very much aware of that. For one, he is very busy with public appearances that interfere with his preparation for important games. More importantly, in title matches he no longer can play the role of the underdog. For a Meijin, losing three games in a row would mean a considerable loss of face. Furthermore, coming back from 3-0 down against Habu is almost impossible. So Sato will have felt some pressure in this game. It should have been a little comforting for Sato that Habu chose to play the Yagura, where Sato is the leading specialist. 16.G6a-5b 0/9 3/25 17.S6h-7g 3/12 0/25 18.S4b-3c 0/12 4/29 19.B8h-7i 0/12 0/29 20.B2b-3a 0/12 1/30 21.P3g-3f 1/13 0/30 22.P4c-4d 0/13 0/30 23.P3f-3e 29/42 0/30 24.P3dx3e 0/42 52/82 25.B7ix3e 0/42 0/82 26.G5b-4c 0/42 0/82 27.S4h-3g 12/54 0/82 28.S6b-5c 0/54 9/91 29.S3g-3f 23/77 0/91 30.S3c-3d 0/77 10/101 31.B3e-6h 17/94 0/101 32.S3d-4e 0/94 6/107 33.S3f-3e 1/95 0/107 34.S5c-4b 0/95 44/151 This odd looking silver retreat has been played before. Of course white wants to play it as fast as possible to 3c. 35.P4g-4f! 32/127 0/151 A new move by Sato and a strong one. So far, all professional game examples had 35.R3h as the next move. The expected development is then 36.S3c P4f S3d S2f P2d. Sato has judged correctly that he does not need to play this rook to 3h and that it allright where it is now. This saves him at least one and perhaps two moves. 36.S4e-3d 0/127 1/152 37.S3e-2f 0/127 0/152 38.P2c-2d 0/127 8/160 39.K6i-7i 18/145 0/160 40.S4b-3c 0/145 31/191 41.P*3e 6/151 0/191 42.S3d-2c 0/151 1/192 43.S2f-3g 9/160 0/192 44.B3a-4b 0/160 9/201 45.S3g-3f 1/161 0/201 46.K4a-3a 0/161 0/201 47.G5h-6g 3/164 0/201 48.P9c-9d 0/164 5/206 49.K7i-8h 42/206 0/206 50.P9d-9e 0/206 3/209 51.P2g-2f 2/208 0/209 52.P7c-7d 0/208 39/248 The sealed move. Black has a very nice piece formation and the consensus was that white was in trouble. The expected continuation was 52.N9c followed by 53.N8e to get some kind of attack going. Instead, Habu decides to wait for a better chance. He is counting on the problems black will have to break down white's strong four-general defense. 53.N2i-3g 33/241 0/248 54.N8a-7c 0/241 1/249 55.S7g-8f 77/318 0/249 56.B4b-6d 0/318 33/282 57.P2f-2e 0/318 0/282 58.P2dx2e 0/318 2/284 59.S3fx2e 0/318 0/284 60.P*2d 0/318 0/284 61.S2e-3f 0/318 0/284 62.K3a-2b 0/318 4/288 63.P1g-1f 6/324 0/288 64.P1c-1d 0/324 3/291 65.P*2e 39/363 0/291 66.P2dx2e 0/363 10/301 67.P1f-1e 0/363 0/301 68.P1dx1e 0/363 34/335 69.N3gx2e 0/363 0/335 70.S3c-2d 0/363 1/336 71.P6f-6e 0/363 0/336 72.B6d-5c 0/363 3/339 73.P4f-4e 1/364 0/339 74.P*3c 0/364 2/341 75.B6h-4f 11/375 0/341 76.R8b-7b 0/375 1/342 77.P6e-6d?! 41/416 0/342 Sato said that he regretted this move and that he had made a mistake in the move order. The idea of playing P6d is to create a hole on 6c to drop a piece later. Sato said that it would have been better to take on 4d first and only after Gx4d push the pawn to 6d. I am not really sure why 77.Px4d Bx4d is better for black than the game. This is not explained by Shukan Shogi. In any case, 77.P6d does not seem to be bad for Sato, but things get very complicated from here. 78.P6cx6d 0/416 26/368 79.P4ex4d 4/420 0/368 80.B5cx4d 0/420 10/378 81.P5f-5e 0/420 0/378 82.B4dx5e 0/420 6/384 83.B4fx5e 0/420 0/384 84.P5dx5e 0/420 0/384 85.P*1b 15/435 0/384 86.L1ax1b 0/435 9/393 87.P*1c 0/435 0/393 88.N2ax1c 0/435 33/426 89.N2ex1c+ 0/435 0/426 90.L1bx1c 0/435 0/426 91.B*6c 0/435 0/426 92.R7b-7a 0/435 0/426 93.B6cx7d+ 0/435 0/426 94.P*2e 0/435 1/427 95.S3fx2e 3/438 0/427 96.S2dx2e 0/438 2/429 97.R2hx2e 0/438 0/429 98.P*2d 0/438 0/429 99.R2e-2i 0/438 0/429 At this point there was some discussion about who was actually attacking who. Moves like 99.P*4d were looked at, but neither player seemed to have given that much thought. I guess the game is still very close, but it is hard to see where Sato could have played it better after his opening advantage. 100.N7c-6e 0/438 8/437 101.+B7dx6d 5/443 0/437 102.P*6f 0/443 2/439 103.G6gx6f 0/443 0/439 104.P*7g 0/443 0/439 105.N8ix7g 1/444 0/439 106.N6e-5g+ 0/444 1/440 107.P*4d 2/446 0/440 108.G4cx4d 0/446 4/444 109.N*3f 3/449 0/444 110.N*7d 0/449 7/451 111.N3fx4d 3/452 0/451 112.N7dx6f 0/452 6/457 113.N4dx3b+ 0/452 0/457 114.S2cx3b? 0/452 2/459 This allows black to take the very important knight on 6f. Naito, 9-dan suggested 114.Kx3b +B6e N*5d +Bx5d S*4c +Bx4c Kx4c S*5d Kx5d G*6e K4c Gx6f B*4g with an unclear position. 115.S*3a 0/452 0/459 116.R7ax3a 0/452 0/459 117.+B6dx3a 0/452 0/459 118.K2bx3a 0/452 0/459 119.R*6a 0/452 0/459 120.P*4a 0/452 6/465 121.R6ax6f+ 0/452 0/465 Now Sato is in control again. 122.B*2c 0/452 7/472 123.N*3d 9/461 0/472 124.P3cx3d 0/461 0/472 125.+R6fx5g 0/461 0/472 126.S*5f 0/461 2/474 127.N*4c 7/468 0/474 128.K3a-2b 0/468 2/476 129.+R5gx5f 2/470 0/476 130.P5ex5f 0/470 0/476 131.P3ex3d 0/470 0/476 132.S*4b? 0/470 1/477 The losing move. Habu last hope would have been 132.Bx3d. Habu probably feared 133.G*4d, but after G*3c S*3a K2c G*2b K1d Gx3d N*6f B*6i S*2e it is hard to find a good continuation for black. 133.S*3a 0/470 0/477 134.S4bx3a 0/470 0/477 135.N4cx3a+ 0/470 0/477 136.K2bx3a 0/470 0/477 137.S*3c 1/471 0/477 138.S*2b 0/471 0/477 139.G*4c 5/476 0/477 140.G*4b 0/476 0/477 141.S3cx2b+ 0/476 0/477 142.K3ax2b 0/476 0/477 143.S*3c 0/476 0/477 144.S3bx3c 0/476 0/477 145.P3dx3c+ 0/476 0/477 146.G4bx3c 0/476 0/477 147.S*3a 0/476 0/477 148.K2bx3a 0/476 0/477 149.G4cx3c 0/476 0/477 150.S*2b 0/476 0/477 151.P*3b 0/476 0/477 152.B2cx3b 0/476 0/477 153.G3cx3b 0/476 0/477 154.K3ax3b 0/476 0/477 155.B*6e 0/476 0/477 156.K3b-3c 0/476 1/478 157.G*3e 0/476 0/478 Resigns 0/476 1/479 Time: 07:56:00 07:59:00 Black's king is far from mate and white has no defense against the double mating threat G*4c~Bx5f and G*3b~Rx2d. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) The jinx that the winner of the first pre-round group of the Ryu-O will never win the title, will be there for at least another year. Group 1 winner Minami had to play the winner of group 4 Fujii for a place in the semi-final and Minami lost. Minami chose to play a violent quick attack against the leading Ranging Rook specialist, but Fujii did not make a mistake and it seemed that Minami would always lose by one move difference. This means that the last player older than 30 has now bowed out of the tournament. Fujii will play Yashiki next in the semi-final. The other semi-final will be between Maruyama and the winner of the game between Habu and Goda. 2) In the Kio-sen both Meijin Sato and Ryu-O Tanigawa advanced to the best 16. Sato was forced to play a risky rook sacrifice in the middle game against Mori, but his anaguma castle proved strong enough to capitalize on the weaknesses the rook sacrifice had created around Mori's king. Tanigawa beat Fukuzaki with a surprising bishop sacrifice in the early middle game that gave him a strong attack. As far as attacking goes, Tanigawa has no rivals and Fukuzaki could not find a way out of this one. Other winners of round one in the Kio were Hatakeyama Mamoru, who scored a big win over A-class player Inoue and Namekata, who beat Aono. That's all for this week. Off to my first long holiday in two years. I will be back in September. 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