From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 5 feb 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 723, February 4th 1998) Sato with a big smile on the cover of Shukan Shogi and rightly so. He managed to beat Habu in the third game of the Osho match. This stops Habu's winning streak in the Osho at ten, but more importantly Sato now still has a chance to win the match. He will have to win the fourth game on February 9th and 10th. Here is game three with some comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Osho White: Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger 47th Osho-sen, Game 3, January 29th and 30th 1998 1.P2g-2f 1/1 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/1 1/1 3.P7g-7f 1/2 0/1 4.G4a-3b 0/2 6/7 5.G6i-7h 2/4 0/7 6.P8d-8e 0/4 0/7 7.B8h-7g 1/5 0/7 8.P3c-3d 0/5 0/7 9.S7i-8h 1/6 0/7 10.B2bx7g+ 0/6 2/9 11.S8hx7g 0/6 0/9 The trend in recent title matches is to play a different opening every game. This has become popular after Tanigawa expressed his wish to do so in every title game match he plays. After a Yagura and a Yodofuribisha, this time the players select the Kakugawari (Bishop Exchange). 12.S3a-4b 0/6 0/9 13.S3i-3h 2/8 0/9 14.S7a-7b 0/8 2/11 15.P1g-1f 1/9 0/11 16.S4b-3c 0/9 16/27 17.P9g-9f 30/39 0/27 18.S7b-8c 0/39 72/99 19.P3g-3f 74/113 0/99 20.S8c-8d 0/113 0/99 21.S3h-3g 0/113 0/99 22.P7c-7d 0/113 11/110 I think this was prepared by Sato. Even though it is not an unusual move in this type of position, it seems a little quick. If this was indeed preparation, one wonders why he spent 72 minutes to play 18.S8c. 23.P2f-2e 4/117 0/110 24.P4c-4d 0/117 6/116 A necessary preparation. White can not attack immediately with 24.P7e, since after Px7e Sx7e P2d he is in big trouble after both Sx2d B*5e and Px2d P*2e Px2e Rx2e. 25.S3g-4f 73/190 0/116 26.P7d-7e 0/190 15/131 27.P6g-6f 2/192 0/131 28.K5a-4a 0/192 47/178 Played after long thought. Sato: "A frightening move". 29.G4i-5h?! 20/212 0/178 Habu regretted this natural defense move after the game: "I should have opened the position much quicker". He refers to the attack after 29.P3e. Shukan Shogi gives the wild variation 30.Px7f Px3d Px7g+ Px3c+ Px7h+ +Px3b Rx3b Rx7h S*6g P*3c Rx3c P*3d R3b R2h R7b and because of the threat R7i+ it seems like white has a good position. Still, Habu was quite upset with himself about missing this chance. 30.K4a-3a 0/212 11/189 31.K5i-6h 1/213 0/189 32.G6a-5b 0/213 8/197 33.P9f-9e 31/244 0/197 34.G5b-4c 0/244 23/220 35.P1f-1e 15/259 0/220 36.K3a-2b 0/259 2/222 37.B*6a?! 10/269 0/222 This is an probably overplay, but it was very hard to see that in advance. 38.B*5d! 0/269 43/265 Good move. If white does not play this drop, black has a very strong attack after P3e Px3e Sx3e P*3d P2d. For example Px3e Px2c+ Gx2c Bx4c+ and black wins. The bishop on 5d covers the gold and thus makes this last variation impossible. 39.P7fx7e? 45/314 0/265 Yashiki commented the game in the program Igo-Shogi Weekly and he was very clear: "This was bad". Of course hindsight is cruel and it was very hard to see the great defense Sato pulls out of the hat. Also, the alternative was very complicated with a lot of side variations. Still, Habu should have played 39.P6e. Then 40.Bx6e S6f R6b (kills the bishop and looks very strong) Sx6e Rx6a B*7b R7a Bx6c+ Px7f +B6b R7e P*6f S7c +B6c is good for black. 40.S8dx7e 0/314 2/267 41.S4f-5e 0/314 0/267 42.B5dx3f 0/314 10/277 43.P*7b 2/316 0/277 44.P*7f 0/316 36/313 45.S7g-8h 0/316 0/313 So, what to do about the pawn that is going to promote on 7a? 46.G4c-4b! 0/316 1/314 Great move to contain the black bishop and promoted pawn. This takes away 5b from the bishop. 47.P7b-7a+ 5/321 0/314 48.P6c-6d! 0/321 1/315 A great one-two combination by Sato. Black can not take the knight on 8a, because of 50.Rx8a N*7c R8b and the knight and bishop can not be developed and are in serious danger of getting lost. P6d is not only good for this reason, it also gives white an attack on the weak head of the king after P6e. 49.N2i-3g? 30/351 0/315 The losing move. Habu last chance was 49.P9d. Then after 50.Px9d Lx9d Lx9d +Px8a R8d P3e Px3e N*3d Sx3d Bx3d+ L*3c +B5f L9h+ Sx4d black still has fighting chances. Habu: "I had no confidence in that variation". Instead, he decides to pull his pieces back and wait for another chance. 50.N8a-7c 0/351 11/326 51.P2e-2d 24/375 0/326 52.P2cx2d 0/375 1/327 53.R2h-2f 4/379 0/327 54.B3f-6c 0/379 4/331 55.+P7a-7b 6/385 0/331 56.B6cx7b 0/385 3/334 57.B6ax7b+ 0/385 0/334 58.R8bx7b 0/385 0/334 59.B*6c 0/385 0/334 60.R7b-7a 0/385 6/340 61.B6c-7d+ 0/385 0/340 62.N7c-6e 0/385 52/392 63.+B7dx8e 0/385 0/392 64.P7f-7g+ 0/385 1/393 65.N8ix7g 0/385 0/393 66.S7e-7f! 0/385 0/393 It seems like white is not doing that badly, but this is the deciding move. White gives up two pieces for one, but black has to drop the silver back in defense and the bishop can be dropped at the good square 4i. 67.P6fx6e 1/386 0/393 68.S7fx8e 0/386 0/393 69.N7gx8e 0/386 0/393 70.B*4i 0/386 23/416 71.S*6g 13/399 0/416 72.B4i-3h+ 0/399 2/418 73.S5e-4f 0/399 0/418 74.P6dx6e 0/399 4/422 75.S8h-7g 0/399 0/422 76.P*8d 0/399 8/430 77.P*2e 0/399 0/430 78.P8dx8e 0/399 1/431 79.P2ex2d 0/399 0/431 80.N*6f 0/399 3/434 Resigns 4/403 0/434 Time: 06:43:00 07:14:00 A little early to resign, especially since Habu's position seems to be hard to break down. However, he took four minutes to calculate that he could not escape from his castle collapsing. For example 81.N*2c Nx5h+ Sx5h +B4h Nx1a+ B*5i K7i Bx7g+ and hisshi. A good win for Sato, which should give him confidence for the next game. He is black in game four and has to win to avoid going down two with three to play. Other Shogi news: ================= 1) Not everything went wrong for Habu last week. He beat Kiriyama in the Kisei league to qualify for the quarterfinals. He is joined by Goda, who beat rookie Kimura. One has to feel sorry for Kiriyama, who also won two games out of three, but does not qualify because he was lower ranked than Habu and Goda in this mini-class of four. 2) The Zen-Nihon pro tournament may be very interesting this year. Three of the four semifinalists are known and they are all big names: Habu, Kisei Yashiki and Sato Yasumitsu. They will be joined by either Moriuchi or Fujii. Since Habu will play Sato in the semis, there is no chance of a repeat of the Osho match. Personally, I would like to see a Habu-Yashiki match, which would be a first. 3) Nakai did not even come close to achieving the impossible: winning three games in a row to take the Ladies Meijin title from Shimizu. Shimizu also won game three and took her sixth Meijin title, which ties the alltime record held by Nakai. Next week's report will probably be late, since the computer Shogi tournament will be held on Thursday and Friday and I still have enormous holes to fill in my program :-). 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