From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 20 feb 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 725, February 18th 1998) The fourth game of the osho match between Habu and Sato is featured prominently in this week's Shukan Shogi. It was a great endgame fight where the outcome was in doubt until the very end. Here is the game with some comments: Black: Sato, Challenger White: Habu, Osho 47th Osho-sen, Game 4, February 9th and 10th 1998 1.P7g-7f 2/2 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/2 2/2 3.P2g-2f 2/4 0/2 4.P4c-4d 0/4 2/4 5.P2f-2e 2/6 0/4 6.B2b-3c 0/6 2/6 7.S3i-4h 1/7 0/6 8.R8b-4b 0/7 4/10 9.P5g-5f 2/9 0/10 10.S7a-7b 0/9 5/15 11.K5i-6h 2/11 0/15 12.P9c-9d 0/11 3/18 13.K6h-7h 9/20 0/18 14.P9d-9e 0/20 3/21 15.G4i-5h 25/45 0/21 16.G4a-5b 0/45 12/33 17.P3g-3f 34/79 0/33 18.K5a-6b 0/79 18/51 19.B8h-6f 20/99 0/51 This opening was undoubtedly prepared by Sato. It is a new idea in the Fujii system, which in itself was a new idea to build a strong attacking position against the Ibisha Anaguma. Sato's idea is very interesting, but from this game a conclusion about its strength is difficult. 20.S3a-3b 0/99 64/115 21.N2i-3g 28/127 0/115 22.S3b-4c 0/127 40/155 23.S7i-8h 27/154 0/155 An interesting knight sacrifice seems to be 23.N4e Px4e Bx3c+ Nx3c P2d Px2d Rx2d and black can promote the rook to compensate for the knight loss. This sacrifice seems to have been played before in a slightly different type of position and is considered to be an overplay by black. Sato probably looked only briefly at that possibility, because he has a different and much stronger idea. 24.K6b-7a 0/154 64/219 25.G6i-6h 15/169 0/219 26.S4c-5d 0/169 12/231 27.N8i-7g 59/228 0/231 28.P6c-6d 0/228 3/234 29.P8g-8f?! 5/233 0/234 30.G5b-6c 0/233 38/272 31.B6f-5g?! 46/279 0/272 The last two moves by Sato are probably a bit too slow. Pulling back the bishop makes this a target for a counterattack by the bishop. It would have been better to play the game idea immediately. 32.R4b-2b 0/279 43/315 33.R2h-2i 6/285 0/315 34.P7c-7d 0/285 2/317 35.L9i-9h 8/293 0/317 Sato's new idea finally becomes clear. He want to play the rook to the 9th file and attack where white has made preparations to attack. 36.N8a-7c! 0/293 3/320 A difficult move to play, because it further weakens the edge. Habu has judged correctly that he can not defend the edge anyway and that he has to find a counterattack to win this game. The bishop on 5g will be his target. 37.P9g-9f 6/299 0/320 38.N7c-6e 0/299 21/341 39.N7gx6e 7/306 0/341 40.S5dx6e 0/306 0/341 41.P9fx9e 5/311 0/341 42.S6ex5f 0/311 7/348 43.N*5e 6/317 0/348 44.S5fx5g+ 0/317 14/362 45.N5ex6c= 7/324 0/362 46.S7bx6c 0/324 0/362 47.S4hx5g 0/324 0/362 An almost forced sequence of moves which leads to a very unclear position. This game has turned into a great fight. 48.P7d-7e 0/324 2/364 49.S5g-6f 65/389 0/364 50.N*8d 0/389 15/379 51.S8h-8g 52/441 0/379 52.N8dx7f 0/441 0/379 53.P9e-9d 2/443 0/379 54.K7a-6b 0/443 27/406 55.P9d-9c+ 1/444 0/406 56.N7fx6h+ 0/444 24/430 57.G5hx6h 0/444 0/430 58.P*9g 0/444 0/430 59.L9hx9g 0/444 0/430 60.N*7f 0/444 0/430 61.S8gx7f 5/449 0/430 62.P7ex7f 0/449 0/430 63.R2i-5i 0/449 0/430 Shukan Shogi considers this a good move, aiming at G*7c Kx7c Rx5c+ and bringing the rook into play. Igo Shogi weekly was much less sure about its strength and suggested 63.N*5e immediately. Shukan Shogi thinks black is better, even though his advantage is minimal. 64.G6a-5b 0/449 20/450 65.N*5e 8/457 0/450 66.P*9f 0/457 17/467 67.L9gx9f 5/462 0/467 68.G*9g 0/462 0/467 69.K7h-6i 5/467 0/467 70.B*7d 0/467 7/474 71.K6i-5h 12/479 0/474 72.B3c-1e 0/479 0/474 73.S*4h 0/479 0/474 74.P5c-5d 0/479 0/474 This sets white's counterattack in motion. White likes to play N*5f and nail the king with two bishops. To avoid that, black has to play a defense-only move. It now seems that Habu can win. 75.P1g-1f 0/479 0/474 76.B1ex3g+ 0/479 1/475 77.S4hx3g 0/479 0/475 78.P5dx5e 0/479 0/475 79.P*7e 0/479 0/475 80.B7dx9f 0/479 0/475 81.N*7d 0/479 0/475 82.K6b-5c 0/479 1/476 83.B*3a 0/479 0/476 84.R2b-4b 0/479 0/476 85.S6fx5e 0/479 0/476 86.L*5f 0/479 0/476 87.G6h-5g! 0/479 0/476 Sato Magic! In byoyomi he finds the only chance to win. The natural 87.P*5g would lose after 88.P7g+ Gx7g N*4e S3g-4f Nx5g+ Sx5g Lx5g+ Kx5g N*4e K6h P*5d. In this position white is still not threatening mate, but surprisingly black has no continuation. With an extra knight or silver in hand, white can mate so taking either the silver on 5e or the knight on 7d is enough to win. 88.N*4e? 0/479 3/479 Habu uses his final minutes to find the win, but does not find it. He should have played 88.Lx5g+ Kx5g N*4e K4f S*5g Rx5g Nx5g+ and black can not take this knight because of R*5i followed by N*4e. Habu was afraid he could be mated in this position, but because of the bishop on 9f, which is also working in defense, there is no mate. 89.G5gx5f 0/479 0/479 90.N4ex3g+ 0/479 0/479 91.S5ex4d?? 0/479 0/479 A blunder that throws away the game. Sato has seen that he can make a hisshi, but he had no time to calculate that this extra silver gives white a mate. The winning move is 91.G4e! Of course 92.Px4e is mate in one after G*4d. White can play 92.Sx7d to make an escape for the king, but even with the extra knight white has no mate. This means black can just take back with 93.Px7d. Then there is well-hidden win after 94.Bx7d Sx6d Kx6d Bx4b+ Gx4b R*5d K7e S*6f. There is no mate here, but black wins the bishop which kills white's mating threat and leaves the white king without defense. 92.K5cx4d 0/479 0/479 93.L*4e 0/479 0/479 94.K4d-3c 0/479 0/479 95.L4ex4b+ 0/479 0/479 96.S*6i 0/479 0/479 97.K5h-5g 0/479 0/479 Unfortunately for black, 97.Rx6i Bx6i+ Kx6i R*4i B*5i S*5h Kx5h Rx4g+ also leads to mate. 98.S*4h 0/479 0/479 Resigns 0/479 0/479 Time: 07:59:00 07:59:00 A very close game that could have gone either way. Usually it is impossible to read from Sato's face whether he has lost or won the game he just finished, but this time his disappointment was clear. Habu now takes a comfortable 3-1 lead in the match, which is almost decisive. In other shogi news: 1) In B1 the 12th round was played and with one round left to play the second promotion has also been decided. Murayama beat Tamaru and rival Minami lost quickly against Naito after a terrible oversight in the early middle game. This meant that Murayama will return to the A-class after a one year absence mainly due to bad health. It also means that next year I have to be careful again not to mix up Maruyama and Murayama in my reports :-). 2) No decisions in B2. Leaders Goda, Ono and Kamiya all won to get to a 8-1 score with one game to play. Kamia had the biggest problems beating Manabu. It is hard to say who is going to promote, but one has to favour Goda's chances with a game against veteran Ouchi. Ono plays Waki and Kamiya plays Kodama. Both Waki and Kodama do not have a great season, but Waki scored his two victories against Hatakeyama and Urano, two of the strongest players in the class. Kodama also had a great victory against Tsukada, who at that point was undefeated. I am sure it will be a nervy last round. 3) In C2 Sato lost his last game and failed to end his C2 run with a perfect record. He did already clinch promotion in the previous round of course. For the other two spots in C1 there are now eight candidates left with a 7-2 score and one game to play. Katsumata lost a big game to Yagura to drop back in this group. Okazaki and Fukaura have their chances in their own hands. I can't help hoping both will promote. Okazaki dramatically lost his final game last year against Ono to see promotion slip through his fingers at the final moment. Having this happen twice in a row is a little too much drama. With a game against veteran Kawaguchi in the final round, promotion should not be too difficult. Fukaura is a different story. He has already challenged Habu for the Oi title two years ago and he is clearly stronger than C2 class. However, the same can be said for his opponent in the final round, the very talented Namekata. Chances in this game are 50-50. With a whole bunch of strong players on his heels, Fukaura might regret his terrible loss in the eight round against Numa, which is Numa's only win so far... 4) In the Oi league two games were played. Hiura showed his great form this season by convincingly beating Kisei Yashiki in the white group. Last year's challenger Sato also had a good start, he beat Takahashi in the red group. 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