From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 16 jan 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 720, January 14th 1998) After almost two months without a title match game, the Osho match has started last week between Osho Habu and challenger Sato Yasumitsu. Let's hope we will see some more fireworks in the coming games than in game 1, because Sato gambled on a risky strategy and was beaten convincingly. Here are the comments from Shukan Shogi: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Osho White: Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger 47th Osho-sen, Game 1, January 8th and 9th 1998 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 7/7 3.S7i-6h 1/1 0/7 4.P3c-3d 0/1 1/8 5.P6g-6f 1/2 0/8 6.S7a-6b 0/2 1/9 7.P5g-5f 2/4 0/9 8.P5c-5d 0/4 4/13 9.S3i-4h 2/6 0/13 10.S3a-4b 0/6 5/18 Both players are experts in the Yagura, especially Sato who has written a number of very good books on this extremely complicated strategy. This double Yagura was therefore expected. However, white's results have not been good recently and it was interesting to see what Sato would play. 11.G4i-5h 7/13 0/18 12.G4a-3b 0/13 3/21 13.G6i-7h 4/17 0/21 14.K5a-4a 0/17 2/23 15.K5i-6i 2/19 0/23 16.P7c-7d 0/19 2/25 17.G5h-6g 8/27 0/25 18.S6b-5c 0/27 61/86 19.P2g-2f 31/58 0/86 20.P8d-8e 0/58 3/89 21.S6h-7g 7/65 0/89 22.S5c-6d 0/65 5/94 This quick attacking strategy must have surprised Habu. It is not really Sato's style to attack this early. At professional level, it is a major gamble to attack without the king being safe. Sato: "If I would be white I thought I had to go for it". We are still before lunch on the first day of a two day game. Having already such a complicated position is very rare. 23.P2f-2e 77/142 0/94 24.P7d-7e 0/142 53/147 25.P6f-6e 25/167 0/147 26.P7ex7f 0/167 7/154 27.G6gx7f 1/168 0/154 Habu took only one minute for this move, but it took Sato completely by surprise. "I had only thought about 27.Sx7f and 27.Px6d". Usually it is not a good place for the gold to be on 7f, but Habu is aiming at putting pressure on the left side of the position. 28.S6d-5c 0/168 11/165 29.B8h-7i 20/188 0/165 30.R8b-7b 0/188 70/235 31.P*7e 40/228 0/235 32.S5c-4d 0/228 4/239 33.S4h-5g 38/266 0/239 34.P5d-5e 0/266 10/249 35.P5fx5e 0/266 0/249 36.S4dx5e 0/266 0/249 37.P*5f 1/267 0/249 38.S5e-4d 0/267 0/249 39.P2e-2d 23/290 0/249 40.P2cx2d 0/290 2/251 41.R2hx2d 0/290 0/251 42.P*2c 0/290 0/251 43.R2d-2h 0/290 0/251 44.S4b-5c 0/290 10/261 45.G7h-6g 1/291 0/261 46.S5c-5d 0/291 17/278 47.K6i-7h 3/294 0/278 48.P1c-1d 0/294 15/293 49.P9g-9f 1/295 0/293 50.G6a-5a? 0/295 15/308 Not good. Sato was worried about P4f followed by P3f and decided to improve the position of his king instead of answering the edge pawn. Habu never pushes the pawns on 3g and 3f though... 50.P9d was necessary to keep in the game. 51.P9f-9e 16/311 0/308 52.G5a-4b 0/311 2/310 53.P8g-8f! 7/318 0/310 Great move that was overlooked by Sato and probably by everybody else except Habu. Pushing the pawn in front of the king is usually the last thing one wants to do, but Habu judges that white's pieces have all gone to the right side of the board, while his pieces are all on the left side. There he wants to attack. Habu's strategic brilliance is clear from this game. 54.P8ex8f 0/318 9/319 55.S7gx8f 0/318 0/319 56.R7b-5b 0/318 41/360 57.P*8d 37/355 0/360 58.P*5e 0/355 13/373 59.P8d-8c+ 5/360 0/373 60.P5ex5f 0/360 0/373 61.S5g-6h 0/360 0/373 62.S4d-5e?! 0/360 8/381 Better 62.S4d-4e to open the bishop diagonal. Then if 63.S6h-7g S5e K8g then P5g+ Gx5g B1c is bad for black. However, after 63.S8f-7g S5e P7d P*7e Gx7e P5g+ Gx5g S4e-5f P7c+ Habu still seems to be winning. 63.P7e-7d 10/370 0/381 64.P5f-5g+ 0/370 47/428 No choice. If white defends with 64.P*7b to aim for the same position as in the comments above, black plays 65.S7e S5e G6g-7g which is much better for black. It is interesting that in this game control of the board is more important than the position of the king. Habu's king is obviously not in the perfect castle shape, but because he controls the left side of the board, Sato has no chance to attack. Habu's comments: "This Shogi looks like Go, doesn't it". 65.G6gx5g 22/392 0/428 66.S5e-5f 0/392 0/428 67.G5gx5f 1/393 0/428 68.B2bx9i+ 0/393 0/428 69.S*8h! 2/395 0/428 Subtle move that decides the game. If black plays 69.+B8h immediately, white has still chances after 70.+Bx8h Kx8h, which leaves all the black generals undefended or 70.+Bx8i Kx8i L*8g which is also nasty. 70.+B9i-9h 0/395 2/430 71.S8h-8g 2/397 0/430 72.+B9h-9i 0/397 0/430 73.B7i-8h 0/397 0/430 74.+B9ix8h 0/397 18/448 75.K7hx8h 0/397 0/448 The difference with the bishop exchange in the variation before is clear. All generals are now defended and white has no attack. Comment in the press room: "Perhaps 30% of the professionals would have resigned here". Sato decides to try it a little longer, but I do not think Habu has lost a winning endgame position since he was three years old. 76.L*2f 0/397 0/448 77.P*2g 6/403 0/448 78.S5d-4e 0/403 4/452 79.G5fx4e 10/413 0/452 80.L2fx2g+ 0/413 0/452 81.R2hx2g 1/414 0/452 82.R5b-5h+ 0/414 0/452 83.B*7g 1/415 0/452 84.P*8e 0/415 5/457 85.S8f-7e 2/417 0/457 86.P*5f 0/417 6/463 87.L*5i 10/427 0/463 88.+R5hx4g 0/427 1/464 89.G4ex3d 9/436 0/464 90.B*4e 0/436 3/467 91.R2g-2h 1/437 0/467 92.B4ex3d 0/437 0/467 93.B7gx1a+ 6/443 0/467 94.P5f-5g+ 0/443 0/467 95.L5ix5g 9/452 0/467 96.P*5f 0/452 0/467 97.L*3f 0/452 0/467 98.P5fx5g+ 0/452 0/467 99.L3fx3d 0/452 0/467 100.+P5gx6h 0/452 0/467 101.L3dx3b+ 0/452 0/467 102.G4bx3b 0/452 0/467 103.R2hx6h 0/452 0/467 104.L*8f 0/452 0/467 105.S7ex8f 0/452 0/467 106.P8ex8f 0/452 0/467 107.G7fx8f 0/452 0/467 108.P*8e 0/452 0/467 109.L*5d 0/452 0/467 110.P8ex8f 0/452 0/467 111.S*5b 0/452 0/467 Resigns 0/452 0/467 Time: 07:32:00 07:47:00 A surprisingly one-sided game between these two. Still, nothing's lost, since Sato will have black in game two. That game he has to win. In other Shogi news: 1) In the Kio the challenger final between Minami and Goda was played. If Minami would have won, he would be the challenger of Habu, making his return to the Kio match after four years. If Goda would win, they would have to play a decisive game to decide the challenger. It was Goda who won after Minami played a little too conservatively in the middle game and passed up a chance to get a good attack. So they will play again. This game was played on the 14th, but I do not know the result yet. 2) In the A-class two games were played. Co-leader Morishita surprisingly lost a one-sided game against Shima, who is now almost certain of staying in the A-class next year. Moriuchi (2-4) scored a very important third victory against Inoue, getting out of the relegation zone for the first time. However, I have just read in the paper that Habu lost against Yonenaga. This means Yonenaga also has three wins and that Inoue now has to seriously worry about relegation again after a great start. 3) In the Ryu-O match amateur Endo beat professional Mushano to advance to the third round after beating rookie pro Sato in the first round. He will now face the winner of the game between Kitajima and Tamura. This will mean a tough opponent for Endo, who is looking to equal the record of amateur Ameno, who reached the semi-finals in the bottom group of the Ryu-O a couple of years ago. 4) In the Kisei leagues Tanigawa beat Miura and Yonenaga beat Waki. Both scored their second win in two games and are now certain of a place in the quarterfinals. More news 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