From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 2 jul 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 744, July 1st 1998) Goda is steamrolling towards his first Kisei title. Looking at his record so far this season (16-1!), he is the strongest player at the moment and Kisei Yashiki does not seem to be able to stop him. The second game of the Kisei-sen was also very one-sided with Goda being in control after Yashiki played a new move that is not to be repeated. Here is the game: Black: Goda, Challenger White: Yashiki, Kisei 69th Kisei-sen, Game 2, June 23rd 1998 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 6/6 A small surprise. The professionals that came to watch the game expected Yashiki to play Shikenbisha. However, after thinking for six minutes, Yashiki decides to play Ibisha. 3.S7i-6h 2/2 0/6 4.P3c-3d 0/2 1/7 5.S6h-7g 0/2 0/7 The classic Yagura move. Goda prefers this to the also very common 5.P6f, which keeps options open for a strategy other than Yagura. 6.S7a-6b 0/2 0/7 7.P5g-5f 1/3 0/7 8.P5c-5d 0/3 0/7 9.S3i-4h 0/3 0/7 10.S3a-4b 0/3 0/7 11.G6i-7h 0/3 0/7 12.G4a-3b 0/3 2/9 13.K5i-6i 1/4 0/9 14.K5a-4a 0/4 0/9 15.G4i-5h 1/5 0/9 16.P7c-7d 0/5 3/12 17.P6g-6f 20/25 0/12 18.G6a-5b 0/25 2/14 19.B8h-7i 0/25 0/14 20.S4b-3c 0/25 4/18 21.P3g-3f 0/25 0/18 22.B2b-3a 0/25 5/23 23.R2h-3h 4/29 0/23 The first point of the game. This looks a bit quick according to the old school of Yagura play, but according to commentator Tanigawa it is a move that Goda likes to play this early. The aim of the move is the pawn exchange on 3e. 24.B3a-6d 0/29 24/47 25.N2i-3g 0/29 0/47 Now the game has become a Morishita System opening, where N3g and R3h are usually reversed. This was a very popular strategy about five years ago, but recently this type of position is not seen that much in professional play. 26.P4c-4d 0/29 2/49 27.G5h-6g 0/29 0/49 28.G5b-4c 0/29 6/55 29.B7i-6h 1/30 0/55 30.K4a-3a 0/30 11/66 31.K6i-7i 0/30 0/66 32.K3a-2b 0/30 33/99 33.P2g-2f 8/38 0/99 34.P8d-8e 0/38 1/100 35.P1g-1f 10/48 0/100 36.S6b-7c 0/48 9/109 37.S4h-5g 10/58 0/109 38.S7c-8d 0/58 13/122 39.P6f-6e 7/65 0/122 40.B6d-4b 0/65 15/137 41.S5g-6f 0/65 0/137 42.P9c-9d 0/65 8/145 43.N3g-2e 21/86 0/145 44.S3c-2d 0/86 0/145 45.B6h-4f 0/86 0/145 46.R8b-9b? 0/86 1/146 New move, but not an idea that is worth repeating. Normal is 46.N7c, which has been played in professional games before and which leads to a difficult position. After 46.R9b, white soon runs out of moves. The rook in front of the lance is not good for the edge attack. 47.K7i-8h 50/136 0/146 48.P9d-9e? 0/136 13/159 Bad moves invite other bad moves. This is an attempt to make the formation R9b-L9a more active, but white should have switched to defense with 49.P1d. After that 49.P9f is too dangerous for black, so he is a bit stuck for moves as well. 49.P1f-1e 2/138 0/15 50.N8a-7c 0/138 27/186 51.L1i-1g 26/164 0/186 52.P4d-4e 0/164 24/210 Yashiki, realising he is in trouble, takes his time to find a way out. There is no good continuation, so he gambles on attacking the black attacking side, hoping to break through and make an entering king. 53.B4f-3g 9/173 0/210 54.B4b-5c 0/173 7/217 55.R3h-1h 5/178 0/217 56.N2a-3c? 0/178 7/224 This further weakens white position, but it is hard to find a good alternative. 57.N2ex3c+ 32/210 0/224 58.G4cx3c 0/210 0/224 59.P5f-5e! 1/211 0/224 Good move at another weak point in white's camp. This also brings the silver on 6f into the attack. 60.P5dx5e 0/211 1/225 61.N*2e 2/213 0/225 62.G3c-4d 0/213 7/232 63.S6fx5e 4/217 0/232 64.P*5d 0/217 1/233 65.S5ex4d 45/262 0/233 The last time in this game that Goda uses a lot of time. He might have calculated it all through the end from here. 66.B5cx4d 0/262 0/233 67.P4g-4f! 0/262 0/233 This brings all black's pieces to the right spots after 68.Px4f G*4e B7a Bx4f. In that case white can only wait helplessly for the end, so Yashiki decides to counterattack. 68.N7cx6e 0/262 21/254 69.P4fx4e 0/262 0/254 70.N6ex7g+ 0/262 9/263 71.N8ix7g 0/262 0/263 72.B4d-7a 0/262 5/268 73.N*4d 0/262 0/268 74.N*5e 0/262 5/273 75.B3gx5e! 6/268 0/273 Ends white's attacking hopes. 76.P5dx5e 0/268 0/273 77.N4dx3b+ 1/269 0/273 78.K2bx3b 0/269 0/273 79.P*5d! 2/271 0/273 80.B*2i 0/271 15/288 81.P*6b! 3/274 0/288 The winning move. The two pawn drops on 5d and 6b show the strength of dangling pawns. Black now threatens mate with 83.N*4d. 82.B7ax6b 0/274 1/289 83.G*5c 0/274 0/289 Game over, there is no defense. 84.B2ix1h+ 0/274 6/295 85.N*4d 1/275 0/295 86.K3b-2b 0/275 0/295 87.G*3b 0/275 0/295 88.K2b-1b 0/275 0/295 89.G5cx6b 0/275 0/295 90.S*2a 0/275 0/295 91.P1e-1d 1/276 0/295 92.+B1hx1g 0/276 0/295 93.B*3a 1/277 0/295 Resigns 0/277 1/296 Time: 04:37:00 04:56:00 After 94.Sx3b, white is mated by 95.Px1c+ etc. Also, 94.L*2b Gx2a Kx2a S*3c and white has no defense. Another easy win for Goda, and Yashiki desperately needs to improve his shogi to avoid an embarrassing defeat. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) The final game of the first round of the A-Junisen was played between Nakahara and Maruyama. Maruyama showed in this game how strange it is that he still has not challenged for any of the major titles. Even thoug he had white he quickly grabbed the initiative, build a very good position from there and finished it of with a perfectly calculated endgame. A good start for Maruyama. Maybe the Meijin will be his first title match? 2) In B1 already the second round was played. Goda beat Fukuzaki quickly, even before the dinner break at six o'clock. He now has won his first two games together with Nakamura (who beat Kobayashi), Tanaka (win against Kiriyama) and Aono (rather surprising win over Minami). 3) In B2 the first round was played. Of the favourites only Tsukada and Urano lost, making a bad start in their quest to return to B1. They fell to newcomers Sensaki and Kitahama respectively. For "second year kid" Kitahama, this good start is a little surprise. He seems to play his best shogi in the Junisen. 4) The challenger knock out tournament for the 24th Kio-sen has started. Still about 30 players in with a chance, so there are still a lot of games to be played before we will know the challenger of Kio Habu. The first winners were Nakamura, who beat Tanaka Torahiko and Mori, who beat Yonenaga. Mori will face new Meijin Sato in the next round, while Nakamura seems to have it a little easier with Ogura (6-dan) as his next opponent. That is 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