From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 18 jun 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 742, June 17th 1998) The Meijin match is very exciting this year and the seventh and deciding game is being played right now. Of course Shukan Shogi is not that quick with comments, but game six is very much worth looking at. Sato got the early lead, but gave that up by making some fundamental mistakes. However, Tanigawa could not capitalize and in the end Sato won this tough battle. Here are the moves with some more comments: Black: Sato, Challenger White: Tanigawa, Meijin 56th Meijin-sen, Game 6, June 8th and 9th 1998 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/1 2/2 3.S7i-6h 2/3 0/2 4.P3c-3d 0/3 1/3 5.P6g-6f 0/3 0/3 6.S7a-6b 0/3 2/5 7.P5g-5f 1/4 0/5 8.P5c-5d 0/4 7/12 9.S3i-4h 0/4 0/12 10.S3a-4b 0/4 1/13 11.G4i-5h 1/5 0/13 12.P6c-6d 0/5 30/43 13.S6h-7g 42/47 0/43 14.S6b-6c 0/47 4/47 15.P2g-2f 0/47 0/47 16.G4a-3b 0/47 36/83 17.P2f-2e 25/72 0/83 18.R8b-5b 0/72 15/98 The aggresive Yagura Nakabisha. White is aiming for an early attack. 19.S4h-5g 28/100 0/98 20.K5a-4a 0/100 34/132 21.P2e-2d 3/103 0/132 22.P2cx2d 0/103 11/143 23.R2hx2d 0/103 0/143 24.P5d-5e 0/103 1/144 25.P5fx5e 0/103 0/144 26.R5bx5e 0/103 0/144 27.R2d-2h 6/109 0/144 28.P*2c 0/109 1/145 29.G5h-6g 28/137 0/145 30.P7c-7d 0/137 14/159 31.G6i-7h 4/141 0/159 32.R5e-5a 0/141 4/163 33.K5i-6i 0/141 0/163 34.S6c-5d 0/141 3/166 35.S7g-6h 27/168 0/166 36.G6a-6b 0/168 11/177 37.S5g-4f! 39/207 0/177 A new move and very strong. 38.P*5e 0/207 74/251 Admits defeat but white had no choice. The aggresive 38.P6e fails to 39.G5f! and after both 40.P*5e Gx6e and 40.Px6f P*5e black is better. The played move 38.P*5e gives up the idea of attacking early. Black has won the opening battle. 39.K6i-7i 28/235 0/251 40.G6b-6c 0/235 37/288 41.P3g-3f 52/287 0/288 42.P4c-4d 0/287 23/311 43.N2i-3g 1/288 0/311 44.K4a-3a 0/288 0/311 45.P9g-9f 6/294 0/311 46.S5d-4c 0/294 5/316 47.R2h-2f 10/304 0/316 48.G6c-5d 0/304 4/320 49.P3f-3e 3/307 0/320 50.P1c-1d 0/307 6/326 51.P1g-1f 6/313 0/326 52.P9c-9d 0/313 2/328 53.B8h-7g 4/317 0/328 54.N8a-7c 0/317 11/339 55.P1f-1e 61/378 0/339 56.P1dx1e 0/378 2/341 57.P*1c 7/385 0/341 58.L1ax1c 0/385 23/364 59.P3ex3d 0/385 0/364 60.S4cx3d 0/385 28/392 61.R2f-3f 2/387 0/392 62.S4b-3c 0/387 2/394 63.S4f-3e 20/407 0/394 64.S3dx3e 0/407 31/425 65.R3fx3e 0/407 0/425 66.R5a-5c 0/407 0/425 67.R3e-3f 9/416 0/425 68.S3c-2d 0/416 1/426 69.P*5f! 9/425 0/426 Very strong move, which gives Sato a big advantage. Black ignores the threat S*3e and goes straight into the attack. 70.P*3e 0/425 23/449 If 70.S*3e then Rx3e Sx3e Px5e Gx5e B8f! and white has no good defense against Bx6d. 71.R3f-2f 2/427 0/449 72.P8d-8e 0/427 0/449 73.S*6b? 41/468 0/449 A serieus misjudgment that lets Tanigawa back in. Sato wants to win the bishop on 2b by taking the knight on 7c and then drop this knight on 3d (if white answers this with B3c, then black can play P*2e). However, if white sacrifices the bishop on 2b, he will have lost material but he has gotten rid of two pieces that were not working very well and his king is much safer on 2b than on 3a. The right move would have been 73.N2e! and after 74.Px5f Nx1c+ followed by L*3d. So white has to play 74.L1d, which gives black another move for his attack. If Sato would have chosen this line, the game would have been over quickly. 74.R5c-6c 0/468 3/452 75.P5fx5e 0/468 0/452 76.G5dx5e 0/468 1/453 77.P6f-6e 0/468 0/453 78.G5e-5d 0/468 16/469 79.S6bx7c+ 0/468 0/469 80.R6cx7c 0/468 0/469 81.N*3d 0/468 0/469 82.S*3f 0/468 1/470 83.N3dx2b+ 4/472 0/470 84.K3ax2b 0/472 0/470 85.B*8b 1/473 0/470 86.R7c-8c 0/473 6/476 87.B8bx9a+ 0/473 0/476 88.S3fx3g= 0/473 0/476 89.+B9a-9b? 7/480 0/476 This only helps white. On 5c the rook is much more effective than on 8c. 90.R8c-5c 0/480 2/478 91.R2f-2g 1/481 0/478 92.N*5e 0/481 8/486 A strong counterattack. Black has to give up the gold on 6g because both 93.G6f Px6e and 93.G5e S3h= followed by Sx4g= are very good for white. 93.+B9b-8a 10/491 0/486 94.P8e-8f 0/491 9/495 95.B7gx8f 8/499 0/495 96.N5ex6g+ 0/499 7/502 97.S6hx6g 0/499 0/502 98.N*5e 0/499 0/502 99.S6g-5f 3/502 0/502 100.G*6f 0/502 4/506 101.S5fx5e 31/533 0/506 102.G5dx5e 0/533 0/506 103.L*3d 0/533 0/506 104.S*6g? 0/533 9/515 A mistake typical of Tanigawa's style. He attacks a little too quickly. Usually his judgment of attack is perfect, but not in this case. After defending with 104.N3c +B7a G5d (or R5d), black's attack is dead and white will win. Sato's attack is faster than Tanigawa's "Speed of Light Attack". 105.+B8a-7a 0/533 0/515 106.G5e-5d 0/533 3/518 107.R2gx3g 2/535 0/518 108.S2d-3c 0/535 4/522 109.L3dx3c+ 0/535 0/522 110.R5cx3c 0/535 0/522 111.N*2e 0/535 0/522 112.R3c-8c 0/535 4/526 113.P*3c 1/536 0/526 114.N2ax3c 0/536 1/527 115.N*3d 0/536 0/527 116.K2b-1b 0/536 3/530 117.R3gx3e? 0/536 0/530 Looks good, but is a mistake. After 117.Nx1c+ Kx1c S*2f! white can not defend. For example L*1d Lx1e Lx1e P*1d and black wins. 118.N3cx2e 0/536 2/532 119.G7hx6g 0/536 0/532 Taking an attack piece with a mating threat (S*2a) is normally winning, but... 120.L*2a! 0/536 1/533 Surprisingly, black's attack is now very difficult. 121.G6gx6f 0/536 0/533 122.R8cx8f 0/536 0/533 123.P*2b 3/539 0/533 124.B*5g 0/539 0/533 125.S*6h 0/539 0/533 126.B5gx3e+ 0/539 0/533 127.P2bx2a+ 0/539 0/533 128.K1bx2a 0/539 4/537 129.P*2b 0/539 0/537 130.G3bx2b 0/539 0/537 131.N3dx2b+ 0/539 0/537 132.K2ax2b 0/539 0/537 133.P8gx8f 0/539 0/537 134.S*5g? 0/539 1/538 The mistake that loses the game. After 134.S*8g S*7h R*3h L*4f Sx7h+ Kx7h +B3d P*5f S*5g the position is unclear. White is not threatening mate, but with the two defending major pieces, white's king is pretty safe. It might be that both players have to settle for sennichite here after S*7g Sx6h+ Sx6h S*5g. 135.R*5b 0/539 0/538 136.P*3b 0/539 0/538 137.S*3a 0/539 0/538 138.K2b-3c 0/539 0/538 139.S*4f! 0/539 0/538 Attack and defense. White has to give up his attack by taking this silver. After this, winning is not difficult anymore for a player of Sato's strength. 140.S5gx4f+ 0/539 1/539 141.R5bx5d+ 0/539 0/539 142.+S4f-4e 0/539 0/539 143.+B7a-6a 0/539 0/539 144.K3c-2d 0/539 0/539 145.G*3d 0/539 0/539 146.+B3ex3d 0/539 0/539 147.+B6ax3d 0/539 0/539 148.K2dx3d 0/539 0/539 149.L*3f 0/539 0/539 150.S*3e 0/539 0/539 151.B*4c 0/539 0/539 152.K3d-2d 0/539 0/539 153.G*3d 0/539 0/539 154.K2d-1d 0/539 0/539 155.L3fx3e 0/539 0/539 156.R*2i 0/539 0/539 157.P*5i 0/539 0/539 158.N2e-3g+ 0/539 0/539 159.G3dx2c 0/539 0/539 160.R2ix2c+ 0/539 0/539 161.L1ix1e 0/539 0/539 Resigns 0/539 0/539 Time: 08:59:00 08:59:00 It is said that a game has been really exciting if in the final position five pieces or less have not moved from their initial square. If that is the case, this game certainly qualifies with only P4g, L9i and N8i as in the starting position. Six black wins have tied the Meijin match at 3-3. Everything will now be decided in the final game seven. In other Shogi news: ******************** 1) In the Ryu-O tournament the final two players to enter the challenger knock-out were decided. Surprisingly, former Ryu-O Sato Yasumitsu lost against Takahashi in very uncharasterictic fashion: by a big blunder. Actually, Takahashi took 14 minutes and the dinner break to make sure it was a blunder and that it was not some brilliant trick move. It must have been a long and tasteless dinner for Sato. When Takahashi played the answer to Sato's blunder, Sato immediately resigned and went home, probably cursing himself for missing the big money waiting in the challenger tournament. The second remaining open spot in the challenger tournament was won by Fujii, who beat Fukaura with a tricky opening against Fukaura's Ibisha Anaguma. The eleven potential challengers are: Minami (who beat Habu to win the top group of the Ryu-O and take home about 36,000$ against Habu's 9,000$), Habu, Yashiki, Takahashi, Maruyama, Mori, Goda, Suzuki Daisuke, Fujii, Ono Yaichio and Kitajima. 2) The first game of the A-Junisen was played between Inoue and Morishita. Morishita showed his great defense skills in this game to kill Inoue's attack after Inoue missed a hidden knight sacrifice to keep it difficult. A good start for Morishita, who will be looking for another shot at the Meijin title this year. 3) In C2 the first round was played. In a class with 47 players the number of promotion candidates for the three spots change dramatically after every round, so not much can be said after round 1. Almost all favourites won, which was especially good for Namekata, because he had to play Kondo, one of the young 4-dans with a great future. Surprisingly, all rookies won their first game. Especially 17-year old Yamazaki's win against Kitajima was impressive, since he had to hold off an entering king which looked very good. 4) In the Ladies Osho Shimizu also won game three against Saita and swept the series 3-0. Like in the other two games, Saita did not have much of a chance and she was obviously disappointed with her performance in this match. So, Shimizu has won one of her titles back and will be aiming for the full set again. That's 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