From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 14 may 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 737, May 13th 1998) The Meijin match between Tanigawa and Sato is almost halfway through and thus far is living up to expectations. Last week Tanigawa took game three to take a 2-1 lead, putting the pressure again on the challenger Sato to win the next game with black. Here is game 3 with comments: Black: Tanigawa, Meijin White: Sato, Challenger 56th Meijin-sen, Game 3, May 7th and 8th 1998 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 8/8 Only the second move, but already a big surprise for the commentators. In Shukan Shogi Tanigawa playing the Kakugawari is compared with an Ivanisevic service game. The point will be made with an ace or if you survive the first blow, there will be a smash at the net. After the rather one-sided loss in game 1, Sato was expected to turn to the Yokofudori. However, he decided to look the 220 km/h service straight in the eye. 3.P2g-2f 3/3 0/8 4.G4a-3b 0/3 5/13 5.G6i-7h 1/4 0/13 6.P8d-8e 0/4 0/13 7.B8h-7g 1/5 0/13 8.P3c-3d 0/5 0/13 9.S7i-8h 1/6 0/13 10.S3a-4b 0/6 10/23 11.B7gx2b+ 4/10 0/23 12.G3bx2b 0/10 0/23 13.S8h-7g 0/10 0/23 14.G2b-3b 0/10 1/24 15.S3i-3h 2/12 0/24 16.S7a-7b 0/12 1/25 17.P9g-9f 6/18 0/25 18.P9c-9d 0/18 15/40 19.P3g-3f 31/49 0/40 20.P6c-6d 0/49 31/71 21.P4g-4f 10/59 0/71 22.S7b-6c 0/59 6/77 23.S3h-4g 1/60 0/77 24.S6c-5d 0/60 11/88 In the first game, Sato played the Bogin attack. Here he chooses the classic Koshikakegin (Reclining Silver). The game now becomes similar to the fifth game of last year's Meijin match between Tanigawa and Habu. 25.K5i-6h 8/68 0/88 26.G6a-5b 0/68 3/91 27.G4i-5h 4/72 0/91 28.K5a-4a 0/72 6/97 29.K6h-7i 6/78 0/97 30.K4a-3a 0/78 4/101 31.P1g-1f 20/98 0/101 32.P1c-1d 0/98 20/121 33.N2i-3g 7/105 0/121 34.P4c-4d 0/105 13/134 35.S4g-5f 72/177 0/134 36.P6d-6e 0/177 18/152 37.K7i-8h 5/182 0/152 38.K3a-2b 0/182 49/201 39.P2f-2e 44/226 0/201 40.S4b-3c 0/226 4/205 41.R2h-4h 1/227 0/205 42.G5b-4b 0/227 38/243 43.G5h-4g 26/253 0/243 A strange looking move, but Tanigawa has played this before with success. An example is the Meijin match game against Habu mentioned before. 44.P7c-7d?! 0/253 25/268 Habu played the waiting moves G4c~G4b here. He probably saw what was coming next. Sato seems to think that this move is a simple improvement. 45.B*6d!? 19/272 0/268 It is too early to say whether this is a good move or not, but Tanigawa must have analysed this deeply during his game against Habu. The white rook is forced to a bad square and black gets a chance to attack. 46.R8b-9b 0/272 67/335 The amount of time taken for this move suggests that Sato was surprised. White has no choice. After 46.B*7c Bx7c+ Nx7c B*6d R8c P4e black gets the same attack in an even better position. 47.P4f-4e 3/275 0/335 48.P4dx4e 0/275 17/352 49.S5fx4e 6/281 0/352 50.S5dx4e 0/281 0/352 51.N3gx4e 0/281 0/352 52.S3c-4d 0/281 0/352 53.G4g-5f 43/324 0/352 54.B*5i?! 0/324 17/369 55.R4h-2h 14/338 0/369 56.P6e-6f 0/338 5/374 This is what Sato was aiming for. It is a good idea which makes the judgment of 45.B*6d difficult. However, Sato should have played the moves B*5i and P6f the other way around. If 54.P6f Px6f B*5i R2h P*6c B4f S*3g then white has good attacking chances. 57.P2e-2d 30/368 0/374 Now black ignores the pawn push and takes the initiative. Black now has the advantage. 58.P2cx2d 0/368 31/405 59.S*6h 49/417 0/405 60.P6fx6g+ 0/417 22/427 61.S6hx5i? 2/419 0/427 A mistake that lets white back in. After 61.Gx6g P*6c B4f S*3g Rx2d P*2c Bx9a+! (a move found by Aono, 9-dan) Rx9a Rx3d G3b-4c Rx4d Gx4d Sx5i white's rook is on a terrible square and black keeps his advantage. 62.R9b-6b 0/419 43/470 63.B*4f 12/431 0/470 Tanigawa: "Here I lost confidence in the position". If 63.P*6e instead, then black is in big trouble after 64.+Px7h Kx7h Rx6d Px6d B*3g. 64.+P6gx7h 0/431 6/476 65.K8hx7h 0/431 0/476 66.N2a-3c 0/431 4/480 67.N4ex3c+ 12/443 0/480 68.G4bx3c 0/443 1/481 69.N*4e 8/451 0/481 70.N*5d 0/451 5/486 71.N4ex3c+ 28/479 0/486 72.G3bx3c 0/479 3/489 73.P*6c! 2/481 0/489 A difficult move to play, since it leaves black without pawns after the next move. Tanigawa judges that having the rook on 6c, where it does not defend the white king and where it can be attacked after Bx9a+ followed by +B8a, is worth it. Since the white king is not very well defended, black still seems to have the edge here. 74.R6bx6c 0/481 3/492 75.P*6f 0/481 0/492 76.N5dx4f 0/481 10/502 77.B6dx4f 0/481 0/502 78.P5c-5d 0/481 0/502 79.N*4e 4/485 0/502 80.R6c-4c 0/485 23/525 81.N4ex3c+ 8/493 0/525 82.S4dx3c 0/493 0/525 83.G*4e 0/493 0/525 84.B*4g 0/493 2/527 85.G*4d? 14/507 0/527 A Tanigawa-like move, but not good. Here he should have played Bx9a+, after which he will probably win. 86.S3cx4d 0/507 4/531 87.G4ex3d 0/507 0/531 88.R4c-8c? 0/507 7/538 This mistake decides the game in black's favour. Black is not threatening mate, so this is the time to attack. After 88.P*6h!, black has a tough task ahead. For example 89.Gx4c B6i+ K8h G*7h K9g (K9h N*8f Sx8f G*8h K9g Gx8g Kx8g G8h leads to mate) +B7i and now black has to drop the rook R*8h, after which he has no mate. Also, 89.S5ix6h S*6i K8h G*7h K9h N*8f Px8f Px8f and white continues threatening mate. The only move is 89.Kx6h. The post-mortem analysis could not show a clear win for either player after this. 89.G3dx4d 2/509 0/538 90.N*3b 0/509 0/538 91.P*2c 11/520 0/538 92.K2bx2c 0/520 0/538 93.S*3d 0/520 0/538 94.K2c-2b 0/520 0/539 95.S5i-5h! 1/521 0/538 The winning move. Black still had to be careful for N*8f Px8f Px8f, but after chasing away the bishop this is no longer dangerous. 96.B4gx3f+ 0/521 1/539 After 96.Bx5h+ Rx5h Nx4d, black has many ways of winning and white has no attack. 97.B4fx2d 0/521 0/539 98.N3bx2d 0/521 0/539 99.R2hx2d 0/521 0/539 100.K2b-3a 0/521 0/539 101.S3d-4c+ 0/521 0/539 102.N*8f 0/521 0/539 103.S7gx8f 2/523 0/539 Resigns 0/523 0/539 Time: 08:43:00 08:59:00 An up and down game, but Tanigawa takes the lead again. Sato is now under pressure to keep his service game with black. In other shogi news: ==================== In the Oza-sen two games were played to decide spots in the quarterfinals. Takahashi played Fujii, one of the great young stars of the game who are acting just below the level Habu, Moriuchi and Sato. Fujii alread qualified for the final of the Kisei challenger tournament last week, but in the Oza he met a determined Takahashi. Takahashi has made a deep study of the feared Fujii system and in this game it paid off. The early attack against the sitting king proved decisive. The other game between Goda and Naito was a win for Goda. Not unexpected, with Goda perhaps being the strongest player not to play in the A-class Junisen. Still, the quick finish (about five o'clock in the afternoon) will be a disappointment to Naito. Goda and Takahashi will now play each other for a place in the semi-final. Not much going on this week besides the Meijin game. Next week promises to be even worse (or even better, considering my workload :-) ), but who knows what Shukan Shogi will bring. 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