From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 29 may 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 739, May 27th 1998) Surprisingly, not many important games last week except of course for the fourth game of the Meijin-sen between Tanigawa and Sato. Before I give the comments on that game, here (very short) the other results: a) Ono and Kitajima qualified for the challenger knock-out of the Ryu-O tournament. Ono won qualification group 5 by winning the second replay against Arimori after two games had ended in sennichite. Kitajima beat rookie Kobayashi with a nice attack with four knights and thus won group six. b) Challenger Shimizu beat Ladies Osho Saita to take the first step to regaining the title she lost to Saita last year. That was all, here is game four of the Meijin match: Black: Sato, Challenger White: Tanigawa, Meijin 56th Meijin-sen, Game 4, May 19th and 20th 1998 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/1 2/2 3.P2g-2f 2/3 0/2 4.P4c-4d 0/3 2/4 5.P2f-2e 0/3 0/4 6.B2b-3c 0/3 0/4 7.S3i-4h 0/3 0/4 8.R8b-4b 0/3 11/15 9.P5g-5f 5/8 0/15 10.S7a-7b 0/8 6/21 11.K5i-6h 0/8 0/21 12.S3a-3b 0/8 12/33 13.K6h-7h 5/13 0/33 14.G4a-5b 0/13 6/39 15.B8h-7g 37/50 0/39 16.K5a-6b 0/50 24/63 17.K7h-8h 11/61 0/63 18.P9c-9d 0/61 10/73 19.G4i-5h 31/92 0/73 20.P9d-9e 0/92 34/107 21.S4h-5g 3/95 0/107 22.K6b-7a 0/95 6/113 23.P6g-6f 53/148 0/113 24.S3b-4c 0/148 31/144 25.G5h-6g 16/164 0/144 26.P6c-6d 0/164 13/157 27.L9i-9h 18/182 0/157 Often the opening in title matches is already topic of deep discussion, but in this case the game went more or less as expected. Tanigawa chose the Shikenbisha, like he played a week earlier against Kato in the Oza tournament. Sato plays the Anaguma, which he plays a lot against the Furibisha these days. 28.R4b-2b?! 0/182 41/198 Tanigawa wants to play the active P2d, but he will never get the chance. 29.G6i-7h 5/187 0/198 30.P1c-1d 0/187 18/216 31.P1g-1f 4/191 0/216 32.K7a-8b 0/191 23/239 33.P3g-3f 5/196 0/239 34.P4d-4e 0/196 26/265 35.K8h-9i 40/236 0/265 36.S4c-5d 0/236 3/268 37.S7i-8h 52/288 0/268 38.P7c-7d 0/288 5/273 39.S5g-6h 5/293 0/273 40.N8a-7c 0/293 15/288 41.S6h-7i 0/293 0/288 42.P8c-8d 0/293 2/290 43.B7g-6h! 13/306 0/290 Sato has timed the opening perfectly. With this move, he forced white into a very risky attack. 44.P6d-6e 0/306 68/358 After the normal 44.S8c, black gets the advantage after 45.P3e Px3e Bx3e. 45.B6h-5g 3/309 0/358 46.P6ex6f 0/309 0/358 47.G6gx6f 0/309 0/358 48.P*6e 0/309 0/358 49.G6f-6g 0/309 0/358 50.S7b-8c 0/309 0/358 51.P8g-8f 25/334 0/358 52.G6a-7b 0/334 2/360 53.G6g-7g 0/334 0/360 54.B3c-4d 0/334 14/374 55.N2i-3g 19/353 0/374 56.N2a-3c 0/353 17/391 57.P2e-2d! 56/409 0/391 Brave move. Black would like to play 57.P*6g first, to kill white's attacking base, but after 58.G5b-6b P2d Px2d Rx2d Rx2d Bx2d P*2c B6h R*2i R*4a B2f Sato was afraid of Bx3g+ followed by +B6d and black has trouble breaking down black defenses. The future P6f is frightening, but black's flow of attack is more important. 58.P2cx2d 0/409 59/450 59.R2hx2d 0/409 0/450 60.R2bx2d 0/409 0/450 61.B5gx2d 0/409 0/450 62.P6e-6f 0/409 0/450 63.R*3b?! 50/459 0/450 Played after long thought, but not the best. Kobayashi, 8-dan found a great variation in this position: 63.R*4a S4c Rx1a+ N6e Gx6f! Bx6f L*6h and now: a) Bx8h+ Sx8h and both the knights on 3c and 6e are hanging and white has the move B*5e as well, or b) B4d Lx6e R*2i B1c+ N2e +B2b with an advantage for black. Both players had overlooked Gx6f. 64.G5b-4c 0/459 2/452 65.P*6c 1/460 0/452 66.S5dx6c 0/460 1/453 67.P*6d 0/460 0/453 This also looks good, but... 68.S6c-5d 0/460 31/484 69.R3b-5b+ 1/461 0/484 70.R*6b! 0/461 2/486 "New Tanigawa-style". This moves aims to attack on the sixth file. Black does not want to give up the dragon here: 70.+Rx6b Gx6b R*3b G7b R5b+ R*6b and sennichite. 71.+R5b-4a 5/466 0/486 72.N7c-6e 0/466 6/492 73.G7g-8g 14/480 0/492 74.P*2c 0/480 3/495 75.B2d-6h 4/484 0/495 76.P6f-6g+ 0/484 0/495 77.G7hx6g 0/484 0/495 78.P*6f 0/484 0/495 79.G6g-7g 0/484 0/495 80.R6bx6d 0/484 1/496 81.N3gx4e! 18/502 0/496 The game looked very close, but with this move Sato makes clear that black is still a little better. The bishop on 6h is the problem of the black position. With this knight sacrifice, the bishop can now move to the great square 4f. 82.N6ex7g= 0/502 3/499 83.G8gx7g 0/502 0/499 84.P6f-6g+ 0/502 28/527 85.B6h-4f 0/502 0/527 86.G*5e 0/502 0/527 87.P5fx5e 27/529 0/527 88.+P6gx7g 0/529 1/528 89.P5ex5d!? 0/529 0/528 Professional shogi style. Amateurs would settle for 89.Nx7g Sx4e P*6e which is a safe way to win. Sato wants to take the shortest path to the goal. 90.+P7gx8h 0/529 0/528 91.S7ix8h 0/529 0/528 92.S*5e 0/529 0/528 93.N*5f 2/531 0/528 94.R6d-6i+ 0/531 1/529 95.G*7i 0/531 0/529 96.+R6ix7i 0/531 5/534 97.B4fx7i 1/532 0/534 98.S5ex5f 0/532 0/534 99.B7i-4f? 0/532 0/534 But this is not good. "I thought this was winning" (Sato). The winning move was S*8g. After B4f the position becomes unexpectedly complicated. 100.P*6d 0/532 0/534 101.B4fx6d 0/532 0/534 102.G*7c 0/532 1/535 103.R*8a 0/532 0/535 104.K8b-9c 0/532 0/535 105.R8ax9a+ 1/533 0/535 106.G*9b 0/533 0/535 107.L*7g 0/533 0/535 108.G7cx6d 0/533 0/535 109.P9g-9f 0/533 0/535 110.G9bx9a 0/533 1/536 111.+R4ax9a 0/533 0/536 112.R*9b 0/533 0/536 113.+R9a-8a 1/534 0/536 114.G7b-8b 0/534 0/536 115.+R8a-6a 1/535 0/536 116.P9ex9f 0/535 0/536 117.S*9e 2/537 0/536 118.B4dx7g+! 0/537 0/536 Black looked to have an easy win with a safe king and a strong attack, but this bishop sacrifice changes that impression. Black can not take this bishop immediately, since after 119.Nx7g the move 120.L*9d makes the white king very hard to mate. 119.P*9d 1/538 0/536 120.S8cx9d 0/538 0/536 121.S9ex9d 0/538 0/536 122.K9cx9d 0/538 0/536 123.P*9e 0/538 0/536 124.K9d-8c 0/538 0/536 125.N8ix7g 0/538 0/536 126.L*9g? 0/538 0/536 This is the losing move. After 126.P9g+ Lx9g P*9h Kx9h S*7h black has to be very careful. For example, L9f L*8g Sx8g B*8i is very dangerous. 127.S*9d! 1/539 0/536 The deciding move. 128.R9bx9d 0/539 2/538 129.P9ex9d 0/539 0/538 130.L9gx9h+ 0/539 0/538 131.K9ix9h 0/539 0/538 132.K8cx9d 0/539 0/538 After 132.S*9g Sx9g Px9g+ Kx9g L*9e S*9f Lx9f Kx9f white has no mate and no defense. 133.P*9e 0/539 0/538 134.K9dx9e 0/539 0/538 135.P*9g 0/539 0/538 Resigns 0/539 1/539 Time: 08:59:00 08:59:00 And both 136.Px9g+ Sx9g and 136.B*7h Px9f Bx9f+ P*9g leave white without defense. A good game, especially by Sato. The best-of-seven match has now become a best-of-three match. Game 5 will be a pivotal game. -- 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