From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 6 nov 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 762, November 4th 1998) The second game of the Ryu-O match between Tanigawa and Fujii was a very one-sided affair. A convincing victory for the challenger who looks very confident on the first page of Shukan Shogi this week. Here is the game with comments: Black: Fujii, Challenger White: Tanigawa, Ryu-O 11th Ryu-O-sen, Game 2, October 28th and 29th 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 3/3 3.P6g-6f 6/6 0/3 4.S3a-4b 0/6 27/30 After long thought on only the fourth move, Tanigawa decides to play Ai-Furibisha (Double Ranging Rook). The 27 minutes he took to make that decision are not a sign of great confidence and good opening preparation. It seems like Tanigawa has no idea how to fight the Fujii system. 5.S7i-6h 23/29 0/30 6.P5c-5d 0/29 13/43 7.S6h-6g 2/31 0/43 8.S4b-5c 0/31 1/44 9.B8h-7g 28/59 0/44 10.R8b-3b 0/59 16/60 11.R2h-8h 2/61 0/60 12.S7a-8b 0/61 10/70 13.P8g-8f 4/65 0/70 14.P7c-7d 0/65 33/103 Preparing for the Yagura castle. In Ai-furibisha games it is not strange to play the Yagura, since the main attack is coming from the front. 15.P8f-8e 31/96 0/103 16.S8b-7c 0/96 0/103 17.G6i-5h 1/97 0/103 18.P3d-3e 0/97 9/112 19.P4g-4f 4/101 0/112 20.P6c-6d 0/101 10/122 21.G5h-4g 24/125 0/122 22.G6a-7b 0/125 22/144 23.K5i-4h 2/127 0/144 24.K5a-6b 0/127 3/147 25.S3i-3h 17/144 0/147 26.G4a-5b 0/144 5/152 27.K4h-3i 9/153 0/152 28.G5b-6c 0/153 5/157 29.B7g-8f! 21/174 0/157 Subtle move. This bishop is now in a very good position to attack the Yagura with P6e. The white counter 29.P6e might be a problem, but Fujii has seen that the quiet return 30.B7g only helps black, since the game is opened on the head of the white king. 30.K6b-7a 0/174 72/229 Tanigawa realizes that Fujii is going to get what he want from this position and takes more than an hour to figure out a way to fight back. 31.N8i-7g 4/178 0/229 Black's position now looks perfect, but things are not that easy... 32.S5c-6b 0/178 7/236 33.P9g-9f 3/181 0/236 34.P1c-1d 0/181 2/238 35.P1g-1f 39/220 0/238 36.K7a-8b 0/220 11/249 37.K3i-2h 2/222 0/249 38.B2b-3c 0/222 34/283 39.R8h-6h 25/247 0/283 40.P2c-2d 0/247 9/292 41.S6g-5f 46/293 0/292 42.L1a-1c! 0/293 11/303 Good move by Tanigawa. The easiest attack for black would have been 43.S4e, but after having played the lance to 1c, white can retreat the bishop to 1a. If white would not have played the lance, 43.S4e B2b would be very risky with 2c as a potential point for attacking both rook and bishop. 43.P6f-6e 70/363 0/303 This move shows that Fujii is very confident. Despite the fact that white has built up a strong defensive formation, he decides to start the attack. 44.P6dx6e 0/363 27/330 45.P8e-8d 1/364 0/330 46.P8cx8d 0/364 9/339 47.R6hx6e 2/366 0/339 48.P5d-5e 0/366 5/344 49.R6ex5e! 2/368 0/344 Great move that was overlooked by almost everybody, including Tanigawa. In the press room only 49.P*6d was analysed, but after 50.G5d S4e Gx6e Nx6e R*8i the situation is far from clear. 50.P1d-1e?? 0/368 33/377 In one move Tanigawa throws away the game. He must have thought that black had to take this pawn. Instead 50.B1a R4e P4d R6e P*6d R6i P8e B9g P4e or 50.Bx5e Sx5e R*8g B*4a Rx8f+ Bx3b+ +Rx7g are both leading to unclear positions with chances for both black and white. 51.R5e-4e 7/375 0/377 52.B3c-4d 0/375 28/405 After 52.P4d Rx3e Px1f P*1h white has no good move, while black has the easy attack S5e follwed by P*6d or Sx4d. 53.S5f-5e 32/407 0/405 54.N2a-3c 0/407 11/416 55.R4ex4d 0/407 0/416 56.P4cx4d 0/407 0/416 57.B*4c 0/407 0/416 This variation is similar to the one given before, but black's attack is much quicker. 58.R*8i 0/407 3/419 59.P*8c! 11/418 0/419 Fujii plays this game very well. The natural 59.P*6d was analysed in the press room as being a clear win for black, but Fujii read that 60.R4b Px6c+ Rx4c +Px7b Kx7b followed by B*6g is not so clear. In this variation the edge attack suddenly comes alive. 60.K8bx8c 0/418 9/428 61.B4cx3b+ 2/420 0/428 62.R8ix8f+ 0/420 0/428 63.P*6d 0/420 0/428 64.S7cx6d 0/420 3/431 65.S5ex6d 0/420 0/431 66.G6cx6d 0/420 0/431 67.R*1a! 0/420 0/431 The deciding move. It looks easy, but it was necessary to calculate that 68.P*5a Rx1c+ followed by +Rx3c was quick enough. 68.+R8fx7g 0/420 5/436 69.R1ax8a+ 2/422 0/436 70.S*8b 0/422 0/436 71.N*9e 3/425 0/436 72.K8c-7c 0/425 0/436 73.+R8a-1a 0/425 0/436 74.P9c-9d 0/425 4/440 75.+R1ax1c 0/425 0/440 76.P9dx9e 0/425 0/440 77.+R1cx3c 0/425 0/440 78.P*6c 0/425 1/441 79.L*6e 0/425 0/441 80.P*5c 0/425 6/447 81.L6ex6d 1/426 0/447 82.P6cx6d 0/426 1/448 83.S*4b 5/431 0/448 Resigns 0/431 1/449 Time: 07:11:00 07:29:00 Tanigawa took one minute to make sure that there is no defense and no attack. The defense 84.N*6a is answered by +B4c G7a N*5d S6c (Px5d +B4d forks king and dragon) Sx5c+ Nx5c +Bx5c and black wins. The attack 84.N*5e also does not help after 85.Sx5c= Sx5c +Rx5c N*6c +B5d Nx4g+ +Bx6d K8c N*7e. A devastating defeat for Tanigawa. He really needs to come up with something against Fujii's Shikenbisha fast, or the match will be over very quickly. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) Miura won the second game of the best-of-three match for the Shinjin-O title against Hatakeyama Nariyuki. Hatakeyama made a mistake in the early middle game, but fought back hard to make it difficult for Miura. However, a mistake in defense and a very early resignation (always a mistake :-) ), finished the game and the match in Miura's favour. 2) In C2 the sixth round was played and because of the uneven number of players most players have played half of their games. The leaders made no mistake. Chuza beat Numa for his sixth straight win and he is now half a game in front of the other leaders, who all have five wins from five games. Sugimoto (against Takada), Katsumata (against Nozuki), Kimura (against Ueyama) and Namekata (against Matsuura) all kept their perfect record. All leaders are in their twenties and all very capable of winning all their games. Would this be the first time we have three players promoting with a perfect record of 10-0? If not, there is still hope for Matsumoto, Kitajima, Kosaka and rookie Sato, the only four players with only one loss. 3) In the Kio the four semifinalists have been decided. Meijin Sato overpowered Kisei Goda and Kobayashi Kenji upset Maruyama with a beautiful endgame combination after fighting from a bad position most of the game. Kobayashi will now play Sato next, while the other semi-final will be between Shima and Fujii. 4) In the Osho league a big game between Nakahara and Morishita. They were the only undefeated players left; Nakahara had two wins and Morishita one. Nakahara played the Opposing Rook opening aggressively, but it was Morishita who had the best of the play. In the end Morishita showed his famous defensive skills by calculating that he could survive a very risky looking attacking move, a move he needed to keep his advantage. He had calculated correctly and is now the new leader in the Osho league. In the other game Nakamura beat Yashiki to get back to 1-1. Yashiki is now 1-2 and virtually out of the race for the Osho title. More next week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Games 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