From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 13 nov 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 763, November 11th 1998) I had a conference to organise this week, so this is a little later than usual. This week in Shukan Shogi of course the third game of the Ryu-O match between titleholder Tanigawa and challenger Fujii. Up until now, Fujii is completely dominating this match and this game was no exception. Fujii won the opening and Tanigawa had to defend very carefully to stay in the game. A big mistake in this defense made him lose material and the game. Fujii is now almost certain of his first major title. Never in shogi history has a player been able to come back from 3-0 down... Here is the third game with some comments: Black: Tanigawa, Ryu-O White: Fujii, Challenger 11th Ryu-O-sen, Game 3, November 5th and 6th 1998 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 7/7 3.P2g-2f 7/7 0/7 4.P4c-4d 0/7 1/8 5.S3i-4h 1/8 0/8 6.S3a-3b 0/8 6/14 7.P5g-5f 5/13 0/14 8.R8b-4b 0/13 2/16 9.K5i-6h 1/14 0/16 10.S7a-7b 0/14 4/20 11.K6h-7h 3/17 0/20 12.P9c-9d 0/17 1/21 13.G4i-5h 16/33 0/21 14.S3b-4c 0/33 16/37 15.S4h-5g 12/45 0/37 16.B2b-3c 0/45 11/48 17.P2f-2e 10/55 0/48 18.P9d-9e 0/55 5/53 19.P3g-3f?! 54/109 0/53 20.K5a-6b 0/109 4/57 21.L9i-9h 60/169 0/57 After losing the first two games of this match quite convincingly, all commentators were very eager to know what opening he would choose in this very important game. 21.L9h is the result of this opening preparation. It is partly a waiting move, but also a move that prepares the anaguma castle. It is an interesting idea to play the lance up this early, but in combination with P3f it is not so good. 22.K6b-7a 0/169 42/99 23.B8h-7g 2/171 0/99 24.K7a-8b 0/171 2/101 25.K7h-8h 1/172 0/101 26.R4b-3b 0/172 4/105 27.K8h-9i 59/231 0/105 28.P3d-3e! 0/231 12/117 Fujii has spotted that P3f is a weakness in the black position and allows black to complete his anaguma to give white the time to prepare the attack on the third file. White is already a little better here. 29.P3fx3e 47/278 0/117 30.P4d-4e 0/278 2/119 31.S5g-6f 0/278 0/119 32.B3c-4d 0/278 2/121 33.P2e-2d! 0/278 0/121 This is actually a known position. In the second game of the 1996 Shinjin-O match, Fujii had the same position against Maruyama. In that game Maruyama played S8h. 33.P2d is stronger and might have been the move that Tanigawa prepared for this game. 34.R3bx3e 0/278 63/184 Fujii had studied this position before and the result of his homework was that 34.Bx3e was very good for white. However, over the board he found the following variation: 34.Bx3e Px2c+ Bx7i+ +Px3b +B6i +Px4a S*7h (the supposedly winning move) G*8h G*7i G5i and strangely enough, black can defend his position. 35.P*3g 1/279 0/184 36.P2cx2d 0/279 2/186 37.R2hx2d 1/280 0/186 38.P*2b 0/280 0/186 39.S7i-8h 29/309 0/186 40.R3e-3d 0/309 32/218 41.R2d-2h 8/317 0/218 42.G4a-3b 0/317 7/225 43.G6i-7i 2/319 0/225 44.P1c-1d 0/319 17/242 45.B7g-8f 35/354 0/242 46.N2a-3c 0/354 73/315 47.G5h-5g! 37/391 0/315 This was a big surprise for the commentators, but it is the only move that keeps Tanigawa's position together. After 47.S5e B3e P3f B1c Bx5c+ Rx3f S4d, white wins after Bx7i+ Sx7i Rx5c and both Sx5c+ B*4d and Sx5c= B*3e lose material. The move 47.G5g shows that Tanigawa has lost the opening battle again, but white has to be very careful. 48.S4c-5b 0/391 23/338 49.B8f-6h 8/399 0/338 50.B4d-3e 0/399 17/355 51.P4g-4f 13/412 0/355 52.B3e-1c 0/412 40/395 53.G5g-4g 11/423 0/395 54.R3d-2d 0/423 10/405 55.P*2f 3/426 0/405 56.P*3h 0/426 0/405 57.P3g-3f 10/436 0/405 58.P3h-3i+ 0/436 13/418 59.N2i-3g 2/438 0/418 60.+P3i-3h 0/438 0/418 61.R2hx3h 0/438 0/418 62.R2dx2f 0/438 0/418 63.P*2h 0/438 0/418 64.P4ex4f 0/438 0/418 65.B6hx4f 0/438 0/418 66.B1cx4f 0/438 2/420 67.G4gx4f 0/438 0/420 68.B*4i 0/438 0/420 69.R3h-6h 2/440 0/420 70.P*4h 0/440 4/424 71.N3g-4e 11/451 0/424 72.R2fx2h+ 0/451 0/424 73.N4ex3c+ 0/451 0/424 74.G3bx3c 0/451 0/424 75.B*5e 0/451 0/424 76.G3c-4c 0/451 1/425 77.G4f-4g 0/451 0/425 78.+R2h-3i 0/451 2/427 79.R6h-6i 0/451 0/427 80.G4c-5d 0/451 2/429 81.B5e-3g?? 6/457 0/429 The previous moves are all more or less forced. Black's position is still difficult, but far from hopeless. However, 81.B3g is a blunder that makes black's position collapse in a few moves. If black plays 81.B4f instead, the situation is still very complicated after 82.G4e B3g or B5g, since the knight drop on 4e is no longer possible. If white turns to defense with 82.G6d, then P*4c Sx4c S5g followed by P6g-6f-6e is very strong. Finally, 82.+R3h G3g +R2h P*4c Sx4c G4g B2g+ R2i is also far from clear. 82.N*4e! 0/457 2/431 This is one of those moves that seem to be hard to find for a professional. All commentators agreed with Tanigawa that this move was not looking good, a so-called "vulgar move". However, Fujii has calculated that this move leaves black without defense. 83.B3g-2f 9/466 0/431 84.+R3i-2h 0/466 2/433 85.G4gx4h 1/467 0/433 86.B4i-2g+ 0/467 0/433 Resigns 0/467 0/433 Time: 07:47:00 07:13:00 Black loses material without any compensation and Tanigawa therefore resigned. Not a good game to lose, and Tanigawa is now very close to losing his second major title in a year. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) In the A-class three games were played. Tanigawa may be having a rough time, but in the A-class everything is going according to plan. He beat Morishita to extend his perfect record to four games. He has played almost all of his major rivals now, so a win in the next round against Maruyama (who beat Inoue and is now 3-1) would bring him very close to a rematch with meijin Sato. Nakahara scored a big win against Shima and now has a 2-3 score, two games clear of the relegation zone. Shima, on the other hand, now has 1-3 and has to start scoring some points to stay out of danger. Still, Inoue has not won a game (4 losses) and seems the main candidate for relegation. -- 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