From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 26 nov 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 765, November 25th 1998) The main topic in Shukan Shogi this week is of course the stunning Fujii victory in the Ryu-O title match. Showing such superiority in his first title match appearance against one of the best players to ever play the game, truly amazing. It was clear that Tanigawa was not at his best in this match, but Fujii outclassed him in all aspects of the game. After a 4-0 sweep, one can usually say that the losing players deserved better, but in this match 4-0 was the right reflection of the actual difference in playing strength. Game 4 had the same pattern as the other games: Tanigawa tried something in the opening, but Fujii smartly countered it, got a better position and then a Tanigawa mistake finished it. This time the game took only 71 moves.... Black: Fujii, Challenger White: Tanigawa, Ryu-O 11th Ryu-O-sen, Game 4, November 18th and 19th 1998 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/1 3/3 3.P6g-6f 5/6 0/3 4.S7a-6b 0/6 7/10 5.R2h-6h 18/24 0/10 6.K5a-4b 0/24 3/13 7.P1g-1f 3/27 0/13 8.P1c-1d 0/27 20/33 In this very important game, Tanigawa decides not to play into Fujii's hands. Instead of fighting the "Fujii system", the move 8.P1d shows to his opponent that he will most probably not play the Anaguma. If white would still play Anaguma, P1d would be a serious weakness, especially with white. 9.S7i-7h 34/61 0/33 10.K4b-3b 0/61 12/45 11.S3i-3h 9/70 0/45 12.G6a-5b 0/70 6/51 13.S7h-6g 12/82 0/51 14.P6c-6d 0/82 49/100 15.K5i-4h 32/114 0/100 16.S6b-6c 0/114 1/101 17.K4h-3i 1/115 0/101 18.S6c-5d 0/115 2/103 19.G6i-5h 6/121 0/103 20.R8b-6b 0/121 3/106 Right side fourth file rook. This is a very aggressive opening, fitting Tanigawa's style. However, it has taken him a long time to play this and this is not a sign of thorough opening preparation or strong confidence. 21.P7f-7e! 48/169 0/106 This is a well-timed counter. Black does not allow white to play P7d followed by N7c. Tanigawa planned to play P7d and a mino castle before attacking. The move 21.P7e forces him to change his mind. 22.G5b-4b 0/169 57/163 23.K3i-2h 12/181 0/163 24.B2b-3c 0/181 16/179 25.P9g-9f 27/208 0/179 26.K3b-2b 0/208 23/202 27.R6h-7h 3/211 0/202 28.P6d-6e 0/211 51/253 The sealed move at the end of the first day. Only 28 moves have been played, which shows how careful both players are in this important game. The general opinion in the press room was that 28.P6e was the only way to continue. 29.P6fx6e 11/222 0/253 30.B3cx8h+ 0/222 2/255 31.R7hx8h 0/222 0/255 32.B*3c 0/222 0/255 33.B*7g 2/224 0/255 34.S5dx6e 0/224 13/268 35.P*6f 5/229 0/268 36.S6e-5d 0/229 1/269 37.P8g-8f 0/229 0/269 38.G4a-3b? 0/229 63/332 Tanigawa took a long time analysing the surprising 38.P7d here, but in the end decided against it. This was a mistake, since 38.P7d is the only way to keep the initiative: 39.P8e (39.Px7d R7b is not good for white) 40.Px7e P8d P6e Px6e P*6f Bx6f S5e B7g P7f Sx7f S6f P*7h does not seem to work well, but time keeper Higuchi (3-dan) suggested N7c! next, which seems to give white good chances. After 38.G4a-3b, Fujii grabs the initiative. 39.P8f-8e 3/232 0/332 40.R6b-6d 0/232 2/334 Most professional commentators expected 40.R8b, but Tanigawa did not like that passive move. 41.P8e-8d 68/300 0/334 42.P8cx8d 0/300 9/343 43.S6g-5f 0/300 0/343 44.P9c-9d? 0/300 33/376 It is hard to find useful things for white to do and in the end Tanigawa played this waiting move. However, there was a waiting move that improved white position: 44.P2d!. Then 45.P6e Sx6e Bx3c+ Nx3c S5e R6a Rx8d P5d S4e P4d and white has the strong threat P4e. This is much better than the actual game. Fujii planned to play 45.P9e K2c G4i-5i to defend against a future promotion of the rook on 6i, but this leads to a long game where white only seems to have a slight disadvantage. After the pointless 44.P9d the game is suddenly over very quickly. 45.P6f-6e 12/312 0/376 46.S5dx6e 0/312 1/377 47.B7gx3c+ 0/312 0/377 48.G4bx3c 0/312 0/377 49.S5f-5e 1/313 0/377 50.R6d-6a 0/313 3/380 51.R8hx8d 6/319 0/380 52.P*8h 0/319 36/416 53.B*7b 34/353 0/416 54.R6a-6b 0/353 2/418 55.R8dx8a+ 0/353 0/418 56.P8hx8i+ 0/353 0/418 57.B7b-6a+ 3/356 0/418 58.R6bx6a 0/356 4/422 59.+R8ax6a 0/356 0/422 60.S6e-5d 0/356 0/422 61.S5ex5d 4/360 0/422 62.P5cx5d 0/360 0/422 63.R*8a 0/360 0/422 "Double rooks are more frightening than a devil". Next, S*4b will be very severe. White has no attack and no defense. 64.B*5e 0/360 5/427 65.P4g-4f 3/363 0/427 66.S*4b 0/363 5/432 67.P*6c 6/369 0/432 68.+P8ix9i 0/369 3/435 69.P6c-6b+ 1/370 0/435 70.B5ex4f 0/370 3/438 71.S*4g 3/373 0/438 Resigns 0/373 1/439 Time: 06:13:00 07:19:00 Tanigawa took one minute to say goodbye to his Ryu-O title. After retreating the bishop, +P5b wins easily. The domination of challenger Fujii in his first title match appearance has been a great surprise. He crowns a great season with the second most important title in the shogi world. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) In the C2 Junisen class round 7 was played. With four rounds left to play, the fight for the three available promotion spots is now really starting. Leader Chuza saw his chances for promotion diminish after losing to rookie Sato Shinya. Chuza now has a 6-1 score, but his low Junisen ranking means that he will need a lot of help in the remaining rounds. After round 7 there are still 4 undefeated players at 6-0: Sugimoto (beat Miyazaka), Katsumata (beat Tsubouchi), Kimura (beat Kosaka) and Namekata (beat Tamura). Katsumata probably has the best chance to promote, since he does not have to face any of his rivals. On the other hand, Sugimoto still has to play both Kimura and Namekata. Crucial is how Matsumoto will play in the final rounds. He is on 5-1, but with games against Namekata and Kimura he also has his promotion in his own hands. Except for Chuza, only Kitajima and Sato Shinya have only one loss and it seems that the three promotion tickets will be given to three of these eight remaining candidates. 2) In the osho league Morishita made a major step towards challenging Habu by beating Nakamura. This was Morishita's fourth straight victory in the league and with two games to play, one win almost secures him of a next title match appearance. Still, the two games are against Tanigawa and Meijin Sato, so there is still a chance for the players with two losses. 3) Even though not all preliminary games have finished, the Kisei leagues started last week. Four groups of four players from which the top two players qualify for a knock-out tournament to decide the challenger of Kisei Goda. There are some interesting match-ups in the groups. In group A former Kisei's Yashiki, Miura and Habu are in the same group. Habu scored a big win by beating Yashiki in the first game. In group B we have Ryu-O Fujii and Meijin Sato with Minami and Namekata. Group C has Tanigawa, Yonenaga, Nakamura and Kimura, while group D seems to be the least interesting with Nakahara, Moriuchi and Hatakeyama Mamoru. That's all for this 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