From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 7 oct 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 758, October 7th 1998) This week in Shukan Shogi the third game of the Oza match between Tanigawa and Habu. The Oza is a best-of-five title match, and Habu was 2-0 behind, so he needed to win this game to avoid losing another of his crowns. That was exactly what he did, so now Tanigawa has two chances left to add the Oza title to the Ryu-O title he already has. Here is game 3 with some comments: Black: Habu, Oza White: Tanigawa, Challenger 46th Oza-sen, Game 3, September 30th 1998 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 3/3 3.P2g-2f 1/1 0/3 4.P4c-4d 0/1 0/3 5.P2f-2e 2/3 0/3 6.B2b-3c 0/3 0/3 7.S3i-4h 1/4 0/3 8.R8b-4b 0/4 3/6 9.K5i-6h 2/6 0/6 10.S7a-7b 0/6 4/10 11.K6h-7h 0/6 0/10 12.P9c-9d 0/6 1/11 13.P5g-5f 20/26 0/11 14.G4a-5b 0/26 22/33 15.G4i-5h 10/36 0/33 16.S3a-3b 0/36 7/40 17.P9g-9f 23/59 0/40 18.K5a-6b 0/59 14/54 19.S4h-5g 1/60 0/54 20.P6c-6d 0/60 8/62 21.B8h-7g 9/69 0/62 22.P7c-7d 0/69 53/115 23.K7h-8h 1/70 0/115 24.N8a-7c 0/70 1/116 25.P6g-6f 0/70 0/116 26.P4d-4e 0/70 25/141 27.G5h-6g 19/89 0/141 28.S3b-4c 0/89 27/168 29.L9i-9h 44/133 0/168 Habu needs to win this game or the match is over, while Tanigawa would like to shut out the match as fast as possible. The importance of this game shows. Both players play very carefully in the opening, using a lot of time for a one day game. Habu decides to play the anaguma despite having pushed his edge pawn to 9f. This is a weakness that may cost black, so it is no wonder Habu took 44 minutes for the decision. 30.S4c-4d 0/133 33/201 One can not call this a bad move, but Tanigawa regretted that he had played it. He thought long about the variation 30.N8e B6h P6e K7h Px6f Sx6f P*6e Sx6e B9i+ P8f +Bx9h Px8e L*8g N*8h, but decided that it was too risky. However, after 30.S4d becomes a slow strategic battle. With less than two hours left on the clock and Habu having almost three hours, Tanigawa felt that slowing down the game was the wrong decision. 31.P3g-3f 25/158 0/201 32.P5c-5d 0/158 1/202 33.K8h-9i 39/197 0/202 34.K6b-7a 0/197 6/208 35.S7i-8h 0/197 0/208 36.G5b-6c 0/197 0/208 37.G6i-7h 39/236 0/208 38.K7a-8b 0/236 1/209 39.P1g-1f 1/237 0/209 40.P8c-8d 0/237 5/214 41.B7g-6h 7/244 0/214 42.P5d-5e 0/244 7/221 43.P5fx5e 0/244 0/221 44.S4dx5e 0/244 0/221 45.P*5f 0/244 0/221 46.S5e-4d 0/244 0/221 47.N2i-3g 0/244 0/221 48.R4b-4a 0/244 6/227 49.P4g-4f 3/247 0/227 50.P4ex4f 0/247 2/229 51.S5gx4f 0/247 0/229 52.P*4e 0/247 0/229 53.S4f-5g 0/247 0/229 54.S4d-5c 0/247 1/230 55.P2e-2d 3/250 0/230 56.B3cx2d 0/250 3/233 57.R2hx2d 0/250 0/233 58.P2cx2d 0/250 0/233 59.B*3b 0/250 0/233 60.R4a-3a 0/250 14/247 61.B3b-4c+ 0/250 0/247 62.R*4i 0/250 8/255 63.P7f-7e 1/251 0/255 64.R4ix1i+ 0/251 6/261 65.N3gx4e 6/257 0/261 66.S5c-5d 0/257 2/263 67.+B4c-4b 0/257 0/263 68.R3a-5a 0/257 0/263 It seems that black has gotten the advantage with the rook against bishop exchange and the following 59.B*3b which promoted the bishop. Also, white has not been able to develop the knight and lance on 1a and 2a and the dragon on 1i is on the king's diagonal and always in danger of being captured by a bishop check. Still, with the gold on 7h black's anaguma is not very strong and taking the rook on 5a would be too risky. Black has the better position, but the difference is very small, especially with both players having only about 40 minutes for the rest of the game. 69.P6f-6e? 19/276 0/263 Looks good, but is wrong. After 69.Px7d N8e B8f L*6b P7c+ Sx7c P*7i black's anaguma suddenly has become very strong. Habu thought he was in trouble here and decided that developing the silver on 5g was the only way to get back in the game. 70.S5dx6e 0/276 4/267 71.S5g-6f 5/281 0/267 72.L*7f? 0/281 14/281 It is a dangerous time for a player who, after being under pressure for a while, suddenly gets back the initiative. Mistakes often happen at this psychological turning point. Here Tanigawa could have played 72.Sx5f +Bx5a Sx6g+ +Bx7c Sx7c Gx6g B*7h N*7i +R6i, which is very good for white. It is unusual for Tanigawa to show his disappointment, but here it was clear that he would have liked to play this position again. 73.G6gx7f 0/281 0/281 74.S6ex7f 0/281 0/281 75.P7ex7d 0/281 0/281 76.G6cx7d 0/281 0/281 77.P*7e 1/282 0/281 78.G*6g 0/282 1/282 79.L*7i 1/283 0/282 80.G6gx7h 0/283 4/286 81.L7ix7h 0/283 0/286 82.P*7g 0/283 0/286 83.S6fx7g 4/287 0/286 84.S7fx7g+ 0/287 1/287 85.B6hx7g 0/287 0/287 86.G7dx7e 0/287 3/290 87.+B4bx6d 0/287 0/290 88.P*7f 0/287 0/290 89.B7gx1a+ 1/288 0/290 90.+R1ix8i 0/288 0/290 91.K9ix8i 0/288 0/290 92.G*7d 0/288 0/290 93.+B6dx7e! 1/289 0/290 Pressed for time, both players show their brilliant endgame skills. Tanigawa does everything to turn the tables, but Habu is in his perfect endgame mode. This horse sacrifice is the only move to win. 94.G7dx7e 0/289 0/290 95.S*6d 0/289 0/290 96.R5ax5f 0/289 1/291 97.S6dx7e 0/289 0/291 98.R5f-5i+ 0/289 0/291 99.P*7i 6/295 0/291 100.S*6g 0/295 0/291 101.G*7d 0/295 0/291 102.S6gx7h+ 0/295 0/291 103.K8ix7h 0/295 0/291 104.B*5f 0/295 0/291 105.P*6g 0/295 0/291 106.L*7g 0/295 1/292 107.S8hx7g! 0/295 0/292 This looks very dangerous, but after 107.K8i Bx7d Sx7d N*9g! Lx9g G*7h K9h Gx8h black is mated. 108.+R5i-5h 0/295 0/292 109.K7h-8i 0/295 0/292 110.B5fx7d 0/295 0/292 111.R*8h! 0/295 0/292 The game-winner. After the natural 111.S8h? N*7g Sx7g Px7g+ +Bx7g N8e black loses. 112.P7fx7g+ 0/295 0/292 113.R8hx5h 0/295 0/292 114.S*6h 0/295 0/292 115.+B1ax7g 0/295 0/292 116.S6hx7g+ 0/295 0/292 117.S7ex7d 0/295 0/292 118.G*8h 0/295 0/292 119.R5hx8h 0/295 0/292 120.+S7gx8h 0/295 0/292 121.K8ix8h 0/295 0/292 122.R*7e 0/295 0/292 123.B*6c 1/296 0/292 124.N*7f 0/296 1/293 125.K8h-8i 0/296 0/293 126.R7ex7d 0/296 2/295 127.L*8c 1/297 0/295 Resigns 0/297 0/295 Time: 04:57:00 04:55:00 Mate after 128.Kx8c Bx7d+ Kx7d S*7e Kx7e S*6f K7d L*7e K8c G*7d K9b G*8c etc. A long variation, but very straightforward. In this game Habu showed that he can still play a perfect endgame under pressure, something that we have not seen that much from him lately. He will need more of that to keep his Oza title, because he is still 2-1 down. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) Not much other things in Shukan Shogi this week, except for the Osho league that just started. With seven strong players fighting for only one challenger spot, it is very important to have a good start in this league. Sato could not have wished for a better start, since he beat Tanigawa in the first round. Somewhat surprising was the win of Nakahara over Maruyama. Maruyama lead the head-to-head 6-3 coming into this game and he is in good form, winning his last three. Still, it was Nakahara who won the game in uncharacteristic defensive style. Only the first round, but the osho challenger usually can only afford to drop one of his games. 2) The ladies beating the men at professional level is not shocking anymore, but this week's Shukan Shogi reports two women wins and that might be a first. Nakai beat Oshima in a television tournament and Shimizu beat Honma in the preliminary tournament of the Oi title. With a lot of young, strong talent, we might see the ladies getting further and further in the regular tournaments. Has the battle of the sexes begun? :-) That's all for this week, 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