From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 23 oct 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 760, October 21st 1998) The first game of the Ryu-O finished just a little too late for Shukan Shogi to have full comments, but they do have the moves. It looks like a very close game, where Tanigawa might have had chances to win. We will see what Shukan Shogi has to say next week. This week's commented game is the first game of the Shinjin-O match, the title for players under 30 and playing in Junisen classes B2 and lower. This year's best-of-three final is between two great young defenders: former Kisei Miura and Hatakeyama Naruyuki. It was interesting to see that the game was won by a strongly attacking Miura: Black: Miura, 6-dan White: Hatakeyama Naruyuki, 6-dan 29th Shinjin-O-sen, Game 1, October 13th 1998 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 An interesting match in the Shinjin-O this year between former Kisei Miura and Hatakeyama Naruyuki, one of the professional Hatakeyama twins. Both players are known for their defending style, so it was expected that this would be a long fight... 2.P8c-8d 0/0 0/0 3.S7i-6h 4/4 0/0 4.P3c-3d 0/4 0/0 5.P6g-6f 0/4 0/0 6.S7a-6b 0/4 0/0 7.P5g-5f 0/4 0/0 8.P5c-5d 0/4 0/0 9.S3i-4h 0/4 0/0 10.S3a-4b 0/4 1/1 11.G4i-5h 0/4 0/1 12.G4a-3b 0/4 0/1 13.G6i-7h 0/4 0/1 14.G6a-5b 0/4 2/3 15.K5i-6i 0/4 0/3 16.P4c-4d 0/4 2/5 17.S6h-7g 0/4 0/5 18.S4b-3c 0/4 0/5 19.B8h-7i 0/4 0/5 20.B2b-3a 0/4 1/6 21.P3g-3f 0/4 0/6 22.G5b-4c 0/4 2/8 23.S4h-3g 0/4 0/8 24.S6b-5c 0/4 16/24 25.G5h-6g 1/5 0/24 26.K5a-4a 0/5 2/26 27.P2g-2f 2/7 0/26 Miura surprises his opponent with choosing a rather old-fashioned variation in the Yagura opening. These days, this pawn push is usually postponed or not played at all. 28.B3a-4b 0/7 10/36 29.B7i-6h 6/13 0/36 30.K4a-3a 0/13 1/37 31.K6i-7i 3/16 0/37 32.K3a-2b 0/16 19/56 33.K7i-8h 4/20 0/56 34.P7c-7d 0/20 11/67 35.S3g-4f 4/24 0/67 36.S5c-6d 0/24 3/70 37.P1g-1f 3/27 0/70 38.N8a-7c 0/27 17/87 39.S7g-8f 1/28 0/87 40.P9c-9d 0/28 4/91 41.N2i-3g 38/66 0/91 42.S3c-2d 0/66 1/92 43.P1f-1e 7/73 0/92 Now we have a position that was played a lot about ten years ago. Both players were then still in the Shoreikai. Hatakeyama admitted that he had forgotten the details about this position. 44.R8b-7b 0/73 23/115 The alternative is 44.P9e. 45.P3f-3e 81/154 0/115 46.P3dx3e 0/154 2/117 47.S4fx3e 3/157 0/117 48.S2dx3e 0/157 56/173 The obvious 48.P*3f N2e P3g+ is not so clear. Black's attack is still strong, while white's rook is not doing much on 7b and might soon be attacked by a silver drop on 8c. After long thought, Hatakeyama decides that he can not win by only trying to stop black's attack. He needs to attack himself. 49.B6hx3e 1/158 0/173 50.P7d-7e 0/158 4/177 51.N3g-2e 48/206 0/177 52.S*2d 0/206 11/188 53.N2ex1c+!? 6/212 0/188 Very atypical for Miura's style. 53.B6h followed by P*3c Nx3c Nx1c+ is less violent and seems the more safe way to attack. However, Miura correctly judges that 53.B6h Px7f is a big problem. White threatens to win the silver with P8e, and the defense P*7d N8e only helps white's attack. Miura: "Retreating the bishop loses. I had to go for the all-out attack". 54.K2bx1c? 0/212 15/203 It seems like Hatakeyama was very confident about this move, but it is too risky. Better was 54.Lx1c B6h Px7f P2e S3c P*7d N8e P1d Lx1d Lx1d S7e and white has good attacking chances. 55.P1e-1d 18/230 0/203 56.K1c-2b 0/230 0/203 57.S*1c 0/230 0/203 58.K2b-3a 0/230 21/224 58.Nx1c looks better, but the situation is very complicated. 59.S1cx2d+ 0/230 0/224 60.P2cx2d 0/230 0/224 61.P2f-2e! 13/243 0/224 This is a great move by Miura. Hatakeyama expected 61.P1c+ Lx1c Lx1c+ Nx1c P*1d Px7f Px1c+ L*7g with good chances for white. 61.P2e looks very slow, but it is just fast enough. 62.P8d-8e 0/243 32/256 The natural 62.Px7f is no longer good, because of Px2d P*2b P1c+ Lx1c Lx1c+ Nx1c P2c+ Gx2c Rx2c+! and black wins. Also 62.S*3d Px2d Sx3e P2c+ P*2f P1c+ and white is in deep trouble. 63.S8f-7g 6/249 0/256 64.N7c-6e 0/249 6/262 A desperate attempt to get the attack going, but this loss of a knight is very big. 65.P6fx6e 3/252 0/262 66.S6dx6e 0/252 0/262 67.P2ex2d 16/268 0/262 68.P*2g 0/268 4/266 69.R2hx2g 0/268 0/266 70.P*2e 0/268 10/276 71.S*6a! 10/278 0/276 The finishing touch. If white plays 72.R6b followed by Rx6a, then black uses this time to give his attack decisive strength by P1c+ and P2c+. 72.R7b-7a 0/278 8/284 73.S6a-5b= 8/286 0/284 Now the game is also over quickly. 74.G4c-3d 0/286 2/286 75.R2g-3g 1/287 0/286 76.P7ex7f 0/287 13/299 77.P2d-2c+ 0/287 0/299 78.G3bx2c 0/287 0/299 79.B3ex4d 0/287 0/299 80.P7fx7g+ 0/287 0/299 81.N8ix7g 0/287 0/299 Resigns 0/287 0/299 Time: 04:47:00 04:59:00 The threat Rx3d has to be defended against (Rx3d Gx3d G*2b is mate), but after 82.P*3f Rx3f P*3e Bx7a+ Px3f R*4a K3b Nx6e white has no hope. A Tanigawa-like game by Miura, who is now only one win away from his first Shinjin-O title. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) Nakahara beat Nakamura in the Osho league to become the only player with a 2-0 score. Morishita is the only other undefeated player, but has played only one game so far. They will have to play next to decide the top position in the league. Yashiki kept his chance of becoming challenger of Habu by defeating Meijin Sato in a very long byoyomi endgame where Sato had a chance to win, but defended wrongly against a check. Both players now have a 1-1 score. 2) Shimizu won game three of the Ladies Oi match against Yauchi. She is now one game away from taking all four major Ladies' titles again. It looked that the game would end in sennichite, but Yauchi finally decided that she did not want that and that turned out to be her decisive mistake. 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