From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 10 sep 1998 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 754, September 9th 1998) Back on schedule with Shukan Shogi no 754. This issue naturally opens with the victory of Habu in game 6 of the Oi title match against Sato, winning the match 4-2. This is Habu's sixth consecutive Oi title and he seemed very happy about winning it against one of his greatest rivals. It might also have to do with the close fight in the final game. Sato had the better position for most of the time, but in the end two mistakes and Habu's perfect endgame made the difference. Here is the game with some comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Oi White: Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger 39th Oi-sen, Game 6, September 3rd and 4th 1998 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/1 5/5 3.S7i-6h 2/3 0/5 4.P3c-3d 0/3 0/5 5.P6g-6f 1/4 0/5 6.S7a-6b 0/4 1/6 7.P5g-5f 3/7 0/6 8.P5c-5d 0/7 7/13 9.S3i-4h 4/11 0/13 10.S3a-4b 0/11 0/13 11.G4i-5h 10/21 0/13 12.G4a-3b 0/21 9/22 13.G6i-7h 3/24 0/22 14.K5a-4a 0/24 0/22 15.K5i-6i 1/25 0/22 As in game 7 of the Meijin match, this game is going to be a Yagura. There are not many top players who are very confident in this opening with white, but Sato has been the leading Yagura expert since his professional debut. 16.G6a-5b 0/25 8/30 17.S6h-7g 5/30 0/30 18.S4b-3c 0/30 1/31 19.B8h-7i 1/31 0/31 20.B2b-3a 0/31 0/31 21.P3g-3f 30/61 0/31 22.P4c-4d 0/61 4/35 23.G5h-6g 3/64 0/35 24.P7c-7d 0/64 1/36 25.S4h-3g 2/66 0/36 26.B3a-6d 0/66 41/77 27.B7i-6h 5/71 0/77 28.G5b-4c 0/71 1/78 29.K6i-7i 3/74 0/78 30.K4a-3a 0/74 0/78 31.K7i-8h 0/74 0/78 32.P9c-9d 0/74 9/87 33.S3g-4f 38/112 0/87 34.S6b-5c 0/112 50/137 35.N2i-3g 2/114 0/137 36.B6d-7c 0/114 30/167 37.P1g-1f 13/127 0/167 38.P1c-1d 0/127 1/168 39.P2g-2f 1/128 0/168 40.S3c-2d 0/128 1/169 41.L1i-1h 50/178 0/169 42.P9d-9e 0/178 32/201 43.R2h-3h 3/181 0/201 44.S5c-4b 0/181 22/223 This is a new move. In the Meijin match Sato played the normal K2b and went on to win game 7 and the title. 44.S4b might be an improvement, since black wants to attack on the third file. 45.N3g-2e 37/218 0/223 46.N8a-9c 0/218 14/237 47.P5f-5e 33/251 0/237 48.N9c-8e 0/251 56/293 49.S7g-8f 5/256 0/293 50.P5dx5e 0/256 2/295 51.P1f-1e 8/264 0/295 52.P1dx1e 0/264 3/298 53.P3f-3e 0/264 0/298 54.P3dx3e 0/264 6/304 55.S4fx3e 6/270 0/304 56.S2dx3e 0/270 5/309 57.B6hx3e 0/270 0/309 58.P*3d 0/270 4/313 59.B3e-6h?! 10/280 0/313 Habu regretted this move and said 59.B7i would have been better. The difference will become clear soon. 60.P5e-5f 0/280 10/323 61.P*1c 49/329 0/323 62.N2a-3c! 0/329 18/341 Normally this would be a very risky move, losing time to exchange a defensive knight for an attacking knight which usually favours the attacking side. Sato has calculated accurately that he can use the knight for a very strong counter attack. 63.L1hx1e 49/378 0/341 64.N3cx2e 0/378 12/353 65.P2fx2e 1/379 0/353 66.N*5e 0/379 3/356 67.P1c-1b+ 5/384 0/356 68.N5ex6g+ 0/384 35/391 69.G7hx6g 0/384 0/391 70.S*5g 0/384 0/391 This is why Habu regretted playing the bishop to 6h. With the bishop on 7i this attack would have been harmless. Now white seems to have the advantage. 71.G6gx5g 26/410 0/391 72.P5fx5g+ 0/410 0/391 73.B6hx5g 0/410 0/391 74.P*5f 0/410 15/406 75.B5g-1c+ 16/426 0/406 76.K3a-4a 0/426 0/406 77.S*7a? 23/449 0/406 The wrong move order. 77.N*6e was the correct move. Again, this will become clear later. 78.R8b-9b! 0/449 55/461 79.N*6e 9/458 0/461 80.L1ax1b! 0/458 3/464 Great play by Sato. Black has to take this lance and that cuts off the horse from the defense. The point of the previous 78.R9b is that if white would have played 78.R7b then 79.N*6e Lx1b would not have been possible because Nx7c+ takes the bishop and attacks the rook. In the game Nx7c+ is not attacking anything, so white can take the bishop on 1c. Now it is also clear why Habu should have played N*6e first. In that case, white could not play Lx1b, since Nx7c+ would again attack the rook. 81.+B1cx1b 5/463 0/464 82.B7c-6d! 0/463 1/465 Three difficult choices in a row, but Sato plays it perfectly. 82.B5e is tempting, since white can play Bx6f next, but on 6d the bishop works both in attack and defense. It defends the vital square 5c and can help in attack by a sacrifice against the silver on 8f. White now has a clear advantage. 83.S*8c 9/472 0/465 Painful move, since this silver might never work again. Habu realises that his position is bad and tries everything to force a mistake by Sato. 84.R9b-5b? 0/472 10/475 Success at the first try. Sato could have won here by playing 84.G*6g, which threatens Bx8f followed by S*7g and mate. If black plays 85.Sx8e Px8e Sx9b+ then P5g+ is a winning mating threat (S*7i Kx7i G*7h etc.). Best for black would be 84.G*6g L*7i, but then R5b is much better than in the game, since black has no attack without the lance. Now the endgame becomes very close. 85.P*5c 0/472 0/475 86.S4bx5c 0/472 0/475 87.N6ex5c+ 2/474 0/475 88.B6dx5c 0/474 1/476 89.L*5e 0/474 0/476 90.N*6d 0/474 1/477 91.S*6a 2/476 0/477 92.N6dx7f 0/476 0/477 93.K8h-9h 0/476 0/477 94.P5f-5g+? 0/476 2/479 Sato uses his last two minutes before byoyomi to calculate that black is not threatening mate. By threatening mate himself (G*8h Rx8h Nx8h+ Kx8h G*7h etc.), he thought he would be winning. Unfortunately there is a hole in his calculation. If he would have realised that he might still have won after the correct 94.R5a, although the variations are very complicated. Black has to make mating threats, or P5g+ wins. For example, 95.Lx5c+ Rx5c is not good enough, since black has no continuation. Also, 95.S6b= Bx6b Lx5a+ Kx5a does not seem to be winning for black. For example R*5b (S6a-7b+ B5c and black has no follow-up) Kx6a Rx3b+ G*8h Rx8h Nx8h+ Kx8h S*7i Kx7i L*7f leads to a long mate (if black interposes at 7h then G*6h Kx6h S*5g K7i Lx7h+ Kx7h R*5h leads to mate and if black interposes at 7g then R*5i S*6i S*6h K8h Lx7g+ leads to mate). These are very complicated variations, and it would have been difficult for Sato to find them in byoyomi. Still, after 94.P5g+, white loses quickly. 95.S6ax5b= 0/476 0/479 96.K4ax5b 0/476 0/479 97.S7a-6b+ 0/476 0/479 98.K5b-4b 0/476 0/479 No choice, 98.Kx6b does not lead to mate, but after 99.R*8b K5a Lx5c= Gx5c B*7c K4a N*3c Gx3c R8a+ K4b B5a+ K4c +Bx3c Kx3c +R3a K4c +B2a K5b +Bx7f white loses the vital knight at 7f. 99.R*5b 0/476 0/479 100.K4b-3c 0/476 0/479 101.+B1b-1a 0/476 0/479 102.S*2b 0/476 0/479 If white drops a gold on 2b, there is no mate for black, but also no mate for white. Sato chooses to keep his mating threat, but unfortunately for him, he is mated himself. 103.+B1ax2b 0/476 0/479 104.G3bx2b 0/476 0/479 105.R5bx2b+ 0/476 0/479 106.K3cx2b 0/476 0/479 107.N*1d 0/476 0/479 Resigns 0/476 0/479 Time: 07:56:00 07:59:00 A very close game that Habu was lucky to win. Habu successfully defends his Oi title, winning it for the sixth time in a row. Sato will be disappointed to lose a match against Habu for the third time in a row. Other Shogi news: ================= 1) As Noda-san already reported earlier, it was a good week for Habu since he also won the first game of the challenger match of the Ryu-O against Fujii. A great silver sacrifice on the head of a pawn made the difference. 2) Izuka is nicknamed the "Kio Devil" in Shukan Shogi for saving his best shogi for this tournament. This time he managed to reach the quarterfinals for the third year in a row. He beat Nakata Hiroki after Nakata sacrificed a bishop for a silver and making a tokin at the same time. It looked like he had enough compensation but it soon turned out that the tokin was not working and the bishop was very strong. Izuka is the second player in the quarter-final after Maruyama. 3) In the Osho tournament, Yashiki and Morishita qualified for the Osho league. Yashiki beat Goda in their first meeting since Yashiki suffered a clear 3-0 defeat in the Kisei match. It was a good game, where Yashiki needed some Ninja endgame play to secure victory. Morishita and Takahashi followed the 6th game of the Oi-sen for 62 moves. A very strange coincidence, since both games were played on the same day. Was 44.S4b really a new move, or had it already been tried in training games? Anyway, Morishita got a better result than Sato and won with the white pieces. 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