From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 8 apr 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 783, April 7th 1999) No Meijin title match game yet in Shukan Shogi this week. There is an interesting match that started last week, though. Maruyama and Moriuchi meet in the best-of-five final of the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament. This match is interesting since it is Maruyama's first appearance in a final for a tournament where all professionals play (he was winner of the Shinjin-O title twice, a tournament where only professionals under 30 are allowed to play). He is an A-class professional, and does well almost all year, but has thus far never been able to get to a title match. Even though the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament is not a title match, it is a very prestigious title. The first game was not much of a fight with Maruyama blowing away Moriuchi almost straight from the opening. Here is the game with comments: Black: Maruyama, 8-dan White: Moriuchi, 8-dan 17th Zen Nihon Pro Tournament, Game 1, April 1st 1999 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 0/0 3.P2g-2f 0/0 0/0 4.P4c-4d 0/0 0/0 5.P2f-2e 0/0 0/0 6.B2b-3c 0/0 0/0 7.S3i-4h 0/0 0/0 8.P9c-9d 0/0 0/0 9.K5i-6h 2/2 0/0 10.R8b-4b 0/2 0/0 The Zen Nihon Pro Tournament promises to be a good match between young stars Moriuchi and Maruyama. Until this game, they met 11 times with Moriuchi the winner in 6 games. Very close indeed. Both players usually play Ibisha, but in their last meeting (last year August in the A class Junisen), Moriuchi played Furibisha with white and won. Therefore, Moriuchi choosing the same strategy here was not a big surprise. 11.K6h-7h 0/2 0/0 12.S7a-7b 0/2 0/0 13.P5g-5f 0/2 0/0 14.S3a-3b 0/2 0/0 15.G4i-5h 0/2 0/0 16.P9d-9e 0/2 0/0 17.S4h-5g 0/2 0/0 18.S3b-4c 0/2 1/1 19.P3g-3f 1/3 0/1 20.K5a-6b 0/3 0/1 21.B8h-7g 0/3 0/1 22.K6b-7a 0/3 0/1 23.K7h-8h 0/3 0/1 24.K7a-8b 0/3 0/1 25.P1g-1f 2/5 0/1 26.P1c-1d 0/5 4/5 27.L9i-9h 0/5 0/5 28.R4b-2b 0/5 11/16 This loss of tempo is a little unusual. Moriuchi did not play the Fujii System against Maruyama's Anaguma, but instead switches from Shikenbisha (Fourth File Rook) to Mukaibisha (Opposing Rook) with the intention to open the game early before Maruyama can complete his Anaguma. 29.K8h-9i 19/24 0/16 30.G4a-3b 0/24 8/24 31.S7i-8h 19/43 0/24 32.P2c-2d 0/43 1/25 33.P2ex2d 1/44 0/25 34.B3cx2d 0/44 0/25 35.P4g-4f 1/45 0/25 36.B2d-4b 0/45 9/34 This move shows that Moriuchi's choice of opening strategy might be suspect. After 36.B4b Maruyama gets the better position. However, 36.B3c P*2e or 36.B5a N3g N3c ("It is hard to use the bishop so this is not interesting" [Moriuchi]) are also not very appealing. 37.P*2c 12/57 0/34 38.R2bx2c 0/57 5/39 39.R2hx2c+ 0/57 0/39 40.G3bx2c 0/57 0/39 Now the left gold and silver are out of position. This is not an easy position for white to play. 41.P4f-4e 0/57 0/39 42.R*4i 0/57 14/53 43.G6i-7i 34/91 0/53 44.S4c-3b 0/91 47/100 45.N2i-3g 31/122 0/100 46.R4ix1i+ 0/122 18/118 47.P4ex4d 0/122 0/118 48.+R1i-2h 0/122 0/118 49.G5h-6h 18/140 0/118 50.G2c-2b 0/140 0/118 51.R*2e 17/157 0/118 52.+R2hx2e 0/157 1/119 53.N3gx2e 0/157 0/119 54.R*2c 0/157 2/121 So far everything went as expected in the press room. White has taken a lance, but having to drop back his rook in defence to keep his position together shows that black has more than enough compensation. 55.R*4i!? 1/158 0/121 In the press room only P*2f P*2d was analysed. The move picked by Maruyama seems stronger. 56.P*4f? 0/158 10/131 The right move here was 56.G5b. This is a hard move to play, since the gold moves to a very awkward position. However, after 57.P4c+ Sx4c Rx4c+ Gx4c P*4d Gx4d Bx4d R*4i black surprisingly has no good continuation. 57.R4ix4f 6/164 0/131 58.B4b-2d 0/164 1/132 59.R4f-4i 2/166 0/132 60.L*4a 0/166 3/135 61.S5g-4f 5/171 0/135 62.P*4c? 0/171 15/150 The losing move. The only way to stay in the game was 62.P*4e Sx4e Bx6h+ Gx6h Rx2e, which weakens the black castle, exchanges two pieces for one and frees the white rook. It is unclear white Moriuchi did not choose this relative simple variation. 63.P4dx4c+ 4/175 0/150 64.S3bx4c 0/175 0/150 65.P*4d 0/175 0/150 66.S4c-5d 0/175 1/151 White would like to take with 66.Sx4d, but after 67.P*4c! white's position collapses (e.g. 68.Bx4f Bx4d). 67.P3f-3e 0/175 0/151 68.B2d-5a 0/175 11/162 No choice. 68.Px3e R3h is too easy for black. 69.P*2f 0/175 0/162 70.P*2d 0/175 2/164 71.P6g-6f! 0/175 0/164 Subtle. 71.S4e is also good for black, but 71.P6f is taking no chances. The threat to win the silver with P5e is very hard to deal with. 72.P6d P5e S5d-6c S4e wins smoothly. Moriuchi instead tries a desperate sacrifice. 72.L4ax4d 0/175 6/170 73.P*4e 0/175 0/170 74.L4dx4e 0/175 5/175 75.S4fx4e 0/175 0/175 76.S5dx4e 0/175 0/175 77.R4ix4e 0/175 0/175 78.P*4c 0/175 0/175 79.P3ex3d 0/175 0/175 80.P2dx2e 0/175 0/175 81.P2fx2e 0/175 0/175 82.G2b-3b 0/175 1/176 83.G6h-7h 0/175 0/176 It almost seems like Maruyama is making a point here. In an overwhelming position he takes the time to finish his Anaguma. The huge difference in king position kills Moriuchi's will to fight. 84.S*4d 0/175 1/177 85.R4e-6e 2/177 0/177 86.N*4e 0/177 2/179 87.B7g-8f 0/177 0/179 88.R2cx2e 0/177 0/179 89.P*4f 0/177 0/179 Resigns 0/177 0/179 Time: 02:57:00 02:59:00 After R2i+ Px4e S3e Bx5c+ everything falls apart. Moriuchi resigns before the endgame has even started. A painful loss for him, but still it only counts as one game. However, since the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament is a short match of only five games, he needs to take the next game with black. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) In the Kisei tournament the two remaining quarterfinals were played. The most interesting one was the game between Meijin Sato and Tanigawa, just one week before the Meijin match between these two. The game showed that we have a real fight to look forward to in the Meijin match. A Yokofudori game with the recently very popular R8e variation. A difficult game where Tanigawa seemed to be better all the time. Tanigawa showed that he is in great form and ended the game with a nice bishop sacrifice followed by a very nice looking decisive attack. The other quarterfinal was between two Lifetime Kisei title holders: Habu and Nakahara. Here the young Lifetime title holder prevailed, bringing Habu one step closer to a fifth crown. With Tanigawa to play next, and the winner of the game between Moriuchi and Namekata after that, the road to a new title is still long. 2) An epic battle for the Quick Shogi championship of Tokyo Television, one of the two major television tournaments (the other one is the NHK tournament). Moriuchi played the surprise of the tournament Tosa. Tosa has been a professional for 23 years and has never won anything. He is well-known for his quickplay strength, but even though he qualified for the main tournament in the last three years, it was only his seventh appearance in this tournament. His record in this tournament was impressive, beating Morishita, Inoue, Yonenaga and Tanigawa on his way to the final. It would be a waste of a lifetime opportunity if he would not try everything to win the final and that is how he played. The first game ended in Jishogi after 201 moves! That is 141 moves in byoyomi. After a ten minute break the second game was played with only 30 seconds byoyomi. In this game 44 year old Tosa showed that he had more stamina and backbone than his 28 year old opponent. Another big fight that lasted 179 moves before Tosa finally emerged the winner. Moriuchi had several opportunities in both games and will be kicking himself. In the end it seemed that the will to win was what helped Tosa to refuse to throw the towel and get his first professional title. 3) Kisei Goda is the first player to qualify for the challenger knock-out of the 12th Ryu-O tournament. By beating Yonenaga in the semifinals of group 2 of the preliminary rounds, he took one of the two spots reserved for players from this group. He had to work hard for it though, with veteran Yonenaga coming very close to victory. 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