From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 11 aug 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 801, August 11th 1999) In game 3 of the Oi title match, the Yokofudori showed its dangerous pitfalls again. Habu chose one of the most violent variations I have ever seen in a title match. Despite the fact that he was the first to stumble, it was Tanigawa who made a couple of mistakes after that which turned his good position into a lost one. Here is the game with comments: Black: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Oi 40th Oi-sen, Game 3, August 5th and 6th 1999 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 2/2 3.P2g-2f 3/3 0/2 4.P8c-8d 0/3 3/5 5.P2f-2e 4/7 0/5 6.P8d-8e 0/7 4/9 7.G6i-7h 1/8 0/9 8.G4a-3b 0/8 3/12 9.P2e-2d 4/12 0/12 10.P2cx2d 0/12 1/13 11.R2hx2d 0/12 0/13 12.P8e-8f 0/12 6/19 13.P8gx8f 0/12 0/19 14.R8bx8f 0/12 0/19 15.R2dx3d 6/18 0/19 16.N2a-3c 0/18 3/22 For the third time this match the Yokofudori is played, but this time Habu selects the N3c variation instead of the B3c variation like in the previous two games. 17.K5i-5h 27/45 0/22 18.K5a-6b!? 0/45 12/34 It is unclear if Habu was aiming for the following complications. This looks like a dangerous move, but maybe he had studied it all at home. 19.P*8g! 44/89 0/34 Brave decision. It is almost impossible that Tanigawa has seen through all of the violent variations that can follow. Rather than backing off with 19.R3f, which would lead to a positional game, Tanigawa wants to see if Habu is bluffing. 20.R8fx7f 0/89 89/123 No choice but to go ahead. The move R8e comes to mind, considering the popularity of this move in the B3c variation, but in this case white has little chance of getting compensation for the lost pawn. 21.R3d-8d 74/163 0/123 22.P*8b 0/163 16/139 23.P*2c 56/219 0/139 Only 23 moves played and the board is on fire. Whoever wins, this was already expected to be a short game. "This looks like Russian roulette" (Fukuzaki, 8-dan). 24.G3bx2c 0/219 60/199 25.P*2d 12/231 0/199 26.N3c-4e 0/231 6/205 27.G7h-7g 2/233 0/205 28.B2bx7g+ 0/233 28/233 29.B8hx7g 6/239 0/233 30.G2c-2b? 0/239 53/286 This is not a position to waste time. Habu should have ignored the attack on the gold and play 30.Rx7g+ Nx7g B*7e B*6f Bx8d Bx8d R*8i B*8h G*7f and white seems to have good chances. 31.R8d-8e! 67/306 0/286 The problem. If white now plays 32.R2f then after 33.R4e Rx2i+ Rx4c+ black has the advantage, since he has taken a knight that took two moves to be developed, while white just took a sleeping knight on 2i. 32.G*7e 0/306 88/374 The only move. Habu will not have been happy during the 88 minutes he spent on this. 33.R8e-8d? 1/307 0/374 Played after only one minute, but the wrong move. Correct was 33.R9e and after 34.P7d like in the game, black has the strong 35.R9f, aiming at exchanging the rooks which is much better for black. It seems like Tanigawa completely overlooked this possibility. 34.P7c-7d! 0/307 1/375 Now the black rook is completely out of play. 35.B*3d 25/332 0/375 36.R7f-2f 0/332 26/401 37.B3dx4e 5/337 0/401 38.R2fx2i+ 0/337 0/401 39.P2d-2c+ 0/337 0/401 40.G2bx2c 0/337 0/401 41.B7gx1a+ 35/372 0/401 42.G2c-2b 0/372 0/401 Here it seemed Tanigawa was quite happy with his position. He has won a bishop and a lance for a gold and that convinced him that his position was better. However, the position is actually very difficult for black. His promoted bishop in 1a is very difficult to activate and he has no pawns in hand. Furthermore, N*7b is a serious threat that is not easy to deal with. 43.N*5e? 22/394 0/401 The wrong order of moves. After 43.L*7h N*7b N*5e the position is still very complex. For example G5b Lx7e Nx8d Lx7d P*7c Nx6c+ Gx6c G*6a and the position is unclear. In the post-mortem the best variation for both players seemed to lead to sennichite. 44.N*5a 0/394 19/420 45.L*7h 31/425 0/420 46.+R2i-2e! 0/425 17/437 Great defence. If 47.P4f G6e P5f P5d Bx5d Gx5e Px5e +Rx5e and white wins the bishop. 47.B4e-5f? 16/441 0/437 Tries to force the position, but at the cost of too much material. Black should have played 47.Nx6c+ Nx6c B3f +R6e P*2c to free the bishop. Then white still has some mountains to climb... 48.+R2ex5e 0/441 3/440 49.B5f-2c+ 12/453 0/440 50.+R5e-2e! 0/453 10/450 Ignores the material. Keeping the horse in its little prison on 1a is more important. 51.+B2c-4a 0/453 0/450 52.S3a-3b 0/453 4/454 53.+B4a-4b 5/458 0/454 54.G2b-2a 0/458 0/454 55.+B1a-8h 2/460 0/454 56.G6a-5b 0/460 0/454 57.+B4bx5b 4/464 0/454 58.K6bx5b 0/464 0/454 59.G*7b 0/464 0/454 If black would have had a pawn, things would have been very close after P*7b. Now that black has to use a full gold for the same attack, he has no chance to win. 60.B*9e 0/464 5/459 61.G7bx7a 5/469 0/459 62.B9ex8d 0/469 0/459 63.L7hx7e 2/471 0/459 64.B8dx7e 0/471 1/460 65.G7a-7b 1/472 0/460 66.L*4d 0/472 1/461 Resigns 0/472 0/461 Time: 07:52:00 07:41:00 Tanigawa resigns in a position that has no hope. He has no chance of any attack, while white's pieces will soon be marching in. With three straight losses this match is now virtually over, since no player has ever gotten back from 3-0 down. It is strange that Tanigawa, who was in great form just before the start of the match, is suddenly losing badly. He now has to aim to win one or two games to get his confidence back. In other Shogi news: ==================== 1) In the Oza title match the challenger final between Maruyama and Goda was played. Goda got this far for the third year in a row, losing both of the previous years. That he met Maruyama is no surprise. Maruyama looks these days like he has solved the game, scoring 15 straight wins since the start of the season. Goda's record was much less impressive with 8-7, so it was not much of a surprise that Maruyama won and extended his winning streak to 16. Goda did not lose without a fight, choosing a very strong looking attack with a couple of sacrifices. Even Maruyama had no faith that he could weather the storm, but he managed to find a tiny hole for his king to escape after Goda attacked one move too early. So, Maruyama will now appear in his first title match. Despite begin the same age as Oza Habu, there will be a vast difference in experience in the upcoming Oza match. 2) In the A class Junisen Maruyama just continued his winning ways by beating Nakahara. Both players had started well with a win in the first round, but Maruyama showed that he is the hot favourite for his first challenge for the Meijin title. He gave the impression that he had seen a lot more than Nakahara, which resulted in a very good win. Surprisingly, he is joined in the lead by Tanaka Torahiko, who won his second round game against Shima. Tanaka had the early lead in the middle game, but after a mistake in attack, he had to work very hard to keep out Shima's entering king. In the end he just managed to do that and won in 151 moves. In a tough class like this a good start is vital and Tanaka now has a real chance to avoid relegation this year. (Or maybe even become Meijin challenger!) 3) Finally, there was some good news for Tanigawa. He advanced to the best sixteen in the Kio challenger tournament by beating Mori Keiji. In a double anaguma he showed some nice attacking to end his losing streak after five games. He will face Kobayashi Kenji next for a place in the quarterfinals. Other games in the best sixteen: Fujii-Tamaru, Sato Shuji-Morishita, Moriuchi-Tanaka Torahiko/Kato Hifumi, Shima-Nakamura, Inoue-Minami, Goda-Nakagawa, Maruyama-Sato Yasumitsu. No less than nine players from the A-class are still in the tournament. Only Nakahara lost against Nakagawa. Looks like another strong challenge to Habu's Kio title. 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