From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 16 jul 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 797, July 14th 1999) Goda was not able to turn things around in the third games of the Kisei match and lost in only 73 moves. This means that Tanigawa takes the Kisei title in straight games. It is pity that Goda is in a major slump these days, making this match another "might-have-been". Hopefully, we can get more fireworks from the Oi match between Habu and Tanigawa. Here is how Tanigawa ended the Kisei match in his favour: Black: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger White: Goda Masataka, Kisei 70th Kisei-sen, Game 3, July 7th 1999 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/1 3/3 3.P2g-2f 2/3 0/3 4.G4a-3b 0/3 2/5 5.G6i-7h 0/3 0/5 6.P8d-8e 0/3 0/5 7.B8h-7g 0/3 0/5 8.P3c-3d 0/3 0/5 9.S7i-8h 0/3 0/5 10.B2bx7g+ 0/3 2/7 11.S8hx7g 0/3 0/7 The Kakugawari opening is no surprise. Tanigawa picks his favourite opening to try and take the Kisei title in straight games. 12.S3a-2b 0/3 0/7 13.S3i-3h 5/8 0/7 14.S7a-7b 0/8 0/7 15.P9g-9f 1/9 0/7 16.K5a-4b 0/9 19/26 17.P4g-4f 12/21 0/26 18.S7b-8c 0/21 2/28 19.S3h-4g 7/28 0/28 20.S8c-8d 0/28 0/28 Goda likes to play the Bogin against the Kakugawari, but at professional level, this strategy does not seem to have enough power for a direct attack and the silver is often pulled back to 7c later in the game. This game shows the problems of playing this strategy. 21.P6g-6f 13/41 0/28 22.P9c-9d 0/41 1/29 23.G4i-5h 9/50 0/29 24.S2b-3c 0/50 1/30 25.P3g-3f 7/57 0/30 26.G6a-5b 0/57 20/50 27.N2i-3g 11/68 0/50 28.P4c-4d 0/68 24/74 29.K5i-6h 15/83 0/74 30.P7c-7d 0/83 1/75 31.R2h-4h 27/110 0/75 32.K4b-3a 0/110 74/149 33.P4f-4e! 12/122 0/149 Positive play by Tanigawa. The silver on 8d is still not doing anything and the P4e-attack is more powerful than it looks. The rook on 4h is still blocked by the silver, but will work nicely soon. Alternatives are S5f or P2e, but P4e seems like a better idea. 34.P4dx4e 0/122 28/177 35.N3gx4e 1/123 0/177 36.S3c-4d 0/123 0/177 37.S4g-4f 1/124 0/177 38.P7d-7e 0/124 29/206 39.P3f-3e 23/147 0/206 40.B*2g 0/147 17/223 Goda knows his attack is slower, so this move is almost forced. 41.P3ex3d 40/187 0/223 42.P*4g 0/187 10/233 43.G5hx4g?! 3/190 0/233 A small mistake that gives Goda chances. Better would have been 43.Rx4g B3f+ P3c+ and black's attack looks very strong. 44.P7ex7f 0/190 1/234 45.S7gx7f 0/190 0/234 46.S4dx4e 0/190 2/236 Taking this important knight looks good for white. 47.B*5e!? 34/224 0/236 48.N*6d 0/224 13/249 This looks like a very good defense. Black can not take the lance on 1a because of Nx7f. However, Tanigawa has looked deeper... 49.S7f-6g 1/225 0/249 50.S4ex4f 0/225 0/249 51.B5ex1a+! 3/228 0/249 Good move. Tanigawa sacrifices a lot of material for a very dangerous attack. 52.S4fx4g+ 0/228 25/274 53.R4hx4g 0/228 0/274 54.B2g-3f+ 0/228 0/274 55.+B1ax2a 4/232 0/274 56.K3ax2a 0/232 0/274 57.R4g-4a+ 0/232 0/274 58.P*3a? 0/232 7/281 Here Goda thought he could survive the next attack, but he overlooked a simple variation. If he would have seen it, he would have played 58.G*3a +R7a S*6i L*3c N*7f! and white still has fighting chances. 59.N*3c 10/242 0/281 60.K2a-2b 0/242 3/284 61.S*2a 0/242 0/284 62.P1c-1d 0/242 6/290 Goda had counted on 62.Gx3c +Rx5b P3b! (Rx5b G*1b mate) and there is no good continuation of the black attack, while N*7f is a mating threat. Goda overlooked that after 62.Gx3c, the simple Px3c+ Kx3c +Rx3a loses the promoted bishop on 3f. 63.+R4ax5b 3/245 0/290 64.K2b-1c 0/245 9/299 65.+R5bx8b 0/245 0/299 66.+B3fx2f 0/245 0/299 Here Goda might as well have resigned. He decided to hold on to his Kisei title a couple of minutes more. 67.L*2i 2/247 0/299 68.G*6i 0/247 0/299 69.K6hx6i 1/248 0/299 70.B*4g 0/248 0/299 71.K6i-7i 0/248 0/299 72.B4gx2i+ 0/248 0/299 73.G*1f 0/248 0/299 Resigns 0/248 0/299 Time: 04:08:00 04:59:00 This ends all hopes of escaping up the board. After only 73 moves the Kisei title changes hands. After 8 months without a title, Tanigawa wins his fourth Kisei title (the last one he won in 1992). Unfortunately, this Kisei match was a one-sided affair, matching a challenger in great form against a struggling titleholder. A little disappointing, but it is good to see Tanigawa back among the title holders. In other Shogi news: ==================== 1) In the Oza challenger tournament the semi-final between Meijin Sato and Maruyama was played. The first game ended in sennichite, with Sato uses more than one and a half hours more than his opponent. This turned out to be vital in the replay, because Maruyama had to find a very subtle winning path to cash in on his good position. Maruyama is now one win from his first title match challenge, awaiting the winner of the other semifinal between Goda and Nakahara. With a perfect record in the 1999-2000 season (11 wins), he must be considered the favourite against either player. 2) Kinoshita is having a great run in the Ryu-O tournament this year. Winning group 5 was already a big surprise, but he continued his winning ways in the challenger tournament by beating Sato Shinya. Sato is a very talented young player, who in my opinion can be a title holder one day. In this game he seemed to overwhelm his opponent early. Kinoshita at one time even thought: "If he plays B4b+, I will resign". However, Sato played it differently and got in big trouble. He was not able to dig himself out of the hole and Kinoshita will now play Inoue next. 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