From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 27 jul 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 799, July 28th 1999) Habu may have gone into the Oi match without a win in three months, after his quick 73-move win in game 2 of the Oi match he looks well on his way to his seventh consecutive Oi title. In game 2 a single mistake in the dangerous R8e Yokofudori opening was enough to destroy Tanigawa's position without a chance of getting back into the game. Here is how it went: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Oi White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger 40th Oi-sen, Game 2, July 22nd and 23rd 1999 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/1 4/4 3.P2g-2f 1/2 0/4 4.P8c-8d 0/2 1/5 5.P2f-2e 7/9 0/5 6.P8d-8e 0/9 0/5 7.G6i-7h 2/11 0/5 8.G4a-3b 0/11 0/5 9.P2e-2d 9/20 0/5 10.P2cx2d 0/20 0/5 11.R2hx2d 0/20 0/5 12.P8e-8f 0/20 3/8 13.P8gx8f 2/22 0/8 14.R8bx8f 0/22 0/8 15.R2dx3d 6/28 0/8 16.B2b-3c 0/28 1/9 17.R3d-3f 27/55 0/9 18.S3a-2b 0/55 7/16 19.P*8g 10/65 0/16 20.R8f-8e 0/65 5/21 21.R3f-2f 2/67 0/21 22.K5a-4a 0/67 8/29 23.K5i-5h 22/89 0/29 Recently, the main debate about the best way for black to fight the R8e Yokofudori is about the placement of the king. In game 1 Tanigawa chose K6h, while Habu selects K5h here. The difference is very subtle. 24.S7a-6b 0/89 14/43 25.S3i-3h 1/90 0/43 26.G6a-5a 0/90 7/50 27.P3g-3f 7/97 0/50 28.P7c-7d 0/97 51/101 29.N2i-3g 42/139 0/101 30.N8a-7c 0/139 9/110 31.G4i-4h 27/166 0/110 There are more game examples with the S4h-G3h shape, which somehow seems more natural. However, whether it is really better than G4h-S3h played here is hard to say. Maybe it is just a question of taste. 32.P*8f 0/166 54/164 33.P8gx8f 56/222 0/164 34.R8ex8f 0/222 0/164 35.P3f-3e 1/223 0/164 36.P*2e 0/223 40/204 37.R2f-2i 14/237 0/204 38.B3cx8h+ 0/237 20/224 This was the last move of the first day. Only 38 moves, but both players have finished the development of their pieces. In the press room it was expected that the fighting would soon commence. 39.S7ix8h 5/242 0/224 40.B*4d?! 0/242 58/282 Probably a change of plan. Habu expected 40.Rx7f S7g R2f and if now S*2g, then Rx2g+ Rx2g S*2f R2i P*3f N4e P3g+ G4i B*3f is very good for white. However, if black plays P*2g after R2f, then R3f B*4e Rx3e P*3f Rx4e Nx4e and it is hard for white to find a good continuation. It is almost never good to have to change the plan, but in this case it is not a big problem. 41.S8h-7g 55/297 0/282 42.R8f-8e 0/297 2/284 43.S7g-6f 2/299 0/284 44.P*8h? 0/299 45/329 A big mistake that suddenly ends the game. Tanigawa overlooks a very important black counter that leaves him virtually defenceless. Necessary was 44.P2f and then after 45.N7g R8f P7e N8e P*8g Nx7g+ Sx7g R8e white has managed to exchange the knight and there is still everything to play for. 45.N8i-7g 21/320 0/329 46.R8e-8f 0/320 0/329 47.P7f-7e 39/359 0/329 48.P8h-8i+ 0/359 3/332 49.B*9e! 6/365 0/332 The move Tanigawa missed. He was counting on 49.P*8g which is alright for white. However, 49.B*9e is much stronger. For example, 50.+P8h Bx8f +Px7h Px7d +Px7g Bx7g N8e B9e and P7c+ next is very fast. Or 50.R8c Px7d P9d Px7c+ Sx7c N*7e R9c N8e and black wins. 50.R8f-7f 0/365 52/384 51.R2ix8i 21/386 0/384 Very painful. White has to give up the promoted pawn that took two moves to make, while black at the same time threatens to promote the rook. From now on white can only pray for a miracle. 52.P9c-9d 0/386 0/384 53.B9e-8d 12/398 0/384 54.S2b-2c 0/398 5/389 55.G7h-8g 10/408 0/389 56.R7fx6f 0/408 19/408 57.P6gx6f 0/408 0/408 58.S*7h 0/408 0/408 A desperate attempt. 59.P7ex7d! 4/412 0/408 Simple is best. Black's attack is much more powerful than the white one. 60.S7hx8i= 0/412 1/409 61.P7dx7c+ 0/412 0/409 62.R*7h 0/412 14/423 63.N*6h 1/413 0/423 64.R7h-7i+ 0/413 0/423 65.+P7cx6b 0/413 0/423 66.S8i-7h+ 0/413 0/423 67.+P6bx5a 0/413 0/423 68.K4a-3a 0/413 0/423 69.G*5i 3/416 0/423 Now it is clear that black is completely safe and white has no defence. 70.+S7hx7g 0/416 0/423 71.G8gx7g 0/416 0/423 72.+R7ix7g 0/416 0/423 73.P*2d 1/417 0/423 Resigns 0/417 0/423 Time: 06:57:00 07:03:00 A complete defeat for Tanigawa, but only one move was the culprit, so it is hard to judge the level of play of both players. Will Tanigawa be able to fight back like he did in the Meijin title match? In other Shogi news: ==================== a) C1 was the last Junisen class where the second round still needed to be played. There are now still eight players with two wins. Among them promotion favourites like Suzuki, Kanzaki and Kubo, but also the oldest player in the class, Sakurai (58), who scored a very good win against Ishikawa. Namekata, another promotion favourite, did not have to play in the first round and is also undefeated after beating Murooka in a violent game. Just as interesting are the players with two losses. Strangely enough we again find Yashiki in the group without much hope of promotion. Losing against Kubo is perhaps not a major upset, but it will probably mean that Yashiki will have to stay in C1 for the another year, which would be his 11th. C1 is indeed a tough class to escape from. Okazaki, also with two losses, even has to worry about dropping out of the class he promoted to only two years ago. This time he lost in only 50 moves against Kobayashi Hiroshi. After all the struggling to get out of C2, relegation would be a real blow to Okazaki. b) Finally, revenge for Inoue in the Ryu-O tournament! He played Kinoshita, who he had played only one time before, ten years ago in the final round of the C2 class. In that game Inoue lost, and with that loss went his chances to promote to C1. After that everything still ended up alright, since Inoue climbed as high as the A-class, while Kinoshita is still in C2. However, it was clear that Inoue did not want to give Kinoshita another opportunity to spoil his ambitions. The game gave the impression that it was a little too difficult for the players. It was unclear who was better for a long period and there were oversights by both players. In the end it was Kinoshita who made the final mistake. He has had a great run in the Ryu-O tournament, but had to bow out. Inoue advances to a quarterfinal encounter with Meijin Sato. 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