From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 25 jun 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 794, June 23rd 1999) It does not happen often, but sometimes one wishes that matches would be longer than seven games. This year's Meijin match was such an example. After devastating losses for challenger Tanigawa in game 1 and 2, Sato seemed to be cruising to his second Meijin title. However, from game 3 we saw a completely different Tanigawa, winning three games in a row in great style. This time it was Sato to show his mental strength and he managed to do that. With two great battles in game six and seven, both won by the Meijin this match ended in great fashion. Here is the final game with comments: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Meijin White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger 57th Meijin-sen, Game 7, June 16th and 17th 1999 1.P7g-7f 2/2 0/0 I wonder how Sato felt about the result of the furigoma. Black seems to be an advantage for him, but in the final game of the Meijin tournament last year, he won with white. Would it be the other way around this time? 2.P3c-3d 0/2 4/4 3.P2g-2f 4/6 0/4 4.P8c-8d 0/6 9/13 5.P2f-2e 2/8 0/13 6.P8d-8e 0/8 0/13 7.G6i-7h 0/8 0/13 8.G4a-3b 0/8 0/13 9.P2e-2d 0/8 0/13 10.P2cx2d 0/8 0/13 11.R2hx2d 0/8 0/13 12.P8e-8f 0/8 3/16 13.P8gx8f 0/8 0/16 14.R8bx8f 0/8 0/16 15.R2dx3d 0/8 0/16 16.B2b-3c 0/8 1/17 17.R3d-3f 59/67 0/17 18.S3a-2b 0/67 3/20 19.P*8g 11/78 0/20 20.R8f-8e 0/78 1/21 Tanigawa decides to play the popular R8e Yokofudori again. He also chose that opening in game 2, which he lost. More importantly, however, he played this against Sato just a couple of weeks earlier in the final game of the Oi league. That was a convincing win and Tanigawa seems to feel pretty comfortable in this complicated variation. 21.G4i-3h 18/96 0/21 22.K5a-4a 0/96 26/47 23.K5i-5h 0/96 0/47 24.S7a-6b 0/96 23/70 25.B8hx3c+ 33/129 0/70 26.N2ax3c 0/129 7/77 27.N8i-7g 1/130 0/77 28.R8e-8b 0/130 53/130 29.R3f-2f 64/194 0/130 30.P5c-5d 0/194 44/174 31.S3i-4h 22/216 0/174 32.P7c-7d 0/216 18/192 33.S7i-6h 21/237 0/192 34.P5d-5e 0/237 12/204 35.P3g-3f 13/250 0/204 Aiming for the weak head of the white knight on 3c. If black is allowed to play P3e-P3d, he will get a big advantage. Of course, Tanigawa does not allow that. 36.P*2e 0/250 5/209 37.R2f-1f 4/254 0/209 38.P5e-5f! 0/254 109/318 The best move. Going for the rook with 38.P1d would not have been good after P3e B*2f P3d. 39.P3f-3e 15/269 0/318 40.P*8f 0/269 6/324 41.P8gx8f 40/309 0/324 42.R8bx8f 0/309 1/325 43.P*8g 4/313 0/325 44.R8fx7f 0/313 0/325 45.P5gx5f 0/313 0/325 46.N3c-4e 0/313 42/367 47.R1f-4f! 77/390 0/367 After the knight jump to 4e it seemed that white had a better position, but this moves shows that it is all still unclear. White gets a silver for a knight, but with only one pawn in hand there is no good way to continue. 48.P*5g 0/390 21/388 49.S4hx5g 1/391 0/388 50.N4ex5g+ 0/391 0/388 51.S6hx5g 0/391 0/388 52.G6a-5b 0/391 1/389 53.S5g-6f 32/423 0/389 54.B*6d 0/423 9/398 55.P5f-5e 5/428 0/398 56.N8a-7c 0/428 34/432 56.P*5g is also looking good, but after Sx5g Rx4f Sx4f white has no pawns. 57.G7h-6h 33/461 0/432 58.P*8f 0/461 35/467 An alternative is the nice 58.N6e, but after the cool defence P*7h there is nothing. White could also try the violent 58.S*7e N*8h Sx6f Nx7f Sx7g+ Nx6d +Sx6h Kx6h Px6d R*8a P*5a Rx9a+ N6e, but after S*6f black seems to survive the attack and his extra material will be decisive. 59.B*5d 4/465 0/467 60.R7fx6f 0/465 1/468 61.R4fx6f 15/480 0/468 62.B6dx5e 0/480 0/468 63.R*6a? 19/499 0/468 This is a mistake. Better was 63.Rx8f Bx1i+ R8a+ P*5a N3g L*5c P*5e, but even then it is impossible to say who is better. 64.P*5a 0/499 0/468 Sato thought this pawn drop was not good and played 63.R*6a based on the assumption that white had to play S*5a. 65.P*5c 1/500 0/468 66.S6bx5c 0/500 20/488 67.B5dx6c+ 13/513 0/488 After 67.Rx6c+ S*6b black also has to retreat. 68.B5ex6f 0/513 2/490 69.+B6cx5b 0/513 0/490 70.K4ax5b 0/513 0/490 71.R6ax6f+ 0/513 0/490 72.R*8i 0/513 2/492 73.N*6i 9/522 0/492 74.K5b-4a 0/522 6/498 75.P*5d?! 4/526 0/498 In the press room the variation 75.P*5b K3a Px5a+ Px8g+ +P5b K2a +Px5c +Px7g was expected, leading to a position that is very hard to judge. 76.S5c-4b 0/526 3/501 77.B*6d 7/533 0/501 78.P8fx8g+ 0/533 4/505 Tanigawa-style shogi. He is always looking for the shortest route to a win. Sato expected 78.B*4d +Rx8f Rx9i+ Bx7c+ L*5e +Bx5e Bx5e P5c+ Sx5c L*5g, which seems to better for black. 79.P5d-5c+ 0/533 0/505 80.+P8gx7g 0/533 0/505 81.+P5cx4b 0/533 0/505 82.G3bx4b 0/533 0/505 83.+R6fx7g 0/533 0/505 84.N*2f 0/533 17/522 85.G3h-3i 2/535 0/522 86.S*3h 0/535 0/522 87.+R7g-6f 0/535 0/522 88.B*3c 0/535 4/526 89.S*5c 1/536 0/526 90.G4bx5c? 0/536 4/530 A big mistake that ends Tanigawa's hopes of getting another Meijin title. If he would have played 90.S*3a instead, he will win. "Too quick. I thought I was winning. Terrible." (Tanigawa) 91.B6dx5c+ 0/536 0/530 92.S3hx3i= 0/536 0/530 93.+R6f-6b 1/537 0/530 94.S*4b 0/537 6/536 Tanigawa thought he could win here with 94.S*4i, but here he realised that his calculations were wrong. 95.P*2c! 0/537 0/536 This is a mating threat. 96.Sx2c fails to +Rx5a and on all attacking moves black can play +Bx4b. 96.S2b-3a 0/537 1/537 97.G*5b 0/537 0/537 98.P5ax5b 0/537 0/537 99.+R6bx5b 0/537 0/537 100.K4a-3b 0/537 0/537 101.+B5cx4c 0/537 0/537 102.K3bx2c 0/537 0/537 103.P*2d 0/537 0/537 Resigns 0/537 1/538 Time: 08:57:00 08:58:00 Tanigawa can choose between mate after 104.Bx2d +Bx3d or 104.Kx2d +R5d P*4d +Rx4d Bx4d +Bx3d or the defenceless 104.K1d +Bx3c. He decides to resign. A lucky win for Sato, who showed great mental strength to get back from 3-2 down by winning two gruelling games. Also, he cleared another psychological barrier by defending a title. The previous title he held (Ryu-O) he lost the next year. For Tanigawa, this must be a disappointing loss. However, he has shown in the past that he has the ability to quickly forget a match like this and get on with business at hand. He is 1-0 up in the Kisei match against Goda and also in the running for the Oi title. I do not think Tanigawa will be without a title for long. To show that he is still in good form, here is the model victory in game 1 of the Kisei match: Black: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger White: Goda Masataka, Kisei 70th Kisei-sen, Game 1, June 12th 1999 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P8c-8d 0/0 11/11 3.P2g-2f 2/2 0/11 4.P8d-8e 0/2 0/11 5.B8h-7g 0/2 0/11 6.P3c-3d 0/2 0/11 7.S7i-8h 1/3 0/11 8.G4a-3b 0/3 0/11 9.G6i-7h 1/4 0/11 10.B2bx7g+ 0/4 0/11 11.S8hx7g 0/4 0/11 Tanigawa plays his favourite Kakugawari opening. He is almost unbeatable in this opening, and the press room was very interested to know if Goda had prepared something for this opening. 12.S3a-4b 0/4 0/11 13.S3i-3h 3/7 0/11 14.S7a-7b 0/7 4/15 15.P9g-9f 3/10 0/15 16.P9c-9d 0/10 1/16 17.P4g-4f 7/17 0/16 18.P6c-6d 0/17 0/16 19.P1g-1f 6/23 0/16 20.P1c-1d 0/23 1/17 21.P3g-3f 3/26 0/17 22.S7b-6c 0/26 1/18 23.N2i-3g 6/32 0/18 24.S6c-5d 0/32 11/29 25.K5i-6h 5/37 0/29 26.P4c-4d 0/37 3/32 27.G4i-5h 12/49 0/32 28.G6a-5b 0/49 1/33 29.S3h-4g 5/54 0/33 30.K5a-4a 0/54 0/33 31.K6h-7i 0/54 0/33 32.K4a-3a 0/54 7/40 33.S4g-5f 3/57 0/40 34.P7c-7d 0/57 1/41 35.P6g-6f 14/71 0/41 36.N8a-7c 0/71 8/49 37.P2f-2e 7/78 0/49 38.S4b-3c 0/78 2/51 39.P4f-4e 27/105 0/51 40.P4dx4e 0/105 0/51 41.P3f-3e 0/105 0/51 42.S3c-4d 0/105 0/51 43.P1f-1e 1/106 0/51 44.P1dx1e 0/106 6/57 45.P2e-2d 1/107 0/57 46.P2cx2d 0/107 0/57 47.P7f-7e 0/107 0/57 48.P7dx7e 0/107 0/57 49.R2hx2d 0/107 0/57 50.P*2c 0/107 2/59 51.R2d-2i 0/107 0/59 A well-known position which has been played maybe a hundred times before. The conclusion is that there are still many difficult variations, but that black has the better chances. White can only weather the storm of black's attack and hope he will get a chance to counter. 52.B*3h? 0/107 148/207 With all respect, this shows that Goda did not do any homework for this match. Using almost two and a half hours of a total of five hours to play a new but bad move in a position that has been analysed to the bone is a big disappointment. The consensus is that white's best chance is 52.G6c P*1b Lx1b B*1a B*2b Bx2b+ Kx2b Px3d. Black has a very good attack then. 53.R2i-2h 22/129 0/207 54.B3h-4i+ 0/129 0/207 55.P*7d 0/129 0/207 56.P1e-1f 0/129 0/207 For a moment it was thought that Goda was aiming for sennichite here after 56.+B3i R1h +B2i R4h +B3i R1h etc. However, black can avoid this sequence by playing R4g instead of R1h, which gives him good winning chances after +B3h Px7c+ +Bx4g Sx4g. After the game, Goda said that he never had any intention to go for sennichite. 57.P7dx7c+ 3/132 0/207 58.R8b-8a 0/132 0/207 Goda must have counted on the problems black has with his rook. P1g+ is of course a threat, but there is also the problem that the rook has to keep defending the gold on 5h. 59.+P7c-7b! 12/144 0/207 Tanigawa finds a brilliant sequence to get out of trouble. It is usually better to use the tokin sideways, so this is a hard move to play. However, in this case Tanigawa is looking at the bigger picture. 60.R8a-4a 0/144 5/212 61.B*7d! 22/166 0/212 Attack and defence as will become clear at the next move. 62.R4a-4b? 0/166 33/245 Natural move, but wrong. White's best chance would have been 62.G6c Bx6c+ Sx6c +P6b P1g+ +Px6c +Px2h +P5b R8a Lx1a+. Objectively, white is still losing, but the game is much closer than after 62.R4b. 63.S5f-6g! 18/184 0/245 Nice move to show Goda's failed strategy. This move not only defends the gold on 5h, it also clears the path of the bishop on 7d. Black now threatens to win the horse on 4i by R2i next (the bishop on 7d is covering the square 3h now). 64.G5b-4c 0/184 4/249 White can safe the horse with 64.P1g+ R2i +B1f, but then N*2f is decisive. White can not defend the vital square 3d (G5b-4c is met with Lx1g). 65.R2h-2i 3/187 0/249 66.+B4ix5h 0/187 0/249 67.S6gx5h 0/187 0/249 68.P7e-7f 0/187 0/249 69.S7gx7f 2/189 0/249 70.R4bx7b 0/189 0/249 71.P*7e 0/189 0/249 72.P1f-1g+ 0/189 0/249 73.P3ex3d 2/191 0/249 74.+P1g-1h 0/191 11/260 75.B7d-8c+ 3/194 0/260 76.R7b-4b 0/194 0/260 77.L1ix1h 2/196 0/260 78.L1ax1h+ 0/196 0/260 79.R2i-2e 0/196 0/260 80.P*3f 0/196 9/269 81.R2e-1e 1/197 0/269 82.P*1d 0/197 0/269 83.R1ex1h 1/198 0/269 84.P3fx3g+ 0/198 0/269 85.L*3c 0/198 0/269 86.K3a-2b 0/198 6/275 87.L3cx3b+ 4/202 0/275 88.R4bx3b 0/202 0/275 89.P*2d 0/202 0/275 90.P2cx2d 0/202 0/275 91.R1hx1d! 1/203 0/275 92.G*1c 0/203 10/285 92.L*1c Rx2d L*2c B*1a is also bad. 93.N*1e! 5/208 0/285 Tanigawa shows his superior endgame skills to finish this game. 94.L*2c 0/208 2/287 95.B*1a 0/208 0/287 96.K2b-1b 0/208 0/287 97.B1ax4d+ 1/209 0/287 98.G4cx4d 0/209 1/288 99.G*1a 0/209 0/288 Resigns 0/209 0/288 Time: 03:29:00 04:48:00 After both 100.Kx1a Nx2c+ Gx1d +Nx3b or 100.K2b Gx2a K1b (Kx2a Rx1c+) P3c+ Rx3c S*2b there is no defence. A perfect performance by Tanigawa who must be very pleased with the superiority he showed in this game. Titleholder Goda, on the other hand, is already in big trouble and must win game two to stay in this match. In other Shogi news: ==================== 1) Who will be the next challenger for the Meijin title? Of course, many would have tipped Habu winning the A class, but last year he could not play any role in the title race. Surely, Habu would not lose that many games again. Well, that is exactly what might happen. Habu played Nakahara in the first round of the A-class and Nakahara came out on top. Not only that, the veteran showed Habu that he still can play great shogi, since he outplayed his young opponent. A big win for Nakahara, who has been flirting with relegation for the last couple of years. For Habu this is major setback in his quest for the Meijin title. The second potential challenger, first year A class player Goda, also crashed in the first attempt. Even though having the better position against Shima most of the game, Goda made a big mistake in a close endgame to lose his first game in the A class. It will be interesting to see if he can bounce back from this unexpected loss. Shima on the other hand, will be very happy with this win. He miraculously saved his A class position in the final round in the last two years and he will be looking for a more relaxed way to stay in the class. 2) In C2 also the first round was played. There were almost no surprises in this first round. Of the twelve players who ended highest last year, only one player, Tachi, lost. Since Tachi played Kondo, who is much stronger than his abysmal performance in last year's C2 showed, this can not really be called a surprise. Shukan Shogi focuses on the four rookies. They found the going quite tough in their first game in C2. Only 19-year old Matsuo scored a good win against Kawakami. All the others lost, even though Kanezawa was very unlucky against Yagura. Kanezawa had the game completely under control and more than 3 hours left against Yagura's six minutes, when he played too quickly and missed the win. After that, Yagura showed the power that brought him to the brink of the Oi challengership and won the game. With 45 players in the class and 9 more games to play, it will take a couple of months before this class will take shape. 3) In the Oza Maruyama was the second player after Meijin Sato to reach the semifinals of the challenger tournament. Maruyama convincingly beat Takahashi and now is only two wins away from his first appearance in a title match. 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