From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 5 mar 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 778, March 3rd 1999) Not much time this week, so straight away to the fifth game of the Osho title match. Habu won and ended the match with a comfortable 4-1 score, winning four games in a row. Game 5 is an illustration that the match was not as easy as the score line indicated. Black: Habu, Osho White: Morishita, Challenger 48th Osho-sen, Game 5, February 23rd and 24th 1999 1.P2g-2f 1/1 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/1 2/2 This was a big surprise for Habu. Morishita is very reliable in his opening choices as white. He plays 2.P8d after either 1.P7f or 1.P2f. Playing 2.P3d is clearly aiming at surprise. 3.P7g-7f 3/4 0/2 4.P8c-8d 0/4 1/3 5.P2f-2e 3/7 0/3 6.P8d-8e 0/7 0/3 7.G6i-7h 2/9 0/3 8.G4a-3b 0/9 2/5 9.P2e-2d 2/11 0/5 10.P2cx2d 0/11 0/5 11.R2hx2d 0/11 0/5 12.P8e-8f 0/11 1/6 13.P8gx8f 2/13 0/6 14.R8bx8f 0/13 0/6 15.R2dx3d 3/16 0/6 16.B2b-3c 0/16 3/9 17.R3d-3f 40/56 0/9 18.S3a-2b 0/56 5/14 19.G4i-3h 8/64 0/14 20.K5a-4a 0/64 21/35 21.K5i-5h 8/72 0/35 22.R8f-8e 0/72 11/46 Of course Morishita has studied this deeply. This move is very fashionable lately, almost as much as the Fujii system. Results for white have been very good with a winning percentage of more than 70%. No wonder Morishita decided to give it a try in this game that he must win. Popular as it has been, this is the first time this move is played in a title match. 23.B8hx3c+ 49/121 0/46 24.N2ax3c 0/121 63/109 25.S7i-8h 5/126 0/109 26.R8e-8b 0/126 7/116 This is not how this position is meant to be played. Natural would have been 26.R8d, but Morishita feared 27.N7g with pressure on the rook. After the game both players looked at 28.B*8i G7i P*8g P*8e and 28.P*8g Sx8g P*8f S9h B*8g Gx8g Px8g+ P*8e, but it seems that these variations are a little too wild and that black will be able to cash in his material. 27.P*8g 26/152 0/116 28.S7a-6b 0/152 27/143 29.R3f-2f 48/200 0/143 30.G6a-5a 0/200 21/164 31.P3g-3f 20/220 0/164 32.R8b-8d 0/220 18/182 Usually the Yokofudori is a balance between the pawn that black has won and the moves for development that white has in return. However, in this game the white rook moves mean that white has no compensation for the lost pawn. Morishita's attempt at this strategy has failed: Habu has the advantage. 33.S3i-4h 14/234 0/182 34.P5c-5d 0/234 10/192 35.S8h-7g 34/268 0/192 36.P5d-5e 0/268 9/201 37.N2i-3g 33/301 0/201 38.P7c-7d 0/301 24/225 39.S7g-6f 12/313 0/225 40.N8a-7c 0/313 23/248 41.P3f-3e 5/318 0/248 42.P7d-7e 0/318 8/256 43.S6fx5e 5/323 0/256 Habu is extending his advantage. This silver has moved from 8h to the centre square of the board. The threat is P*3d Rx3d B*5f followed by P*3d again. 44.P*2d! 0/323 82/338 These moves are the reason why Morishita is a top player. Especially in positions where he is in trouble, he is able to find great defensive solutions. We will see that later in the game again. The pawn drop creates an escape square for the knight on 2e. Most players would choose to try and break free with 44.P*8f Px8f Rx8f P*8h Rx7f Rx7f Px7f to get a rook in hand, but after P*3d or P*2c the white position collapses quickly. 45.B*6f 53/376 0/338 46.S2b-2c 0/376 34/372 47.B6fx7e 6/382 0/372 48.R8d-9d 0/382 9/381 49.N8i-7g 6/388 0/381 50.P*3d 0/388 2/383 51.S5e-4f 14/402 0/383 52.R9d-7d 0/402 14/397 53.N3g-4e 11/413 0/397 54.N3cx4e 0/413 4/401 55.S4fx4e 0/413 0/401 56.N*5c 0/413 0/401 57.S4e-5f 7/420 0/401 58.B*4d 0/420 7/408 59.B7e-6f?! 0/420 0/408 Habu decides it is time to try and cash in his advantage. However, it would have been safer to wait one more move and play 59.R2i instead. The following sequence looks very strong for black, but Morishita has another defensive rabbit in his hat. 60.R7dx7f 0/420 1/409 61.B6fx4d 15/435 0/409 62.P4cx4d 0/435 0/409 63.P3ex3d 9/444 0/409 64.N7c-6e 0/444 28/437 65.N*3e 13/457 0/437 And white loses quickly, or... 66.S2cx3d 0/457 7/444 Too weak are 66.P*5e or 66.Nx7g+, since there is no way to get to the black king after Nx2c+. 67.R2fx2d 0/457 0/444 68.S3dx3e 0/457 0/444 69.R2d-2a+ 0/457 0/444 70.P*3a 0/457 0/444 71.P*3c 1/458 0/444 72.G3bx3c 0/458 7/451 73.P*3d 0/458 0/451 74.G3c-3b 0/458 0/451 75.B*5d 0/458 0/451 76.B*1d! 0/458 3/454 Great play by Morishita. This bishop defends on 3b and aims at a counter attack with N*4f. Black has to defend against that and suddenly Morishita's pieces come back to life. 77.K5h-6h 2/460 0/454 78.N6ex7g+ 0/460 0/454 79.G7hx7g 0/460 0/454 80.R7f-7d 0/460 0/454 81.N*6f 0/460 0/454 82.R7dx5d 0/460 0/454 83.N6fx5d 0/460 0/454 84.P*7f 0/460 0/454 85.G7gx7f 2/462 0/454 86.N*6d 0/462 0/454 87.G7f-8f! 2/464 0/454 Unnatural move, but the only move that still wins. It is unfortunate for Morishita that his efforts are not enough to win. After either G7e or G6f white wins with 87.B*9e. 88.N6dx5f 0/464 8/462 89.P5gx5f 0/464 0/462 90.N*6e 0/464 0/462 91.N5dx6b+ 2/466 0/462 92.B*7g 0/466 0/462 93.K6h-7h 1/467 0/462 94.B7gx9i+ 0/467 4/466 95.+N6bx5a 4/471 0/466 96.K4ax5a 0/471 0/466 97.R*7a 0/471 0/466 "After dropping this rook it is clearly won" (Habu). Indeed, this attacking move also defends against the white mating threat. 98.N*6a 0/471 0/466 99.N*5d 0/471 0/466 100.+B9i-7g 0/471 11/477 101.R7ax7g+ 0/471 0/477 102.N6ex7g+ 0/471 0/477 103.K7hx7g 0/471 0/477 104.N5c-6e 0/471 0/477 105.K7g-6h 1/472 0/477 106.K5a-5b 0/472 2/479 107.+R2ax3b 0/472 0/479 108.P3ax3b 0/472 0/479 109.G*4b 0/472 0/479 Resigns 0/472 0/479 Time: 07:52:00 07:59:00 With this victory Habu takes his fourth consecutive Osho title. He is still a long way from Oyama, who seems to have an unbeatable 20 Osho titles. The disaster of the first game seemed to have helped Habu to get focussed and raise his game to a level we have not seen much of him lately. Morishita, on the other hand, again finds himself the loser in a title match. Winning a title match against Habu has only be done by very few players and one wonders if Morishita will ever be a member of this special club... In other shogi news: ==================== 1) Moriuchi beat Nakahara in the Kisei league to become the last player to reach the quarterfinals. Habu, Miura, Tanigawa, Yonenaga, Sato Yasumitsu, Namekata and Nakahara are the other remaining candidates to challenge Goda. 2) Goda had a bad start in the white group of the Oi leagues, losing to Yashiki. In the red group Tanigawa beat Namekata. For all players it was their first game in the league. 3) Shimizu defended her full set of Ladies titles by beating challenger Usui in the fourth game, taking the match 3-1. It was the fifth consecutive Meijin title for Shimizu. That is all I have time for this 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