From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 4 nov 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 813, November 13th 1999) Suzuki is not having much fun in his first title match appearance so far. He also lost the second game in the Ryu-O title match. Again, he was outplayed in the opening, but unlike the first game, he managed to make a real fight of it after that. In the end it was not good enough after some passive play in the endgame. Here is the game with comments: Black: Fujii Takeshi, Ryu-O White: Suzuki Daisuke, Challenger 12th Ryu-O sen, Game 2, October 27th and 28th 1999 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/1 2/2 3.P2g-2f 6/7 0/2 4.P5c-5d 0/7 6/8 5.P2f-2e 4/11 0/8 6.R8b-5b 0/11 0/8 This opening is not often seen in title matches, but it is a favourite of Suzuki and he has had very good results with it. As this game shows, Fujii has studied this opening extensively. 7.G4i-5h 4/15 0/8 Very unusual, but played after only four minutes. Fujii's outstanding opening preparation is felt very early. 8.P5d-5e 0/15 38/46 9.P2e-2d 9/24 0/46 10.P2cx2d 0/24 0/46 11.R2hx2d 0/24 0/46 12.G4a-3b 0/24 8/54 13.S3i-4h 1/25 0/54 14.P3d-3e?! 0/25 5/59 This seems a little too quick. Suzuki can not keep this stronghold on 3e. 15.K5i-6h 20/45 0/59 16.K5a-6b 0/45 3/62 17.R2d-2f 12/57 0/62 18.P*2c 0/57 1/63 19.P3g-3f! 23/80 0/63 Good move, but only deep analysis can prove this. White now has the option of playing the violent 20.P5f. However, after the long variation 21.Px3e Bx8h+ Sx8h B*4d S7g Bx3e R3f Px5g+ Sx5g P*5f Rx3e Px5g+ Gx5g P*5f G5g-5h S*5g K7h Sx5h= Gx5h P5g+ P*5c Rx5c B*7e +Px5h Bx5c+ Kx5c P*5d K6b Rx3b+ Sx3b R*8b white is mated. 20.P3ex3f 0/80 13/76 White must give up the pawn on 3e, black has won the opening. 21.R2fx3f 0/80 0/76 22.R5b-5d 0/80 5/81 23.N2i-3g 8/88 0/81 24.R5d-2d 0/88 28/109 25.P*2e 8/96 0/109 26.R2d-7d 0/96 0/109 27.P9g-9f 4/100 0/109 28.K6b-7b 0/100 68/177 29.S7i-7h 28/128 0/177 30.K7b-8b 0/128 48/225 31.K6h-7i 11/139 0/225 32.S7a-7b 0/139 9/234 33.P5g-5f 90/229 0/234 The sealed move. Fujii shows no hesitation. He wants to cash in his good position without giving Suzuki time to regroup. Suzuki's plan is B4d~P*3e~B7a~R3d and white suddenly is back in the game. 33.P5f prevents this. 34.R7dx7f 0/229 13/247 35.P2e-2d 6/235 0/247 36.P2cx2d 0/235 6/253 37.B8h-9g 8/243 0/253 38.P6c-6d! 0/243 36/289 Suzuki finds the only way to get some play. The point of this pawn sacrifice will soon be clear. 39.N3g-4e 43/286 0/289 40.B2b-4d 0/286 89/378 41.B9gx6d 24/310 0/378 42.P5ex5f 0/310 18/396 43.P*7g 3/313 0/396 44.P5f-5g+ 0/313 1/397 45.R3fx7f 0/313 0/397 46.+P5gx5h 0/313 0/397 47.G6ix5h 0/313 0/397 48.G*6e 0/313 0/397 The reason for playing 38.P6d. Black still has some difficult decisions to make. 49.R7f-7d! 0/313 0/397 Looks risky and the professionals in the press room expected 49.Bx3a+ Gx3a R3f. Fujii wants to leave the passive gold and silver on white's left flank as they are. 50.B4d-7a 0/313 47/444 51.P6g-6f 18/331 0/444 52.G6ex6d 0/331 0/444 53.R7dx6d 0/331 0/444 54.P*6c 0/331 3/447 55.R6d-5d 1/332 0/447 56.S3a-4b 0/332 1/448 57.P*5c 7/339 0/448 58.P*5a 0/339 0/448 59.K7i-8h 0/339 0/448 Black has driven back all white pieces and there seems to be no hope. Some even expected resignation by Suzuki here. However, here Suzuki showed why he is challenger for the Ryu-O title. 60.P*3g! 0/339 7/455 The only move to confuse the opponent... 61.S4hx3g? 15/354 0/455 ...and with success. If black would have played 61.Rx2d P3h+ S5g P*2c R3d N3c Rx3h here, he would have won without any trouble. 62.N2a-3c 0/354 5/460 63.S3g-4f 12/366 0/460 64.N3cx4e 0/366 0/460 65.S4fx4e 0/366 0/460 66.P4c-4d 0/366 0/460 67.S4ex4d 4/370 0/460 68.B*2h 0/370 5/465 69.R*2a 14/384 0/465 70.B2hx1i+ 0/384 0/465 71.R2ax1a+ 1/385 0/465 72.+B1i-1h 0/385 0/465 Here Suzuki thought he had managed to turn the tables. 73.S4d-5e 4/389 0/465 74.P*3a? 0/389 1/466 Too defensive. After 74.S*4c the position is unclear. 75.G*6i 4/393 0/466 76.S4b-3c 0/393 3/469 77.P*3d 6/399 0/469 78.S3c-4b 0/399 0/469 79.L*5g 5/404 0/469 80.S4b-4c 0/404 3/472 81.P3d-3c+ 0/404 0/472 82.G3bx3c 0/404 0/472 83.+R1ax3a 0/404 0/472 84.G3c-3b 0/404 1/473 85.+R3a-4a 1/405 0/473 86.S4cx5d 0/405 0/473 87.S5ex5d 0/405 0/473 88.R*3a? 0/405 2/475 89.+R4a-4f 0/405 0/475 90.L*4a? 0/405 0/475 These two consecutive defensive drops end Suzuki's chances of winning this game. Without these pieces in hand to build an attack there is no way white can win. 91.+R4f-3e 0/405 0/475 92.+B1hx1g 0/405 1/476 93.P*2f 0/405 0/476 94.P*3c 0/405 0/476 95.N*5e 5/410 0/476 96.+B1g-2g 0/410 0/476 97.P*3f 0/410 0/476 98.P3c-3d 0/410 0/476 99.+R3ex3d 1/411 0/476 100.G3b-3c 0/411 0/476 101.+R3dx3c 3/414 0/476 102.R3ax3c 0/414 0/476 103.N5ex6c+ 0/414 0/476 104.S7bx6c 0/414 3/479 105.S5dx6c+ 1/415 0/479 106.L4ax4g+ 0/415 0/479 Suzuki realises that he has lost the game and enters the "katachizukuri" mode. 107.G5hx4g 6/421 0/479 108.P*6h 0/421 0/479 109.L*7b 5/426 0/479 110.P6hx6i+ 0/426 0/479 111.L7bx7a+ 1/427 0/479 112.G6ax7a 0/427 0/479 113.S*7b 0/427 0/479 114.G7ax7b 0/427 0/479 115.+S6cx7b 0/427 0/479 116.K8bx7b 0/427 0/479 117.S*6c 0/427 0/479 118.K7bx6c 0/427 0/479 119.B*4e 0/427 0/479 Resigns 0/427 0/479 Time: 07:07:00 07:59:00 A second win for Fujii, which puts him in a very comfortable position for defending his title. However, this game will give Suzuki some confidence after the bad loss in game one. Still, he desperately needs game 3 to have any hopes of turning this match around. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) In the A class Maruyama took a big step towards his first challenge for this prestigious title. He beat Habu in a game in which the opening was a copy of their Junisen game last year, but with black and white reversed. The R8e Yokofudori took a lot of the player's time, since at the dinner break the game had only advanced up to the 33th move. Habu got the better position from all this thought, but one slip was enough for Maruyama to turn the tables. Maruyama now has a perfect score from 4 games and he is followed only by Moriuchi with 3-1. All other players have 2-2 or 1-3 scores. Kato also managed to get back to 1-3 by beating Tanaka. This was a very lucky win, since Tanaka missed a mate in the endgame. For Kato this was a big break, since he suddenly has chances of saving his A class spot again. On the other hand, Tanaka missed a golden opportunity to get in safe territory early. With his position at the bottom of the league and a 2-2 score, he is still very much in relegation trouble. The A class looks to be very tight at the bottom this year. 2) In C1 round 6 was played, even though for most players it was only the fifth game. Undefeated before the round were Suzuki Daisuke, Kubo and Kobayashi Hiroshi. Kobayashi had to play young Kimura, who was chasing the leaders with 4-1. Kobayashi overlooked a very nasty move that almost immediately ended the game. After only 69 moves he had to resign. Kubo did manage to defend his perfect score by beating Horiguchi. From the comments in Shukan Shogi it looked like a very close game, where Kubo had only one move to save his king which was exposed at 3e. Suzuki's game against Ishikawa is not in Shukan Shogi yet, since Suzuki was allowed a delay because of the Ryu-O title match. However, he won that game last Monday, so he also has a perfect 5-0 score. It seems likely that Kubo and Suzuki will be the players to promote from C1 this year since they are both in great form. 3) In the Osho league Goda beat Morishita in the second round to get to a perfect 2-0 score. An uncharacteristic aggressive move in the middle game gave Goda a very good position. Morishita desperately tried to get an entering king, but with two rook sacrifices Goda managed to stop the king and win the game. Goda and Meijin Sato now have the best chances of challenging Osho Habu. 4) In the Kio challenger tournament Moriuchi was the last one to reach the semifinals. He will now play Fujii next, while the other semi-final is between Shima and Sato Yasumitsu. In the Kio there is a second chance for the players reaching the semi-finals, so one loss is not decisive. All four players look perfectly able to challenge Habu and I am having a hard time making a prediction here. I would like to see Moriuchi play another title match again, though. 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