From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 11 nov 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 814, November 10th 1999) This week in Shukan Shogi the third game of the Ryu-O title match between Fujii and Suzuki. It was an interesting game, which was partly caused by the high number of mistakes. Suzuki had good chances to make the match interesting again, but he could not convert them. With 3-0 down his task is now almost impossible. Here is the game with comments: Black: Suzuki Daisuke, Challenger White: Fujii Takeshi, Ryu-O 12th Ryu-O sen, Game 3, November 4th and 5th 1999 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 10/10 3.P1g-1f 0/0 0/10 4.S7a-6b 0/0 16/26 5.R2h-6h 1/1 0/26 6.K5a-4b 0/1 5/31 7.K5i-4h 0/1 0/31 8.K4b-3b 0/1 0/31 9.K4h-3h 0/1 0/31 10.P5c-5d 0/1 14/45 11.K3h-2h 0/1 0/45 12.G6a-5b 0/1 1/46 13.S3i-3h 0/1 0/46 14.P8c-8d 0/1 1/47 15.P7f-7e 1/2 0/47 This is an unusual change of plan. Suzuki switches from Shikenbisha to Masuda Style Ishida variation of the Sankenbisha. Judging from the time he takes in the opening it seems like he has prepared this. However, Suzuki is known for his fast play, so it is impossible to be completely sure. 16.P8d-8e 0/2 32/79 17.R6h-7h 1/3 0/79 18.P8e-8f 0/3 21/100 19.P8gx8f 4/7 0/100 20.R8bx8f 0/7 0/100 21.B8hx2b+ 6/13 0/100 22.S3ax2b 0/13 0/100 23.R7h-8h 0/13 0/100 24.P*8g 0/13 0/100 25.R8h-9h 0/13 0/100 26.R8f-8d 0/13 95/195 27.G6i-7h 4/17 0/195 28.P5d-5e! 0/17 3/198 In the press room there was no professional who could figure out the meaning of this move. Fujii shows his outstanding opening skills again as will soon become clear. 29.P*8h 8/25 0/198 30.B*2d! 0/25 5/203 Overlooked by everyone. This strange looking move causes black all kinds of trouble. The simple reply 31.S6h fails to 32.P5f Px5f P8h+ and white wins. 31.B*6f 32/57 0/203 Suzuki also was surprised and takes 32 minutes for his reply. He did not like to destroy his Mino castle with 31.G5h, so he opts for this bishop drop. 32.R8d-5d 0/57 49/252 33.P8hx8g 11/68 0/252 34.S6b-5c 0/68 1/253 35.S7i-6h 19/87 0/253 36.S5c-6d 0/87 1/254 Fujii has won the opening again. Despite the loss of a pawn, his major pieces are working much better. On the other hand, Suzuki's pieces are all on the left flank where they are in serious danger of being inactive for the rest of the game. 37.P9g-9f 2/89 0/254 38.S6d-6e 0/89 14/268 39.B6f-8h 103/192 0/268 40.P9c-9d 0/192 5/273 41.B8h-7i! 5/197 0/273 This bishop manoeuvre looks desperate, but it is the right defence against white's attack. 42.P5e-5f? 0/197 14/287 Fujii rushes his attack and in this case he is a little too quick. Black has no good moves, so improving his king position with 42.S3c first is much better. Fujii himself called 42.P5f the "losing move", but that seems a little harsh on himself. 43.P5gx5f 0/197 0/287 44.S6ex5f 0/197 0/287 45.G7h-7g 2/199 0/287 46.P6c-6d 0/199 27/314 47.P*5g! 12/211 0/314 Strong play. Giving back the pawn and allowing a rook to promote is a small price to pay for exchanging black's badly positioned pieces. 48.S5fx5g+ 0/211 23/337 49.S6hx5g 0/211 0/337 50.B2dx5g+ 0/211 0/337 51.B7ix5g 0/211 0/337 52.R5dx5g+ 0/211 0/337 53.P*5h? 0/211 0/337 Unnecessary defence. Suzuki was overconfident here, but his position is not as good as he thinks. 53.B*8b immediately was better. 54.+R5g-5e 0/211 26/363 55.B*8b 2/213 0/363 56.L9a-9c 0/213 3/366 57.B8b-9a+ 2/215 0/366 58.B*5d 0/215 3/369 59.G7g-6f 2/217 0/369 60.+R5e-2e 0/217 8/377 61.R9h-8h 3/220 0/377 62.S*5e 0/220 15/392 63.S*3f 62/282 0/392 64.B5dx3f 0/282 1/393 65.P3gx3f 0/282 0/393 66.S5ex6f 0/282 0/393 67.P6gx6f 0/282 0/393 68.+R2ex7e 0/282 0/393 69.S*7g? 1/283 0/393 Suzuki's use of time is very questionable in this game. In the opening he took too little time and ended up in a bad position. Here he also should have taken more time. This drop is a change of plan. Suzuki wanted to play 69.+Bx8a, but thought that 70.+R7i 71.R9h 72.N3c! was too strong. The knight on 3c looks strange, but it takes away the vital square 4e for the black horse. If black then plays 73.+B5d, white can make the king safe with K2a and then attack strongly with G*4h. If Suzuki would have thought about this position a little longer, he would have found 73.B*5g! in response to N3c. After 74.+Rx8i P6e and Bx9c+ followed by retreating the horse in black's own camp black would have had the better position. 70.G*6g 0/283 3/396 71.+B9ax8a 1/284 0/396 72.G6gx7g 0/284 0/396 73.N8ix7g 0/284 0/396 74.+R7ex7g 0/284 0/396 75.R8h-9h 1/285 0/396 76.P*8h 0/285 10/406 77.P6f-6e 4/289 0/406 78.P8h-8i+ 0/289 5/411 79.P6ex6d 1/290 0/411 80.P*6b 0/290 1/412 81.+B8a-5d 3/293 0/412 82.S*4d 0/293 7/419 83.P4g-4f 9/302 0/419 84.+P8ix9i 0/302 6/425 85.R9hx9i 0/302 0/425 86.S2b-3c 0/302 3/428 87.R9i-6i 9/311 0/428 88.N*2d 0/311 3/431 89.G*6h! 24/335 0/431 In this match, Suzuki seems to play his best shogi when he is in trouble. This unnatural move is the only way to keep the game going. 90.+R7g-6f? 0/335 11/442 With less than an hour left, Fujii again rushes his attack. 90.+R6f is a dangerous move. If 90.+R7d instead, white would have had a comfortable position. 91.B*5g 7/342 0/442 92.+R6f-5f 0/342 3/445 93.+B5d-7b 0/342 0/445 94.L*4g 0/342 8/453 95.G4i-3i 20/362 0/453 96.P3d-3e 0/362 1/454 97.B5gx9c+ 1/363 0/454 98.N2dx3f 0/363 1/455 99.K2h-1h? 3/366 0/455 Suzuki takes only three minutes to throw away his last chance. If he would have played 99.+Bx3f Px3f +B5g here, he would still have had chances to win this game. After both +Rx5g Gx5g or +R9f +B4g the position is still unclear. 100.S*4h 0/366 3/458 101.G3i-2h 1/367 0/458 102.N3fx2h+ 0/367 3/461 103.K1hx2h 0/367 0/461 104.+R5fx4f 0/367 0/461 105.P*4i 1/368 0/461 106.P3e-3f! 0/368 3/464 Suzuki had overlooked this move. He thought that 105.P*4i was killing white's attack. Suzuki had only looked at 106.Sx4i= Rx4i Lx4i+ after which P4g! would have been alright for black, since both bishops work well in defence. 107.P4ix4h 2/370 0/464 108.L4gx4h+ 0/370 0/464 109.+B9cx4h 0/370 0/464 110.+R4fx4h 0/370 0/464 111.+B7bx3f 0/370 0/464 112.S4d-4e 0/370 5/469 113.S*3g 3/373 0/469 114.+R4hx3h 0/373 2/471 115.K2hx3h 2/375 0/471 116.S4ex3f 0/375 1/472 117.S3gx3f 0/375 0/472 118.B*7d 0/375 0/472 119.P*4g 1/376 0/472 120.P*3g 0/376 1/473 121.K3h-2h 0/376 0/473 122.B*1d 0/376 0/473 123.N*2e 4/380 0/473 124.B1dx2e 0/380 0/473 125.S3fx2e 0/380 0/473 126.B7dx4g+ 0/380 0/473 127.L*3f 0/380 0/473 128.P3g-3h+ 0/380 3/476 129.K2h-1h 0/380 0/476 130.+B4gx3f 0/380 0/476 131.S2ex3f 0/380 0/476 132.L*1g 0/380 0/476 133.K1hx1g 0/380 0/476 134.S*2h 0/380 0/476 135.K1g-1h 0/380 0/476 136.N*2f 0/380 0/476 Resigns 0/380 0/476 Time: 06:20:00 07:56:00 Mate after 137.Px2f Sx1i+ etc. A tough game to lose for the challenger, since he had enough chances to win. His quick style of playing turned against him in this game. Title match games with long time limits are decided by deep and accurate calculation. With 3-0 down, Suzuki needs a miracle to get back in this match. In other shogi news: ==================== a) In the A class of the Junisen the first game of the fifth round was played between Morishita (2-2) and Goda (1-3). For Goda this was a game he had to win to keep a good chance of saving his A class spot in his debut year. The importance of the game was clear as it proceeded at a very slow pace, having some of the professionals in the press room complaining that they were getting bored. When the fighting finally started, it was Goda who got the advantage and carried this to the endgame. Morishita did not get a chance to kill Goda's attack and lost in a straightforward way. Goda must be very relieved, but he needs a couple of more wins to be safe for next year. b) In the Osho league Meijin Sato played Nakahara. Sato had a good start in the league with two wins, while it was only Nakahara's second game after a first round loss to Goda. It was a strange game where Sato's deep opening preparation seemed to give him a great position. However, Nakahara's judgement behind the board seemed to be superior to Sato's judgement in the study room. With some nice defending Nakahara showed that his position was much stronger than it appeared and he beat Sato in the counter attack. A setback for Sato, who now needs a win against leader Goda in the next round to keep good chances of challenging Osho Habu. 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