From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 26 nov 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 816, November 24th 1999) In the Ryu-O match game 4 was played last week and this was the most interesting game in the match so far. Fujii had the early lead, but Suzuki managed to turn the tables and win a very complex endgame. Here is the game with comments: Black: Fujii Takeshi, Ryu-O White: Suzuki Daisuke, Challenger 12th Ryu-O sen, Game 4, November 17th and 18th 1999 1.P7g-7f 2/2 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/2 0/0 3.P2g-2f 10/12 0/0 4.P4c-4d 0/12 0/0 5.S3i-4h 5/17 0/0 6.R8b-4b 0/17 0/0 7.K5i-6h 5/22 0/0 8.K5a-6b 0/22 0/0 9.K6h-7h 3/25 0/0 10.S7a-7b 0/25 0/0 11.P5g-5f 6/31 0/0 12.K6b-7a 0/31 0/0 13.G4i-5h 5/36 0/0 14.G4a-5b 0/36 0/0 15.S4h-5g 17/53 0/0 16.P9c-9d 0/53 0/0 17.B8h-7g 16/69 0/0 18.S3a-3b 0/69 8/8 19.K7h-8h 7/76 0/8 20.B2b-3c 0/76 2/10 21.P6g-6f 1/77 0/10 22.K7a-8b 0/77 19/29 23.G5h-6g 32/109 0/29 24.P6c-6d 0/109 1/30 25.L9i-9h 2/111 0/30 26.P9d-9e 0/111 0/30 27.K8h-9i 1/112 0/30 28.P7c-7d 0/112 5/35 29.S7i-8h 1/113 0/35 30.G5b-6c 0/113 0/35 31.P3g-3f 7/120 0/35 32.N8a-7c 0/120 0/35 33.G6i-7i 48/168 0/35 34.S3b-4c 0/168 0/35 35.B7g-5i 4/172 0/35 36.P8c-8d 0/172 20/55 37.P2f-2e 11/183 0/55 38.P5c-5d 0/183 30/85 39.B5i-3g 37/220 0/85 40.S7b-8c 0/220 13/98 41.P1g-1f 0/220 0/98 42.P1c-1d 0/220 0/98 43.S5g-6h 0/220 0/98 44.G6a-7b 0/220 9/107 45.B3g-4h 0/220 0/107 46.R4b-2b 0/220 32/139 47.B4h-5g 2/222 0/139 48.B3c-5a 0/222 0/139 49.N2i-3g 23/245 0/139 50.S4c-5b 0/245 66/205 The sealed move. The first day ends without any surprises. Suzuki played a game with a similar built-up against Matsuo, 4-dan a week earlier. Even though he lost that game, he did not seem to be too unhappy with his opening. Fujii shows that he probably needs to search for something better. 51.G7i-7h 29/274 0/205 52.S5b-5c 0/274 45/250 53.S6h-7i 7/281 0/250 54.S5c-6b 0/281 2/252 55.R2h-2f 40/321 0/252 56.S6b-7a 0/321 0/252 57.B5g-6h 4/325 0/252 58.R2b-5b 0/325 21/273 59.P1f-1e! 62/387 0/273 The preliminaries are over, the fight begins. Fujii has again managed to get the better middle game position. Black has a strong castle and a strong attack. It is not easy for white to defend. 60.P1dx1e 0/387 1/274 61.P2e-2d 0/387 0/274 62.P2cx2d 0/387 0/274 63.P6f-6e! 0/387 0/274 64.P6dx6e 0/387 79/353 The previous move must have been underestimated by Suzuki. He takes more than an hour to reply and in the end has to settle for just taking the pawn. Black is now clearly better. 65.B6hx2d 5/392 0/353 66.N2a-3c 0/392 0/353 67.B2d-4f 8/400 0/353 68.P4d-4e 0/400 5/358 69.N3gx4e 3/403 0/358 70.N3cx4e 0/403 3/361 71.R2f-2a+ 1/404 0/361 72.P9e-9f 0/404 2/363 73.P9gx9f 0/404 0/363 74.P*9g 0/404 0/363 75.L9hx9g 0/404 0/363 76.N*8e 0/404 0/363 77.+R2a-4a 4/408 0/363 78.R5b-5c 0/408 1/364 79.P*6d? 7/415 0/364 A mistake. This blocks the black bishop, which is vital. After the simple 79.P8f Nx9g+ Sx9g B3c G6g-7g black keeps his advantage. 80.G6c-6b 0/415 0/364 81.P8g-8f 0/415 0/364 82.N8ex9g+ 0/415 0/364 83.S8hx9g 0/415 0/364 84.P6e-6f 0/415 32/396 85.G6gx6f 23/438 0/396 Another problem of 79.P*6d is that black no longer can defend with P*6h after 85.G6g-7g L*6e. 86.B5a-3c 0/438 1/397 87.P5f-5e 0/438 0/397 88.P8d-8e 0/438 10/407 89.S7i-8h 3/441 0/407 90.L*8d 0/441 17/424 91.N8i-7g 17/458 0/424 92.P8ex8f 0/458 0/424 This pawn is a big thorn in black's side. 93.N*6e 0/458 0/424 94.N7cx6e 0/458 7/431 95.N7gx6e 0/458 0/431 96.R5c-5a 0/458 0/431 97.+R4a-4c? 1/459 0/431 Fujii calls this a blunder. He completely overlooked the next move. 97.+R3b was necessary. 98.R5a-2a! 0/459 2/433 Suzuki shows his attacking skills. Promoting the rook with attack is worth much more than the bishop. Here Suzuki thought he was suddenly winning. 99.P*2h 10/469 0/433 100.N*3g! 0/469 17/450 Another great move by Suzuki. Tempting was 100.B2d to exchange the bishops, but after 101.N*3e! Px3e P6c+ G6bx6c Px5d black has the better prospects. 101.N*2g 2/471 0/450 Painful but necessary. 102.B3c-2d 0/471 0/450 103.P*8e 4/475 0/450 104.L8dx8e 0/475 0/450 105.B4fx2d 0/475 0/450 106.R2ax2d 0/475 0/450 107.B*7c 0/475 0/450 Fujii puts all his money on a fast attack. 108.G6bx7c 0/475 3/453 109.N6ex7c+ 0/475 0/453 110.G7bx7c 0/475 0/453 111.G*6c 4/479 0/453 Not good enough is 111.P6c+ Gx6c P*8d S8c-7b G*8c K8a Gx7b Sx7b P8c+ Sx8c +Rx6c G*7b and it is hard for black to continue. 112.G7cx6c?!!? 0/479 7/460 Psychologically speaking a strong move (perhaps even the game winner), since it completely surprised Fujii. However, objectively it is probably wrong. After 112.G8d G7c K9b Gx8c Gx8c P*8d Gx8d S*9c K8a P*8b Sx8b Sx8b+ Kx8b S*7c K8c it seems that white can just survive and win in the counter attack. The endgame in this game is very complicated and it will probably take a while before a definite conclusion can be reached. 113.P6dx6c+ 0/479 0/460 114.S8c-8d 0/479 0/460 115.+P6c-6d? 0/479 0/460 Not a mating threat and therefore the losing move. Fujii could still have won this game if he would have played 115.G*7c K9b +P7b here. Byoyomi was too short for Fujii to calculate this. 116.P*9h 0/479 1/461 117.K9i-8i 0/479 0/461 118.P9h-9i+ 0/479 3/464 119.K8ix9i 0/479 0/464 120.B*6i 0/479 0/464 121.G*8c 0/479 0/464 122.K8b-8a 0/479 0/464 123.P*8b 0/479 0/464 124.S7ax8b 0/479 0/464 125.G8cx8b 0/479 0/464 126.K8ax8b 0/479 0/464 127.P*8c 0/479 0/464 128.K8b-9c 0/479 0/464 129.S*9h 0/479 0/464 130.B6ix7h+ 0/479 1/465 131.+P6dx7d 0/479 0/465 132.N*8g 0/479 0/465 133.S8hx8g 0/479 0/465 134.G*8h 0/479 0/465 135.S9gx8h 0/479 0/465 136.+B7hx8h 0/479 0/465 137.K9ix8h 0/479 0/465 138.P8fx8g+ 0/479 0/465 139.S9hx8g 0/479 0/465 140.L8ex8g+ 0/479 0/465 141.K8hx8g 0/479 0/465 142.S*8f 0/479 0/465 Resigns 0/479 0/465 Time: 07:59:00 07:45:00 And 143.Kx8f B*6h leads to a simple mate. A very important win for Suzuki, who might now have taken a psychological barrier with his first title match win. Fujii will feel bad about this loss, given the opportunities he had, but he is still 3-1 ahead and is dominating the opening in this match. He will probably get some more chances to defend his Ryu-O title. In other shogi news: ==================== a) In the A class Maruyama played Shima. Maruyama is leading the race for challenging meijin Sato with a perfect 4-0 record, while Shima played for his last chance with 2-2. Maruyama won the game with a very surprising rook move that gave Shima a promoted bishop. Being forced to drop a silver for this turned out to be more important even though a mistake by Maruyama made it more difficult for him than necessary. Maruyama extended his winning streak in the A class to five games and it will be hard to imagine any other challenger than him or Moriuchi (who has a 4-1 score). b) In C1 both leaders Kubo and Suzuki defended their unblemished record and also won their 6th round game. Kubo showed against Murooka how difficult it is to assess compensation for material loss. Murooka thought that Kubo had no compensation for the loss of a silver, but Kubo showed in great style that he had the better game. Suzuki beat Nishimura in a game that was delayed because of the 4th game of the Ryu-O match. No report on this game in Shukan Shogi yet. I just read the result on the home page of the Shogi Renmei. Yashiki showed against young star Kimura that he can still play some great shogi despite his miserable 0-3 start. Kimura was still in the race for promotion with a 5-1 score, and seemed to on his way to 6-1, when Yashiki punished an overplay. Kimura put everything in a desperate dragon sacrifice, but Yashiki defended well and cashed in the point. Kimura still is in the race with 5-2, but Kubo and Suzuki have more to fear from Hatakeyama Mamoru (beating Isihkawa to get to 6-1) and Sato Shuji (a win over Kodama and a 5-1 score). Kubo seems to have relatively easy opponents, but Suzuki still has to play Namekata and Sato. c) In the Osho league Tanigawa got his first win after surprisingly losing his first three games. By beating Nakahara he did not improve his chances for challenging Habu much, but he did spoil Nakahara's chances for a title challenge. Nakahara dropped back to 1-2 and even though the osho league looks very tight this year, he does not seem to have much chances anymore. Sato (3-1), Morishita (2-1), Goda (2-1) and Maruyama (1-1) are the more likely candidates. d) The Kisei leagues have started, despite the fact that the preliminary games have not yet been finished. There are four groups of four players and the top two players from every group qualify for the knock-out challenger tournament to challenge Kisei Tanigawa. Goda had a good start in the A group by beating Sugimoto. He needs only one more win from the two remaining games to qualify for the knock-out tournament. Will he be able to get a rematch against Tanigawa? That is all 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