From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 29 sep 1999 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 808, September 29th 1999) Maruyama struck back in great fashion in game 2 of the Oza match. He not only won this vital game to tie the match, but also showed he is still in great form despite having his winning streak snapped at 18 games. Here is Maruyama's first win in a title match game: Black: Maruyama, Challenger White: Habu, Oza 47th Oza-sen, Game 2, September 20th 1999 1.P2g-2f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 1/1 3.P7g-7f 0/0 0/1 4.P4c-4d 0/0 1/2 5.P2f-2e 0/0 0/2 6.B2b-3c 0/0 0/2 7.S3i-4h 0/0 0/2 8.R8b-4b 0/0 1/3 9.K5i-6h 0/0 0/3 10.S7a-7b 0/0 1/4 11.K6h-7h 0/0 0/4 12.P9c-9d 0/0 1/5 13.G4i-5h 13/13 0/5 14.S3a-3b 0/13 7/12 15.P9g-9f 13/26 0/12 16.G4a-5b 0/26 11/23 17.P5g-5f 1/27 0/23 18.K5a-6b 0/27 8/31 19.B8h-7g 6/33 0/31 20.K6b-7a 0/33 32/63 21.K7h-8h 9/42 0/63 22.P6c-6d 0/42 2/65 23.P6g-6f 18/60 0/65 24.S3b-4c 0/60 47/112 25.S4h-5g 9/69 0/112 26.K7a-8b 0/69 7/119 Recently, the Fujii system is most often played against the black Anaguma. In this game Habu chooses the "old-fashioned" Mino instead. 27.G5h-6g 44/113 0/119 28.P7c-7d 0/113 5/124 29.L9i-9h 6/119 0/124 30.P8c-8d 0/119 2/126 31.K8h-9i 40/159 0/126 32.G5b-6c 0/159 11/137 33.S7i-8h 0/159 0/137 34.S7b-8c 0/159 0/137 35.S5g-6h!? 21/180 0/137 Interesting idea. This silver blocks the retreat of the bishop, so it looks a bit strange. The normal development from this position is G7i followed by either B6h or B5i and G7g. Maruyama's plan is to invite the pawn push to 4e, because there is a weakness at 4f now. If white does not play this, black can quietly strengthen his Anaguma with G7h followed by S6h-7i. 36.G6a-7b?! 0/180 30/167 A difficult decision. Habu did not like 36.P4e P6e S4d P3f followed by N3g. It is hard to see if his decision is correct. In the game white ends up without any good moves, so either P4e seems to be the right move to play here, or Habu's opening strategy is a failure. 37.P3g-3f 4/184 0/167 38.R4b-3b 0/184 10/177 39.P4g-4f 13/197 0/177 40.S4c-5d 0/197 4/181 41.G6i-7h 4/201 0/181 42.N8a-7c 0/201 3/184 43.S6h-7i 2/203 0/184 44.R3b-4b 0/203 5/189 45.N2i-3g 7/210 0/189 46.R4b-3b 0/210 16/205 47.P1g-1f 27/237 0/205 48.P3d-3e 0/237 3/208 49.R2h-2f 1/238 0/208 50.N7c-8e?! 0/238 26/234 Habu is stuck for moves. This knight is going to be attacked by P8f in the near future, which stretches white position too much. However, with the black bishop on 7g, white can not play B5a because of P6e with a big advantage for black. 51.B7g-6h 1/239 0/234 52.B3c-5a 0/239 0/234 53.P3fx3e 0/239 0/234 54.R3bx3e 0/239 0/234 55.P*3f 0/239 0/234 56.R3e-3d 0/239 0/234 57.P8g-8f 0/239 0/234 58.P9d-9e 0/239 0/234 59.P9fx9e! 4/243 0/234 Saves white's knight, but this is the right decision. After 61.Px8e Px9f, white has a strong attacking base on 9g. As Maruyama plays it, he wins two pawns and leaves white without pawns in hand. From now on the fighting will concentrate on the left side of the board. Both rooks will not play any part in the game from now on. 60.P*9g 0/243 0/234 61.N8ix9g 0/243 0/234 62.N8ex9g+ 0/243 0/234 63.L9hx9g 0/243 0/234 64.P6d-6e 0/243 8/242 65.P6fx6e 23/266 0/242 66.S5dx6e 0/266 0/242 67.P*6f 0/266 0/242 68.S6e-5d 0/266 0/242 69.S8h-8g 4/270 0/242 70.P8d-8e 0/270 13/255 71.P8fx8e 4/274 0/255 72.P*8d 0/274 0/255 73.P8ex8d 2/276 0/255 74.S8cx8d 0/276 0/255 75.P*8f 0/276 0/255 76.P7d-7e 0/276 1/256 77.N*8e! 2/278 0/256 Habu has started a desperate fight, but Maruyama quietly takes away all of white's moves. 77.N*8e is a very strong move, tieing the white silver to the defence of 9c and 7c. For example: 78.Sx9e P*9b followed by P*9c and black uses the lance to win the white rook after L*3e. 78.P7ex7f 0/278 8/264 Habu has to attack. If he allows black to play S8h followed by K9h he has no chance of winning. 79.P*7c 0/278 0/264 80.G7bx7c 0/278 0/264 81.N8ex7c+ 0/278 0/264 82.G6cx7c 0/278 0/264 83.P*7e 4/282 0/264 84.P*9f 0/282 7/271 Here 84.N*8c was also analysed, but after 85.Gx7f Nx7e Gx7e Sx7e N*8e G6c P5e followed by G*6e is very good for black. 85.S8gx9f 1/283 0/271 86.N*8c 0/283 4/275 87.G*8e 2/285 0/275 88.S8dx8e 0/285 1/276 89.P8fx8e 0/285 0/276 90.N8cx7e 0/285 1/277 91.G6gx7f 0/285 0/277 92.P*7d 0/285 0/277 93.S*8d 8/293 0/277 94.G7c-6c 0/293 8/285 95.P5f-5e! 2/295 0/285 A surprise. It seems easy to improve the position at no cost with 95.P9d. If then 96.P*8c P9c+ Lx9c Sx9c+ Kx9c L*3e wins for black. If 96.P*9b, then black has improved his position on the edge a lot. After only two minutes thought, Maruyama decided to go for the quick kill. This is certainly not his usual style, but in this game he shows that he has mastered that part of the game as well. In Tanigawa style he goes for the shortest route to win. 96.S5dx5e 0/295 0/285 97.P*5f 0/295 0/285 98.S5ex5f 0/295 4/289 99.P4f-4e 0/295 0/289 100.S5f-6g= 0/295 0/289 101.G7hx6g 1/296 0/289 102.N*8g 0/296 0/289 Black looks in some trouble here. Even Habu felt a glimmer of hope: "I thought I would not even give check". 103.K9i-8h 0/296 0/289 104.N8gx7i+ 0/296 0/289 105.G7fx7e 1/297 0/289 106.G*7h 0/297 0/289 107.K8h-8g 0/297 0/289 108.P7dx7e 0/297 0/289 109.B6h-4f 0/297 0/289 110.K8b-7a 0/297 2/291 111.N*5e 2/299 0/291 112.G6c-6d 0/299 0/291 113.P*7c! 0/299 0/291 Ends all hope. S*6c next leaves white without defence, while giving up a gold means mate in one. Running away with 114.K6a also fails to 115.P6e followed by S*6c. 114.P7e-7f 0/299 3/294 A final prayer. If 115.S*6c?? then 116.Bx7c! (Sx7c+ S*9h and mate) and white would suddenly be winning. 115.S*7e! 0/299 0/294 Perfect until the end. This silver defends against a possible mate and leaves white without defence. 116.B5ax7c 0/299 5/299 117.N5e-6c= 0/299 0/299 Resigns 0/299 0/299 Time: 04:59:00 04:59:00 After 118.Gx6c Sx7c+ or 118.K6a Sx6d the game is over. A big win for Maruyama. Going 2-0 down in a five game title match is almost impossible to recover from, especially against Habu. Not only did he avoid that, he did so in an impressive style, playing perfect shogi. His first title match win will give him a boost of confidence, just what he needs to defeat an opponent he has such bad results against. In other Shogi news: ==================== 1) Moriuchi was the last player to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Kio challenger tournament. He beat Tanaka Torahiko in the counter attack in 103 moves. He will now play Tanigawa next. Other quarterfinals are Fujii-Sato Shuji, Shima-Inoue and Goda-Sato Yasumitsu. An impressive line-up with five current or former title holders. 2) The final of the Shinjin-O title will be played between Fujii and Horiguchi. Fujii, who beat Miura in the semifinals, has already won the Shinjin-O title twice and wants to make the best of his last appearance in this tournament. Horiguchi beat Hatakeyama Mamoru in the semifinals and is looking for his first tournament victory as a professional. He was close already this year when he lost the final of the NHK tournament against Habu. Fujii is the favourite to win the Shinjin-O title, but Horiguchi is one of those very promising young stars, so he will need to play really well to get his third Shinjin-O title. 3) In the Ladies Oi match title holder Shimizu had a good start against challenger Usui. They showed how opening preparation has become important in the ladies' tournaments as well, since both followed two games between Sato and Habu for a long time. Usui deviated from these games, but that turned out a bad idea, since her defensive idea was too passive. Shimizu got a comfortable attack and won from there. 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