From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 18 apr 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 836, April 19th 2000) The new professional season got a real start with the first game of the Meijin match between Sato and Maruyama. An interesting match-up, as it is the first time these two players meet in a title match. Sato has a little more experience on the big stage, but Maruyama seems to be the man to beat these days. Game 1 already had a lot of excitement. Sato seemed to blow Maruyama away, but Maruyama managed to throw up all kinds of obstacles for Sato to overcome. In the end Sato overlooked one of the obstacles and panicked a little, following this mistake with another bad move that cost him the game. Here is the game with comments: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Meijin White: Maruyama Tadahisa, Challenger 58th Meijin-sen, Game 1, April 11th and 12th 2000 1.P7g-7f 3/3 0/0 The furigoma showed four pawns and only one tokin, so Sato had black in the first game of this year's Meijin match. The match was expected to be close, since Maruyama has had a great season with a winning percentage of more than 73% and challenging Sato by losing only one game in the A class Junisen this year. However, the head to head strongly favours Sato. He has an 11-6 lead against Sato, winning seven of their last ten encounters. After the Oza title match, Maruyama also has to play his second title match against a player he does not have a good record against... 2.P3c-3d 0/3 2/2 3.P2g-2f 8/11 0/2 4.P8c-8d 0/11 3/5 5.P2f-2e 3/14 0/5 6.P8d-8e 0/14 3/8 7.G6i-7h 1/15 0/8 8.G4a-3b 0/15 2/10 9.P2e-2d 1/16 0/10 10.P2cx2d 0/16 3/13 11.R2hx2d 0/16 0/13 12.P8e-8f 0/16 1/14 13.P8gx8f 0/16 0/14 14.R8bx8f 0/16 0/14 15.R2dx3d 0/16 0/14 The Yokofudori is no surprise. The last six games between Sato and Maruyama were Yokofudori games. In five games Maruyama was white, played the R8e variation and lost. In one game Maruyama was black and successfully fought Sato's N3c variation. Yokofudori fights were expected to be the big theme of this year's Meijin title match. 16.B2b-3c 0/16 0/14 17.R3d-3f 25/41 0/14 18.S3a-2b 0/41 3/17 19.P*8g 6/47 0/17 20.R8f-8e 0/47 3/20 Maruyama is a specialist in this fashionable opening. Despite his five previous losses with this variation against Sato, he is not afraid to try again. 21.R3f-2f 2/49 0/20 22.K5a-4a 0/49 5/25 23.K5i-5h 4/53 0/25 24.S7a-6b 0/53 19/44 25.G4i-3h 10/63 0/44 26.G6a-5a 0/63 11/55 27.S3i-4h 2/65 0/55 28.P7c-7d 0/65 2/57 29.P3g-3f 11/76 0/57 30.P*2e 0/76 8/65 31.R2f-2h 1/77 0/65 32.P*8f 0/77 2/67 33.P8gx8f 10/87 0/67 34.R8ex8f 0/87 1/68 35.P4g-4f 7/94 0/68 36.R8fx7f 0/94 8/76 37.B8hx3c+ 2/96 0/76 38.N2ax3c 0/96 1/77 39.S4h-4g 0/96 0/77 40.P2e-2f 0/96 56/133 41.N8i-7g 136/232 0/133 42.R7f-8f?! 0/232 58/191 The sealed move. So far the game was exactly the same as the 4th game of the Kio match between Habu and Moriuchi. Habu played 42.N7c here, and after N3g B*4d P6f Bx6f K6g P7e S5f N8e, white was attacking and black was defending. Even though it was not clear whether white's attack was strong enough, Moriuchi could not stop it and lost the game and the match. This game seems to show that 42.R8f is not better than what Habu played. Another possibility is 42.R7e P*8c R2e P8b+ P2g+ with an unclear but violent fight ahead. 43.P*8g 110/342 0/191 44.R8f-8d 0/342 22/213 45.P3f-3e 2/344 0/213 46.P7d-7e 0/344 18/231 47.R2hx2f 1/345 0/231 48.P*2e 0/345 28/259 49.R2f-2h 5/350 0/259 50.S2b-2c 0/350 51/310 51.N7g-6e! 48/398 0/310 Now it is clear that black's strategy has been a success. This knight move is nasty and white can not attack it with 52.P6d because of 53.P*2d Sx2d P*3d. "A complete loss" as Maruyama remarked after the game. Of course, he has no choice but to try and make the best of it. 52.B*9d 0/398 103/413 53.P*7c 14/412 0/413 54.P7e-7f 0/412 13/426 55.B*7b 61/473 0/426 56.P7f-7g+ 0/473 5/431 57.G7hx7g 2/475 0/431 58.P*7a 0/475 0/431 Realising that his position is bad, Maruyama bides his time. Making his position as difficult to attack as possible, he waits for mistake by Sato. 59.B7bx9d+ 0/475 0/431 60.P9cx9d 0/475 0/431 61.S7i-8h 1/476 0/431 62.N8a-9c 0/476 10/441 63.P8g-8f 0/476 0/441 Black can not allow this knight to jump to 8e, so this is the only move. The knight on 9c looks like it will die soon, but surprisingly it will still be there in the final position. 64.R8d-2d 0/476 0/441 65.N2i-3g 5/481 0/441 66.P6c-6d 0/481 2/443 67.B*8b 2/483 0/443 Seems to win both lance and knight and the game... 68.L9a-9b! 0/483 51/494 Maruyama is trying to make things as hard as possible. 69.B8b-9a+ 26/509 0/494 70.B*7d 0/509 1/495 71.N3g-4e 0/509 0/495 72.N3cx4e 0/509 8/503 73.P4fx4e 0/509 0/503 74.B7dx6e 0/509 0/503 75.P6g-6f? 0/509 0/503 The key point of the game. Sato completely overlooked the next move. Had he seen it, he would have played the correct 75.N*3f R5d P6f B7d P7b+ Px7b P*7e B8c +B8b N*7a +Bx8c Nx8c B*7d with a big advantage for black. 76.N*3f! 0/509 3/506 This move rocked Sato's confidence. 77.Sx3f Bx3h+ Rx3h N*4f loses the rook. 77.R2h-1h 7/516 0/506 78.B6e-7d 0/516 2/508 79.P7c-7b+ 0/516 0/508 80.P7ax7b 0/516 0/508 81.P*7e 0/516 0/508 82.B7dx4g+ 0/516 1/509 83.G3hx4g 0/516 0/509 84.N*2f 0/516 0/509 85.N*4h! 1/517 0/509 This is a good move. Black is still better, but it is hard to make the mental adjustment from an overwhelming position to a slightly better position, even for a Meijin. 86.N2fx1h+ 0/517 2/511 87.N4hx3f 0/517 0/511 88.R*3h 0/517 0/511 89.N*4h 0/517 0/511 90.R2d-1d 0/517 0/511 91.L1ix1h? 0/517 0/511 A blunder that loses the game. Handing over this lance gives white a deadly attack. After the simple 91.+Bx9b things are very complicated: Rx1g+ P*2d S1b P4d and white's attack is by far not as strong as in the game. 92.R3hx1h+ 0/517 0/511 93.+B9ax9b 0/517 0/511 94.R1dx1g+ 0/517 0/511 95.P*2d 0/517 0/511 96.S2c-1b 0/517 0/511 97.P4e-4d 15/532 0/511 98.L*4e! 0/532 0/511 Painful. White's attack is stronger. 99.B*7d 0/532 0/511 100.K4a-3a 0/532 2/513 101.P4dx4c+ 0/532 0/513 102.L4ex4g+ 0/532 0/513 103.B7dx4g 0/532 0/513 104.G3bx4c 0/532 0/513 105.N*5e 7/539 0/513 106.P*4f 0/539 3/516 107.B4g-8c+ 0/539 0/516 108.G*6h 0/539 14/530 Here Maruyama had calculated everything until the end. He knows black has not mate. 109.K5hx6h 0/539 0/530 110.+R1hx4h 0/539 0/530 111.K6h-7i 0/539 0/530 112.S*6h 0/539 2/532 113.K7i-8i 0/539 0/532 114.S6hx7g+ 0/539 0/532 115.N5ex4c= 0/539 0/532 116.K3a-4b 0/539 1/533 117.G*3c 0/539 0/533 118.K4bx3c 0/539 0/533 119.L*3d 0/539 0/533 120.K3cx4c 0/539 0/533 121.L*4e 0/539 0/533 122.K4c-5b 0/539 2/535 123.N3f-4d 0/539 0/535 124.K5b-6a 0/539 0/535 Resigns 0/539 0/535 Time: 08:59:00 08:55:00 After 125.+Bx7b Kx7b G*8b K6c +B8a K7c +B7b K8d +B8c Kx7e there is no mate and black can no longer defend. During the post-mortem analysis Sato was clearly very upset with himself for losing this game. This was showed in his language, where he sometimes changed his usual formal "watashi" to the much more informal "ore". Both words are used to describe oneself, but the feeling in Japanese is vastly different. Game 2 will show if he will manage to pick himself up after such a disappointing loss. In other shogi news: ==================== * Habu is the first to reach the final of the Kisei challenger tournament. He beat Nakahara in a very difficult game where he held all the big pieces and Nakahara almost all the small ones (seven generals and three knights). Habu in now only one win away from challenging Tanigawa for the Kisei title. Will he be able to add another crown to the four he already holds. It will not be easy, since his opponent in the final will be either Meijin Sato or Moriuchi. * In the Oi leagues there is a big difference between the Red group and the White group. In the red group things are very exciting, with Tanigawa being the fourth player (out of six) to join the lead with a win over Minami. With two more games to play, this league is going straight for a play-off. In the white group the story is different. Morishita has the lead with three straight wins and his only rival is Yashiki with 2 wins and one loss. Fukaura had a chance to join Yashiki with a win over Suzuki, but a good position almost magically turned into a bad one and he lost. Inoue also had a chance to get to 2-1, but he overlooked an unusual knight drop by Namekata and after that it was all Namekata. The white group now has four players shared on 1-2, fighting to avoid relegation. * Goda has been in the challenger final of the Oza tournament for three straight years, but he also lost three times in a row. Since his surprising relegation from the A class after only one year, he seems to have raised his game. A win in the first round of the Oza against Tosa gives Goda a 3-0 score in the still very young 2000-2001 season. He used minimal resources (only silver and pawn in hand) to set up a surprisingly nasty attack that Tosa did not see coming and in the end was unable to defend. A good start for Goda, but he will need more of that to forget about the previous three years... * Aono is the first one to qualify for the knock-out qualifying tournament of the Ryu-O. Things looked very bleak against Tomioka, but in the endgame Tomioka saw too late that an intended plan did not work. He had to change plans midway and that almost never good.The third qualification group is by far the easiest to qualify from, but Aono followed his come-back to the A class Junisen with another fine result. 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)298-61-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-61-5918