From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 17 aug 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 853, August 16th 2000) Even though Japan is famous for its lack of holidays, even here there is a summer vacation season. Most Japanese only have a three day holiday this week during O-bon, but it seems that most professionals have more than a week off, as there are almost no results of interest from professional games in Shukan Shogi this week. Of course, there is no rest for Habu and Tanigawa, who continue to slug it out this season. Last week they played the third game of the Oi match. Tanigawa was very close to taking the lead in the match, but in the end Habu used some of his magic to escape and win. Here is the game with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Oi White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger 41st Oi-sen, Game 3, August 8th and 9th 2000 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 1/1 3.P6g-6f 1/1 0/1 4.S7a-6b 0/1 18/19 5.S7i-7h 8/9 0/19 6.P6c-6d 0/9 24/43 7.R2h-6h 13/22 0/43 It seems like Habu is determined to play Furibisha in this match. The first game was a Ai-Furibisha, the second game Habu played Shikenbisha with white and this game he plays Shikenbisha with black. 8.S6b-6c 0/22 1/44 9.S7h-6g 0/22 0/44 10.K5a-4b 0/22 3/47 11.K5i-4h 21/43 0/47 12.K4b-3b 0/43 2/49 13.K4h-3h 3/46 0/49 14.S6c-5d 0/46 1/50 This early attack against the Shikenbisha is not often seen in professional shogi. Tanigawa has prepared this at home. 15.P7f-7e 24/70 0/50 The standard attack is P7d~N7c~N8e~P6e. 15.P7e makes this attack impossible. 16.R8b-6b 0/70 11/61 17.G6i-5h 27/97 0/61 18.P6d-6e 0/97 46/107 This looks more dangerous than it actually is. Without the knight, this attack is not so strong. 19.K3h-2h 55/152 0/107 20.P6ex6f 0/152 15/122 21.B8hx6f 10/162 0/122 22.S5d-5e 0/162 51/173 23.B6f-8h 45/207 0/173 24.P*6f 0/207 16/189 A scary looking attacking base, but this game shows that this pawn is too weak and in danger of being captured without playing a role in attack. 25.S6g-7f 8/215 0/189 26.R6b-6d 0/215 2/191 27.S3i-3h 18/233 0/191 28.G6a-5b 0/233 14/205 29.P9g-9f 22/255 0/205 30.P9c-9d 0/255 8/213 31.P8g-8f 8/263 0/213 32.B2b-3c 0/263 15/228 33.P8f-8e 20/283 0/228 34.G5b-4b 0/283 10/238 35.N8i-7g! 16/299 0/238 This move shows the weakness of the pawn on 6f. The threat is 35.S6e R6b P5f S6d S7f followed by P*6e and the capture of the pawn on 6f. If this plan would succeed, white would lose quickly. 36.R6d-6b 0/299 45/283 37.N7g-6e!? 27/326 0/283 Positive play. Habu sacrifices a knight for positional advantage. Still, things are not very clear... 38.K3b-2b 0/326 24/307 39.P5g-5f 7/333 0/307 40.S5ex5f 0/333 3/310 41.B8hx6f 3/336 0/310 42.P4c-4d 0/336 3/313 43.B6f-3i 9/345 0/313 44.P4d-4e 0/345 27/340 45.B3i-6f 17/362 0/340 46.P*6g 0/362 33/373 47.B6fx3c+ 3/365 0/373 48.N2ax3c 0/365 0/373 49.S7fx6g 2/367 0/373 50.S5fx6e 0/367 7/380 51.P*6c 0/367 0/380 52.R6b-9b 0/367 11/391 53.P8e-8d 26/393 0/391 Here black seems to be in complete control, despite being a knight down. However, the next move shows that the knight sacrifice is a little suspect. 54.G4b-3b! 0/393 8/399 Great move. Tanigawa ignores the promotion of the pawn and reactivates his rook, going straight for Habu's king. After 54.Px8d, black would get a big advantage after 55.B*8c. After taking the rook, P6b+ is a very fast attack. 55.P8dx8c+ 6/399 0/399 56.R9b-4b 0/399 0/399 57.P6c-6b+ 0/399 0/399 58.P4e-4f 0/399 12/411 59.P4gx4f 5/404 0/411 60.N*5d 0/404 5/416 61.G5h-4h 7/411 0/416 62.N5dx4f 0/411 0/416 63.S3h-4g 1/412 0/416 64.B*7g 0/412 3/419 65.R6h-9h 17/429 0/419 66.P*6f 0/429 15/434 67.S6g-7h 2/431 0/434 68.B7g-6h+ 0/431 0/434 69.+P6b-6c 4/435 0/434 70.P6f-6g+ 0/435 5/439 71.S7hx6g 1/436 0/439 72.+B6hx6g 0/436 0/439 73.+P6cx5c 0/436 0/439 74.R4b-4e 0/436 9/448 75.B*6c 1/437 0/448 76.S*5g 0/437 5/453 Black is in deep trouble. He is actually a knight and a silver down at the moment, while the white king is much safer than the black one. In the press room the general opinion was that Tanigawa was winning. 77.B6cx4e+? 8/445 0/453 This makes matters worse. Better was 77.P*4c. If then 78.G5a Bx4e+ Nx4e P4b+ is good for black. If 78.Sx4h+ Gx4h S5f Sx4f Rx4f Bx4a+ there is the strange situation that even though black is not threatening mate, he only needs one more piece. Therefore, white needs to find an attack that wins without giving up that extra piece in the process. This is unexpectedly hard. Habu should have played this line as it gave him the best chances to survive. 78.N3cx4e 0/445 0/453 79.R*6a 1/446 0/453 80.B*8e?? 0/446 7/460 A blunder that turns the game around. Tanigawa could have won here after the simple 80.Sx4h+ Gx4h N5g+ Rx4a+ +Nx4g. This threatens mate after B*3i Kx3i G*3h Gx3h +B5g etc. Also, Gx5g B*3i Kx3i G*3h leads to mate. 81.P*5h 2/448 0/460 82.S6e-5f 0/448 4/464 83.S4gx4f 1/449 0/464 84.S5gx4f+ 0/449 0/464 85.P*8f 1/450 0/464 86.B8e-7f 0/450 3/467 87.R6ax4a+ 1/451 0/467 Suddenly black's attack is very strong, while white's attack is too slow. 88.S5f-4g+ 0/451 0/467 89.G*3h 3/454 0/467 90.+S4gx3h 0/454 0/467 91.G4ix3h 0/454 0/467 92.S*5i 0/454 0/467 93.G4h-4i 16/470 0/467 94.G*4g 0/470 1/468 95.N*2e 1/471 0/468 96.+B6g-6f 0/471 3/471 97.P*4d 5/476 0/471 98.B7fx9h+ 0/476 2/473 For a moment, the professionals in the press room thought that Habu had blundered. This looks like a brilliant move. If black would be given time to take the gold on 4g, white would be mated after S*3c K1b (Gx3c +Rx3a etc.) +Rx3b Bx3b G*2b etc. However, after 98.B9h+, white can take on 3b with a promoted bishop instead of an unpromoted bishop, so there is no mate. If black takes the bishop (99.Lx9h) then 100.+Sx3g leads to mate after both 101.K1h R*2h Gx2h +Sx2h Kx2h +B5e and 101.Nx3g Nx3g+ Gx3g Gx3g Kx3g N*4e. Defending a mate by taking a rook and at the same time threatening mate oneself is usually enough to win... 99.K2h-1h! 0/476 0/473 This shows that Habu has seen it all. White can no longer make a mating threat without giving black the pieces he needs. The amazing thing is that Habu played this move without thinking. He must have seen that this much earlier. 100.N4ex3g+ 0/476 3/476 This is not a mating threat, but after 100.+Sx3g Nx3g Nx3g+ Gx3g Gx3g N*1d white is mated. 101.L9ix9h 0/476 0/476 102.+B6fx4d 0/476 3/479 103.P*3c 1/477 0/479 104.+B4dx3c 0/477 0/479 105.N2ex3c+ 0/477 0/479 106.G3bx3c 0/477 0/479 107.N2ix3g 0/477 0/479 108.+S4fx3g 0/477 0/479 109.+R4ax3a 1/478 0/479 110.K2bx3a 0/478 0/479 111.S*4b 0/478 0/479 112.K3a-2a 0/478 0/479 113.S*2b 0/478 0/479 114.K2ax2b 0/478 0/479 115.S4bx3c= 0/478 0/479 116.K2bx3c 0/478 0/479 117.B*5e 0/478 0/479 Resigns 0/478 0/479 Time: 07:58:00 07:59:00 Mate after B*4b if white drops a piece on 4d, or after 118.K2d B*3c. Again Habu manages to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Tanigawa must be disappointed, but he is only 2-1 behind, so he needs to fire himself up for the vital fourth game. As said, not much interesting going on in other tournaments. In the quarterfinals Suzuki Daisuke beat Kondo in a vicious battle that lasted for 364 moves in two sessions after the first game has ended in jishogi. Also, there are two other games between Habu and Tanigawa in this issue of Shukan Shogi, as they played in the Kachinuki-sen and in the Ginga-sen. Both are minor tournaments, but beating Habu would have done Tanigawa's confidence a lot of good. It was not to be, as Habu won both games. In the Kachinuki-sen this was his eleventh straight and this is only one win short of the alltime record, which is held by... Tanigawa. That's all for this week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Games Lab Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305-8568 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