From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 22 dec 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 871, December 20th 2000) This week in Shukan Shogi the 6th game of the Ryu-O match between Fujii and Habu. Things are really heating up, as Habu managed to win to level the match at 3-3. It was the first time that Habu did not have a bad position after the opening, but Fujii played very well also and at the moment it is still unclear why Fujii lost. Here are the guesses by Shukan Shogi: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger White: Fujii Takeshi, Ryu-O 13th Ryu-O sen, Game 6, December 14th and 15th 2000 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 3/3 3.P2g-2f 2/2 0/3 4.P4c-4d 0/2 0/3 5.S3i-4h 4/6 0/3 6.S3a-3b 0/6 0/3 7.P5g-5f 5/11 0/3 8.R8b-4b 0/11 0/3 9.K5i-6h 8/19 0/3 10.P9c-9d 0/19 0/3 11.P9g-9f 7/26 0/3 12.S7a-7b 0/26 0/3 13.K6h-7h 3/29 0/3 14.S3b-4c 0/29 0/3 15.G4i-5h 7/36 0/3 16.K5a-6b 0/36 0/3 17.P3g-3f 23/59 0/3 18.K6b-7a 0/59 0/3 19.P2f-2e 4/63 0/3 20.B2b-3c 0/63 0/3 21.S7i-6h 1/64 0/3 22.K7a-8b 0/64 0/3 23.S6h-5g 4/68 0/3 24.L1a-1b 0/68 0/3 25.G6i-6h 19/87 0/3 26.P1c-1d 0/87 12/15 27.P4g-4f 47/134 0/15 28.S4c-5d 0/134 15/30 29.N2i-3g 12/146 0/30 Habu seems to think that the quick attack is the only way to make things hard for Fujii. This time he picks the N3g quick attacking system. Fujii chooses a sharp counter with the silver moving straight to the head of the black king. 30.S5d-6e 0/146 42/72 31.P7f-7e 29/175 0/72 32.P6c-6d 0/175 54/126 33.P5f-5e 30/205 0/126 34.P5c-5d 0/205 10/136 35.P6g-6f 29/234 0/136 36.S6e-7f 0/234 0/136 37.P5ex5d 0/234 0/136 38.R4b-5b 0/234 0/136 39.P2e-2d 5/239 0/136 40.B3cx2d!? 0/239 12/148 Looks a bit risky, as this bishop can be taken at any time and there is a gaping hole on 4c for a bishop drop. However, Fujii has calculated that this is not a problem and that the bishop on 2d is much more active than on 2c. 41.P7e-7d 71/310 0/148 The sealed move and the start of the real hostilities. Habu wants to move the bishop to 9g and also drive back the silver with Px7c+ followed by P*7g. 41.Rx2d Px2d B*4c looks very inviting, but after G3b Bx5b+ Gx4b R*4a R*2i followed by Rx1i+ and L*8d, the white attack is stronger. Habu's biggest problem here seems to be time. After the first day, he has used more than 5 hours, while Fujii has only used a little more than 2 hours... 42.G4a-3b 0/310 69/217 Fujii wants to answer B9g with B4b, so he defends 2c with the gold. The drawback is that with this gold so far away from the king, white's position is not very solid. For the first time in his two matches against Fujii, it seems that Habu has a reasonable position after the opening. Still, it is too hard to say who is better here. 43.P7dx7c+ 36/346 0/217 44.S7bx7c 0/346 1/218 45.P*7g 1/347 0/218 46.S7f-8e 0/347 0/218 47.R2hx2d 17/364 0/218 48.P2cx2d 0/364 0/218 49.B*6c 0/364 0/218 50.S8e-7d 0/364 5/223 51.B6cx5b+ 0/364 0/223 52.G6ax5b 0/364 0/223 53.R*1a 0/364 0/223 54.P3d-3e! 0/364 87/310 It seems that black has the better position. The white pieces are all over the place and black has dropped his rook in the camp of the opponent first. The big problem of the black position is the inactive bishop on 8h. Because of this, things are still very difficult. Fujii's 54.P3e is a strong move, starting a counter attack on the head of the black knight and at the same time opening the diagonal to the king so that black can not take the lance on 1b. 55.R1ax2a+?! 0/364 0/310 Here Habu misses a good chance to get the better position. The knight sacrifice 55.N4e! would have been the best move. Then, after 56.Px4e Rx1b+ G3b-4b P5c+ white can try to play for the king-rook fork again with Px4f, but after L*5f P*5e +Px5b Px5f Sx5f black is better. Fujii planned to play G4bx5c P*5d B*3d (after P5c+), but then +Rx2a Px4f N*6g black has good chances. 56.G3b-4b 0/364 3/313 The position of the golds seems a little odd, but they are actually defending quite well. Black has a difficult time making any progress here. 57.P3fx3e 28/392 0/313 58.B*2g 0/392 67/380 59.N3g-4e 22/414 0/380 60.P4dx4e 0/414 0/380 61.N*3d 0/414 0/380 62.G4b-3c 0/414 24/404 63.+R2ax1b 23/437 0/404 64.P*3b 0/437 0/404 65.+R1b-2a 0/437 0/404 66.P4ex4f 0/437 5/409 67.+R2a-4a 2/439 0/409 68.G5b-6b 0/439 2/411 69.P5d-5c+ 3/442 0/411 70.G6bx5c 0/442 0/411 71.+R4a-4b 0/442 0/411 72.P*5b 0/442 1/412 73.L*5f 0/442 0/412 74.B2g-6c+ 0/442 4/416 75.P7g-7f 3/445 0/416 76.R*2i 0/445 6/422 77.P9f-9e 10/455 0/422 78.R2ix1i+ 0/455 12/434 79.P9ex9d 0/455 0/434 80.P*9f 0/455 0/434 81.L9ix9f 1/456 0/434 82.N*8d 0/456 1/435 83.P9d-9c+ 2/458 0/435 84.N8ax9c 0/458 0/435 85.P*9d 0/458 0/435 86.N8dx9f 0/458 2/437 87.P9dx9c+ 0/458 0/437 88.L9ax9c 0/458 0/437 89.B8h-7g 0/458 0/437 90.P*7e 0/458 7/444 It seems that black's attack has run out of steam, so the general opinion was that white had the advantage here. Fujii did not like 90.L*8d after 91.P*5i, so he plays the attack on the head of the bishop instead. However, this gives Habu a chance to play a brilliant fighting move. 91.L5fx5c+! 5/463 0/444 The magic begins. This looks like a bad move, as white can take this lance with attack on the black promoted rook. Losing that rook seems to make black's attack even weaker... 92.+B6cx5c 0/463 0/444 93.P7fx7e! 1/464 0/444 This one-two punch shows Habu's endgame strength. He has judged that 94.+Bx4b Px7d Sx7d P*7e is good for black. Very hard to see for lesser gods. 94.S7dx7e 0/464 13/457 95.P*9d 5/469 0/457 96.L*8d 0/469 4/461 Looks like a good move, as 96.Lx9d N*8e S7c-8d +Rx5c Px5c B*6c seems good for black. The lance on 8d defends against N*8e and also threatens Lx8g+ at some point, so Fujii thought he was safe here and would win the game. In reality, things are extremely complicated here. 97.P9dx9c+ 1/470 0/461 98.K8bx9c 0/470 0/461 99.P*9d 1/471 0/461 100.K9c-8b 0/471 0/461 101.+R4bx5c 5/476 0/461 102.P5bx5c 0/476 5/466 103.B*6c 2/478 0/466 This looks like a weak attack and Habu said he only played it because there was nothing else. It is a sign of the complexity of shogi that no one could find a winning variation for white here. 104.L8dx8g+ 0/478 1/467 105.K7h-6g 0/478 0/467 106.+L8gx7g 0/478 1/468 107.G6hx7g 0/478 0/468 108.+R1i-6i 0/478 1/469 109.G5h-6h! 0/478 0/469 Fujii seems to have underestimated this move. As this opens 5h for a bishop drop, this does not look like a good defence. However, with the bishop on 6c also working in defence, there is no mate. 110.S7e-7f 0/478 8/477 The obvious 110.B*5h K5f L*5d P*5e Lx5e K4f is not good enough. There is no mate and the rook on 6i is still hanging. 111.K6g-5f 0/478 0/477 112.B*7d? 0/478 0/477 Now black can take the promoted rook on 6i for free and white still has no good attack. Black wins. Still, what else can white play? 113.B6cx7d+ 0/478 0/477 114.S7cx7d 0/478 0/477 115.G6hx6i 0/478 0/477 116.B*2i 0/478 1/478 117.P*4g 0/478 0/478 118.L*5d 0/478 0/478 119.P*5e 0/478 0/478 120.L5dx5e 0/478 0/478 121.K5fx5e 0/478 0/478 122.B2i-1h+ 0/478 1/479 123.B*9a 1/479 0/479 124.K8b-7a 0/479 0/479 125.R*4a 0/479 0/479 126.L*6a 0/479 0/479 127.L*7c 0/479 0/479 128.P*7b 0/479 0/479 129.G*8b 0/479 0/479 Resigns 0/479 0/479 Time: 07:59:00 07:59:00 Mate after 130.K6b Lx7b+ +Bx7b Gx7b Kx7b L*7c K6b B*7a K5b R4b+ K6c +Rx5c. A strange game where Fujii seems to have lost without making a mistake. Habu's magical powers prevailed again. So despite his problem's in the opening in this match, Habu has managed to get back to 3-3 and suddenly has a very good chance to take the Ryu-O title from Fujii, something that seemed very unlikely when he was 3-1 down. For the fifth time in a row, a professional title match will be decided in the final game. In other shogi news: ==================== * Without playing, Tanigawa got the sole lead in the A class Junisen. Sato Yasumitsu played Morishita to join Tanigawa at 5-1, but he could not get anything going. Sato played Yodofurisbishi, just like in the previous round against Habu. That game he won very convincingly, but this time it was a different story. Morishita played the middle game very well and with Sato's dicey position he could not afford a single mistake. This mistake still came and after that it was all Morishita, who now got back to 3-3, so his position in next year's top class is almost assured. Habu managed to catch up with Sato at 4-2 with a victory over Senzaki. Habu has the edge in this game for a long time, but almost got caught by a brilliant bishop sacrifice by his opponent. He was lucky in that it just was not good enough to turn the tables, but the move must have shaken him a little. In the end Senzaki's move will not end up in the history books, but just be a "nice try". Senzaki now drops to 2-4 and finds himself at the bottom of the league after three consecutive losses. I think he needs at least two wins from the final three to save his place in the A class. Especially the next game against Kato is going to be vital. * In the C1 Junisen class the 8th round was played. It seems that things are finally getting a little clearer in this class, as leaders Namekata and Horiguchi Kazushiza both won to stay ahead of everyone else with 6-1. Both still can not drop a game, Horiguchi just promoted from C2 and is at the bottom of the league. Namekata still has Sato Shuji to worry about, who is 5-2 and has a higher Junisen ranking. Other players still in with a promotion chance are Nakata Hiroki (6-2), Ouchi (5-2), Nishimura (5-2), Sugimoto (5-2) and Katsumata (5-2). In the next round Namekata plays Katsumata and Horiguchi plays Ouchi and this might make things even clearer. I think both leaders are more than capable of winning their remaining games, so my guess is that the other will have to try next year. * In the Osho league the challenger of Habu was already decided a couple of weeks ago, but the fight for a place in next year's league was still wide open. Nakahara and Maruyama played to stay in the league and it was a little surprising that Nakahara won the game. He played very confidently throughout the game and got a good position. However, in the end Maruyama got some good chances to get back in the game, but he seemed to have already resigned himself to losing, so he missed his chance. Kubo showed how talented he is by beating Morishita in the final game to get a place in next year's finals. Victories over Maruyama, Sato, Goda and Morishita indicate that Kubo might be challenging for a title in the not too distant future. The final place in next year's Osho league was for Sato Yasumitsu, who just managed to squeeze in with a win over Goda. * Still some good news for Fujii despite his losses in the Ryu-O. He beat Hatakeyama Nariyuki in the Kisei league and now only needs one more win from two games to get to the quarter finals. He was lucky to win, as Hatakeyama refused to give up after getting behind in the game early on. In the end Fujii needed a blunder by his opponent to win the game. Hatakeyama let himself be mated where there was still an escape that would have won the game. * Moriuchi won the JT Series with a victory in 184 moves over Tanigawa. The JT Series is an invitation tournament for the best 12 professionals and is played all over Japan in front of large audiences. Tanigawa more or less owns this tournament, as he has already won it five times before. However, the last time was already three years ago when he beat Moriuchi in the final. This year was different, as Moriuchi won a very exciting game to get his first JT Series victory. More next 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