From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 4 feb 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 825, February 2nd 2000) This week in Shukan the third game of the Osho title match between Habu and challenger Sato. In this match, Habu has turned on his magical endgame powers to full force. Sato is not playing badly, but in every game he is being outplayed in the endgame. A frustrating experience for the Meijin, but when you are only human there is nothing that can help you against sorcery. Here is game 3 with comments: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Osho 49th Osho-sen, Game 3, January 26th and 27th 2000 1.P7g-7f 2/2 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/2 3/3 3.P2g-2f 0/2 0/3 4.P4c-4d 0/2 1/4 5.P2f-2e 2/4 0/4 6.B2b-3c 0/4 0/4 7.S3i-4h 0/4 0/4 8.P9c-9d 0/4 2/6 9.G4i-5h 8/12 0/6 10.P9d-9e 0/12 15/21 11.K5i-6h 2/14 0/21 12.R8b-4b 0/14 3/24 13.K6h-7h 4/18 0/24 14.S3a-3b 0/18 2/26 15.P5g-5f 8/26 0/26 16.S7a-7b 0/26 10/36 17.S4h-5g 26/52 0/36 18.S3b-4c 0/52 13/49 19.P3g-3f 4/56 0/49 20.K5a-6b 0/56 12/61 21.B8h-7g 3/59 0/61 22.K6b-7a 0/59 19/80 23.K7h-8h 1/60 0/80 24.K7a-8b 0/60 0/80 25.L9i-9h 12/72 0/80 Habu shows his confidence by playing the Shikenbisha against Sato (or maybe he is just bluffing). Sato is an expert in the Ibisha Anaguma and he has had some very good results recently, for example against Shikenbisha specialist Fujii. Commentators speculated that from this opening, Sato's chances of beating Habu would be higher than in any other opening. 26.R4b-3b 0/72 47/127 27.S5g-6f 11/83 0/127 28.P4d-4e 0/83 12/139 29.R2h-3h 13/96 0/139 The best move here. If black moves his king in the anaguma immediately, white can get a good position after 29.K9i P3e Px3e B4d. 30.P6c-6d 0/96 74/213 31.N2i-3g 69/165 0/213 This move looks unnatural because this knight is blocking the rook. However, this knight will not stay here very long. Another possibility is 31.B8f S5d (P6e S7g does not give white much) Bx6d S6e Bx5c+ Sx6f Px6f S*4i R3g, which is unclear. Sato chooses the sharpest way to play this position. 32.P6d-6e 0/165 30/243 33.S6f-5e 6/171 0/243 34.P5c-5d 0/171 19/262 35.N3gx4e 12/183 0/262 36.P5dx5e 0/183 1/263 37.N4ex3c+ 2/185 0/263 38.N2ax3c 0/185 1/264 39.P5fx5e 16/201 0/264 A difficult decision for the sealed move. Most people in the press room expected 39.Bx5e. After 40.S5d B4d G4b B*2a S4c Bx3b+ Sx3b K9i the position is very hard to judge and both players did not seem sure what to think of it. "I did not really want to take the rook on 3b" (Sato). "I also do not have a good way to continue, but the game variation is also difficult" (Habu). 40.P6e-6f 0/201 23/287 41.B7gx6f 21/222 0/287 42.S*6e 0/222 10/297 43.B6f-7e 52/274 0/297 44.R3b-5b 0/274 2/299 White has managed to activate most of his pieces, so the Furibisha side does not have a bad position here. However, it is impossible to say if this means that white has the advantage here. 45.P3f-3e 0/274 0/299 46.P3dx3e 0/274 0/299 47.R3hx3e 1/275 0/299 48.P*3d 0/275 0/299 49.R3e-3f 0/275 0/299 50.G4a-3b 0/275 0/299 51.N8i-7g 15/290 0/299 52.S6e-7d 0/290 8/307 53.B7e-6f 0/290 0/307 54.S4c-4d! 0/290 26/333 55.R3fx3d?! 18/308 0/333 This might have been the wrong response to Habu's activation of the silver. The expected move was 55.B*4a R4b Bx3b+ Rx3b Rx3d S4e R4d and even though black looks to have the advantage because of the rook promotion, the future white counter attack N*8d is very nasty. "I did not spend a second thinking about B*4a" (Sato). 56.G3b-4c 0/308 2/335 57.R3d-3f 1/309 0/335 58.S4dx5e 0/309 3/338 59.B6f-4h 2/311 0/338 60.P*5f 0/311 13/351 61.G5h-6h 16/327 0/351 62.N*6d 0/327 6/357 63.P*5h 3/330 0/357 64.N6dx7f 0/330 0/357 65.K8h-8i 0/330 0/357 66.N7fx6h+ 0/330 23/380 67.G6ix6h 0/330 0/380 68.R5b-5d 0/330 1/381 Now white clearly seems to have the advantage. The exchange of knight for gold and the activation of this rook are often enough. "I did not expect that I would have to work that hard". (Habu) 69.P*3d! 50/380 0/381 Long thought, but well spend. Sato finds the best way to complicate the position. Things are still far from clear. 70.R5dx3d 0/380 18/399 If 70.R4d then the rook sacrifice 71.Px3c+ Rx4g+ +Px4c +Rx3f N*8f is good for black. 71.R3fx3d 0/380 0/399 72.G4cx3d 0/380 0/399 73.R*3a 24/404 0/399 74.R*4i 0/404 5/404 75.B4h-2f 1/405 0/404 With black's major pieces fully participating in the attack, it seems Sato has managed to get out of trouble. A tight endgame race is the result. 76.G3d-4d 0/405 8/412 77.R3ax1a+ 15/420 0/412 78.P*6f 0/420 16/428 79.L*6b? 21/441 0/428 The only real mistake by Sato and unfortunately for him the game is so close that it is also the deciding one. Correct was 79.L*6d G*6i N*5i Gx7i Kx7i Sx6d Bx4d S*5c and it is still very much in doubt who will win. Sato thought long and hard about both L*6d and L*6b, but in the end could not reach a conclusion and picked the wrong one. 80.G*9i! 0/441 14/442 Again Habu shows why he is the guy holding all the records. Simple 80.G7a loses to B*5c and +Rx7a followed by L6a+ next is a standard combination against which defence is impossible. The point of 80.G*9i will become clear soon. 81.K8i-7h 0/441 0/442 82.P6fx6g+! 0/441 1/443 83.G6hx6g 0/441 0/443 84.G6a-7a 0/441 0/443 And now 85.B*5c fails to 86.P*6a! and black has no continuation. 85.P*6f 38/479 0/443 86.G9ix9h 0/479 7/450 87.N*6d 0/479 0/450 88.R4ix4g+! 0/479 5/455 Another Habu special. This move is not threatening mate, and white's king looks quite dangerous. However, black does not have enough pieces to give his attack enough power. 89.P*4h 0/479 0/455 90.+R4gx5h 0/479 6/461 91.G6g-6h 0/479 0/461 92.+R5h-5i 0/479 0/461 93.G6h-6i 0/479 0/461 94.+R5i-2i 0/479 4/465 95.+R1ax7a 0/479 0/465 96.K8bx7a 0/479 0/465 97.B*5c 0/479 0/465 98.K7a-8b 0/479 4/469 99.N6dx7b+ 0/479 0/469 100.K8bx7b 0/479 0/469 101.L6b-6a+ 0/479 0/469 102.R*8h 0/479 0/469 Resigns 0/479 0/469 Time: 07:59:00 07:49:00 Mate after 103.Sx8h Gx8h Kx8h N*7f. So, after three games a surprising 3-0 lead for Osho Habu. Sato must feel very bad about the development in this match. It is tough to be 3-0 behind, but worse must be the feeling that he is playing close to the peak of his ability, but that Habu's endgame skills are just too much for him. In other shogi news: ==================== 1) In the Kisei leagues, Habu had already qualified for the knock-out challenger finals, but he topped off a fine performance in a tough group by beating Matumoto to get a perfect 3-0 record. Meijin Sato should be very greatful for Habu's sportsmanship, since Habu's victory gave him the opportunity to sneak into the quarterfinals through the back door. A win over Maruyama gave him a 1-2 record, just like Maruyama and Matsumoto. His better seeding because of his good results last year made him advance over the other two. In group D Namekata also advanced to the quarterfinals with a win over Nakahara. A 2-0 score is already enough to secure his place in the final eight with Habu, Sato, Goda and Yonenaga. There are still three positions left, one of which will be filled by the winner of the game between Kimura and Sugimoto. It is a big surprise that Ryu-O Fujii will not qualify from that group. 2) A big surprise is developing in the Ladies Meijin match between Shimizu and Nakai. Nakai managed to win the second game as well to go up 2-0 with three to play. Nakai has won the Ladies Meijin six times, but the last time was six years ago. With all the strong teenagers in women's shogi, it is surprising that 30-year old Nakai is so close to taking the Meijin title from Shimizu. 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