From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 25 feb 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 828, February 23rd 2000) Losing without making a mistake must be very frustrating. This is what happened to Moriuchi in the first game of the Kio match against Habu, who is aiming at his 10th consecutive Kio title. His overall score in the previous nine Kio matches is a stunning 27 wins and only 5 losses, so Moriuchi needed a little confidence boost here. Instead, game 2 will become a vital game for the challenger. Here is game 1 with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Kio White: Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Challenger 25th Kio-sen, Game 1, February 12th 2000 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 Moriuchi and Habu have been rivals since they were about 10 years old, but Habu has left Moriuchi behind quite a long time ago. Both are 29 years old, but Habu has already won more than 40 major titles, while Moriuchi is now appearing in only his second title match ever. Four years ago he lost badly in the Meijin match against Habu; how would he fare this time. 2.P8c-8d 0/0 1/1 3.P2g-2f 2/2 0/1 4.G4a-3b 0/2 0/1 5.G6i-7h 0/2 0/1 6.P8d-8e 0/2 0/1 7.B8h-7g 0/2 0/1 8.P3c-3d 0/2 0/1 9.S7i-8h 0/2 0/1 10.B2bx7g+ 0/2 0/1 11.S8hx7g 0/2 0/1 The Kakugawari opening, just like in the final game of the Osho match against Sato. Habu said after the game that this was his intended strategy if the furigoma would give him black. 12.S3a-4b 0/2 0/1 13.S3i-3h 0/2 0/1 14.S7a-7b 0/2 0/1 15.P9g-9f 1/3 0/1 16.P9c-9d 0/3 0/1 17.P1g-1f 1/4 0/1 18.P1c-1d 0/4 2/3 19.P4g-4f 1/5 0/3 20.P6c-6d 0/5 0/3 21.S3h-4g 0/5 0/3 22.S7b-6c 0/5 0/3 23.K5i-6h 2/7 0/3 24.S4b-3c 0/7 0/3 25.P3g-3f 4/11 0/3 26.K5a-4b 0/11 0/3 27.G4i-5h 1/12 0/3 28.S6c-5d 0/12 1/4 29.K6h-7i 2/14 0/4 30.G6a-5b 0/14 2/6 31.S4g-5f 4/18 0/6 32.P6d-6e 0/18 1/7 33.N2i-3g 1/19 0/7 34.S3c-4d?! 0/19 5/12 It is hard to play a new idea in this opening, since it has been analysed so deeply about 10 years ago. Still, this is a new plan introduced by Fukaura in his game against Abe in their B2 Junisen game this year. The plan is to invite black to play P2e, so the knight can no longer go to 2e, which is the natural attack in this position. If black does not play P2e, then the silver is much better positioned on 4d than on 3c to meet the black attack. However, after the game Moriuchi was not so happy about this move. The loss of tempo gives black the time to complete his piece development and attack. 35.P2f-2e 16/35 0/12 36.S4d-3c 0/35 1/13 37.G5h-4h 19/54 0/13 38.K4b-3a 0/54 26/39 39.R2h-2i 5/59 0/39 40.R8b-6b 0/59 21/60 41.K7i-8h 37/96 0/60 42.P7c-7d 0/96 3/63 43.P3f-3e 0/96 0/63 44.P3dx3e 0/96 6/69 45.N3g-4e 0/96 0/69 46.S3c-4b 0/96 4/73 47.P1f-1e 0/96 0/73 48.P4c-4d 0/96 31/104 49.P1ex1d 4/100 0/104 Habu judges that 49.P2d Px2d Rx2d P*2c Rx4d is not good because of the bad position of the gold on 4h. Therefore, he invests a pawn in the exchange of the knights. 50.P*1b 0/100 0/104 51.P*3c 36/136 0/104 52.N2ax3c 0/136 27/131 53.N4ex3c+ 0/136 0/131 54.S4bx3c 0/136 0/131 55.N*8c 12/148 0/131 Looks a little strange, but black's attack is not easy. For example, 55.B*7a R7b N*6d Rx7a Nx5b+ S4c is not good for black. 56.L9a-9b 0/148 30/161 57.N8c-7a+ 4/152 0/161 58.P7d-7e 0/152 1/162 59.+N7ax8a 2/154 0/162 60.N*6d 0/154 1/163 61.B*7c 17/171 0/163 62.P7ex7f 0/171 5/168 63.S7g-6h 2/173 0/168 64.R6b-6c 0/173 2/170 65.B7c-8b+ 0/173 0/170 66.B*9c 0/173 6/176 67.S5f-4g 7/180 0/176 68.B9cx8b 0/180 5/181 69.+N8ax8b 0/180 0/181 70.P9d-9e 0/180 9/190 71.+N8bx9b 3/183 0/190 72.B*5e 0/183 0/190 Black looks to have the edge, but Moriuchi is doing everything to stay in the game. The middle game is very difficult to judge. "Every time the side that played a move looks better" (Inoue, 8-dan). 73.K8h-9h 4/187 0/190 74.P9ex9f 0/187 0/190 75.N*8h! 2/189 0/190 Habu magic! It is almost impossible that Habu has seen that this move is going to be vital in the end. The normal defence would have been 75.B*8h Bx8h+ Gx8h. 76.P4d-4e 0/189 9/199 77.P5g-5f 5/194 0/199 78.B5e-4d 0/194 0/199 79.P4fx4e 4/198 0/199 80.S5dx4e 0/198 0/199 81.B*7b 0/198 0/199 82.N6dx5f 0/198 19/218 83.S4gx5f 3/201 0/218 84.S4ex5f 0/201 0/218 85.B7bx6c+ 1/202 0/218 86.G5bx6c 0/202 0/218 87.R*7a 9/211 0/218 Tough choice with 87.R*6a looking very tempting. However, 87.R*6a P*4a L*4f P9g+ Nx9g S*4e Lx4e Sx4e S*5b G4b P*3b Kx3b Rx6c+ B*7e is bad for black. It is more important to defend against B*7e than to attack the gold on 6c. 88.K3a-2b 0/211 1/219 89.P2e-2d! 8/219 0/219 Habu was not sure about this move, but he had seen that 89.N*2d Px2d Px2d P*2e P1c+ Px1c L*2c Gx2c Rx1a+ K3b Px2c+ Kx2c G*4c Px9g+ Kx9g B*7e was good for white. 90.P2cx2d 0/219 2/221 91.N*1e 0/219 0/221 92.P9f-9g+ 0/219 6/227 93.N8ix9g 7/226 0/227 If 93.Kx9g then B*6d and white wins. 94.P*9f 0/226 5/232 95.P*2c 5/231 0/232 96.G3bx2c 0/231 0/232 97.P*3d 0/231 0/232 Here Habu actually intended 97.R7b+, but realised just in time that 98.P*4b P*4c P9g+ Kx9g B*6d P*7e G*7c is good for white. He is a little lucky that a change of plan is still possible at this stage. 98.S3cx3d 0/231 3/235 99.N1ex2c+ 0/231 0/235 100.K2bx2c 0/231 0/235 101.G*4b! 0/231 0/235 Despite threatening mate (Rx2a+ etc.), this does not look like a good move. However, white has no good defence and his attack is not strong enough. The strength of 75.N*8h becomes clear, as the extra defence of 9f makes it impossible to draw out the black king into the open board. 102.B*5d 0/231 3/238 103.L*5h 1/232 0/238 104.S*7g 0/232 1/239 105.S6hx7g 0/232 0/239 106.P7fx7g+ 0/232 0/239 107.G7hx7g 0/232 0/239 108.B4dx7g+ 0/232 0/239 109.R7ax7g+ 0/232 0/239 110.P6e-6f 0/232 0/239 111.S*3b 5/237 0/239 112.K2c-3c 0/237 0/239 113.B*5a 0/237 0/239 114.K3c-4d 0/237 0/239 115.G4b-4c 0/237 0/239 116.S3dx4c 0/237 0/239 117.R2ix2d 0/237 0/239 118.S4c-3d 0/237 0/239 119.P*4e 0/237 0/239 120.K4dx4e 0/237 0/239 121.B5a-3c+ 0/237 0/239 122.N*8f 0/237 0/239 123.+R7gx8f 0/237 0/239 Resigns 0/237 0/239 Time: 03:57:00 03:59:00 Mate after 124.Px8f +Bx3d K5e +Bx5f K6d +B5e K7e P*7f K8d S*8e K8c +B8b. In the end, the knight on 8h even helps to mate the white king. Tough loss for Moriuchi, who did not make a single obvious mistake. Like Sato in the Osho match, he must be wondering how well he has to play to beat Habu. Will he find the answer in game 2? In other shogi news: ==================== * A very strange 10th round in the C2 Junisen. Almost all players with promotion chances lost. Especially Nozuki will be kicking himself, as he lost against Kanki, which is not the most scary opponent (except for his imposing physique). Nozuki might have taken it all a bit lightly, but Kanki played very well and got an important win in his struggle to avoid getting his second relegation marker. Sugimoto was closest to promotion, needing only one win out of two games to make it. However, losing in the previous round took some of his momentum away. This time he played Toyokawa and seemed to have a good position. However, some nice unexpected defence by Toyokawa won the game. Sugimoto still has his chances in his own hands, but two consecutive losses will make him lose some sleep before the final round. Young Yagura also dropped out of the promotion race with a loss to veteran Ogura. Of the leaders Horiguchi was the only player to win. He had to fight really hard against Oshima, who had a great position for most of the game. So, how is the situation with one more round to play? Horiguchi is the only player with only one loss (8-1). He is almost certain of promotion to C1, and with a game against Mori (5-4) it is likely that he will decide promotion himself. The other two players with their chances in their own hands are Sugimoto and Iizuka. Sugimoto plays rookie Nakao (5-4), while Iizuka plays Toyokawa, who plays an important role in the promotion race without having a chance to promote himself. The other players who still have a chance to promote are Kitajima and Masuda (who have slowly sneaked up the rankings after a bad start), Nozuki and rookie Matsuo, who is hoping to become the first rookie to promote from C2 since Yashiki, who did it ten years ago. * In the Kisei leagues, young lions Kimura and Sugimoto played for a place in the quarterfinal knock-out. Kimura won and cleared a tough group with Ryu-O Fujii and Goda. Seven quarterfinalists are known: Goda, Kimura, Yonenaga, Habu, Sato Yasumitsu, Namekata and Nakahara. The final spot will be filled by either Moriuchi or Tanaka Kaishuu. * In the Oi league Yashiki beat Fukaura in the first round to get a good start. He will be aiming to do just a little bit better than last year, when he lost in the challenger final. Fukaura suffered a first set-back in an attempt to repeat his performance of four years ago, when he challenged Habu. In the white group Suzuki Daisuke blundered in the endgame against Inoue. Uncharacteristically, he was in serious time trouble. Nakagawa had a good start by beating Minami. All were first round games, so there is still a long way to go. * The Zen Nihon Pro Tournament, the biggest non-title match tournament, has reached the semi-final stages. Sanada had already reached the best four and last week the three other quarterfinals were played. Tanigawa beat Kubo in a strange endgame that looked better for Kubo, but just was not enough to win. It was Tanigawa's first win over Kubo after three losses. Goda beat Yashiki, a former winner of this tournament to reach the semi-finals for the first time in his career. It was a very good game by Goda, and this will give him confidence for the very important last game of the Junisen next week. The final place in the semi-finals was claimed by Okazaki. Okazaki is a C1 player who is not doing very well, being in danger of relegating back to C2. However, he likes the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament where he reached the semi-finals last year as well. He was losing for a long time against Ogura, but a mistake in the endgame by his opponent gave him the chance to turn the tables. In the semi-finals he will meet Sanada, while Tanigawa meets Goda. 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