From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 21 jan 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 823, January 19th 2000) The professional shogi world has finally woken up from its New Year's slumber, resulting in a Shukan Shogi full of results in important games. The most important of these is the first game of the Osho title match. Challenger Sato played well against the feared R8e-Yokofudori, but Habu again showed his great ability to turn the tables. Here is the game with comments: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Osho 49th Osho-sen, Game 1, January 8th and 9th 2000 1.P7g-7f 2/2 0/0 The first title match game of the year 2000 is an encounter between Habu (who else?) and Meijin Sato. Sato needs a good start to forget the seven previous matches he played and lost against Habu. Normally starting with black would be a good thing, but data of professional games in 1999 showed a remarkable 51.2% winning percentage for white. In the Yokofudori, the opening Habu was likely to choose, the winning percentage is even 55.5%. Sato will not have been to worried about the data. He is known as one of the few experts in fighting the R8e-Yokofudori variation. Recently he beat Maruyama twice in a row with black in this opening. 2.P3c-3d 0/2 2/2 3.P2g-2f 1/3 0/2 4.P8c-8d 0/3 3/5 5.P2f-2e 4/7 0/5 6.P8d-8e 0/7 5/10 7.G6i-7h 0/7 0/10 8.G4a-3b 0/7 4/14 9.P2e-2d 0/7 0/14 10.P2cx2d 0/7 1/15 11.R2hx2d 0/7 0/15 12.P8e-8f 0/7 4/19 13.P8gx8f 0/7 0/19 14.R8bx8f 0/7 0/19 15.R2dx3d 0/7 0/19 16.B2b-3c 0/7 7/26 17.R3d-3f 15/22 0/26 18.S3a-2b 0/22 6/32 19.P*8g 8/30 0/32 20.R8f-8e 0/30 13/45 The R8e-Yokofuddori as expected. This is going to be a long theoretical battle. 21.R3f-2f 4/34 0/45 22.K5a-4a 0/34 6/51 23.K5i-5h 41/75 0/51 24.S7a-6b 0/75 13/64 25.G4i-3h 2/77 0/64 26.G6a-5a 0/77 19/83 27.S3i-4h 12/89 0/83 28.P7c-7d 0/89 23/106 29.P3g-3f 20/109 0/106 30.P*2e 0/109 65/171 31.R2f-2h 11/120 0/171 32.P*8f 0/120 0/171 33.P8gx8f 26/146 0/171 34.R8ex8f 0/146 0/171 35.S4h-3g 6/152 0/171 36.R8fx7f 0/152 10/181 37.P*7g 18/170 0/181 This strange looking move that blocks the black bishop, is generally considered the best black move in this position. Despite the locked up bishop, this variation is a main line in this opening variation. 38.R7f-8f 0/170 16/197 39.P*8g 1/171 0/197 40.R8f-8e 0/171 2/199 41.S3g-4f 17/188 0/199 42.N8a-7c 0/188 13/212 43.N2i-3g 54/242 0/212 44.P9c-9d?! 0/242 82/294 The sealed move and a change of plan by Habu. He initially wanted to play 44.P5d S6h P5e P7f P7e Rx2e Px7f R2i which seems a perfectly reasonable way to play this position. Habu somehow did not like it and after long thought decided to play the edge push instead. This game shows that 44.P5d might have been better after all. 45.S7i-6h 85/327 0/294 46.P9d-9e 0/327 9/303 47.P5g-5f 1/328 0/303 48.P*8f 0/328 27/330 Having allowed black to play P5f, threatening P5e~Rx2e~N4e next, white has to act quickly to avoid a bad position. 49.P8gx8f 10/338 0/330 50.R8ex8f 0/338 0/330 51.P*8g 0/338 0/330 52.R8fx5f 0/338 0/330 53.S6h-5g 0/338 0/330 54.R5f-5d 0/338 0/330 55.P*5e 8/346 0/330 56.R5d-6d 0/346 29/359 This shows the failure of Habu's plans. This rook will be a continuing problem. The violent solution would be: 56.Bx5e Sx5e Rx5e P7f, but after both S*6i Kx6i Rx5g+ B*6f S*5h K7i +Rx6g S*6h and R5d B*5e black has the advantage. 57.S5g-6f 3/349 0/359 58.P7d-7e 0/349 1/360 59.S6fx7e 7/356 0/360 60.R6d-9d 0/356 0/360 61.P7g-7f 2/358 0/360 62.P5c-5d 0/358 1/361 63.B8h-6f 71/429 0/361 All black pieces suddenly start to work. The black bishop is very well positioned here and N7g followed by N6e later is hard to defend against. 64.P5dx5e 0/429 13/374 65.N8i-7g 0/429 0/374 66.P5e-5f 0/429 33/407 67.B6fx3c+ 3/432 0/407 68.N2ax3c 0/432 3/410 69.B*8c 0/432 0/410 70.R9d-5d 0/432 20/430 71.P*5e 0/432 0/430 72.P5f-5g+ 0/432 0/430 73.K5hx5g 2/434 0/430 74.R5d-3d 0/434 0/430 75.K5g-6h 7/441 0/430 76.R3dx3f 0/441 4/434 77.B8c-5f+ 13/454 0/434 78.R3f-2f 0/454 13/447 79.P*2g?! 0/454 0/447 Here Sato might have missed a chance. After 79.G2g P*3f Gx2f Px3g+ Sx3g Px2f P*2c S3a P*3d black has a big advantage. For example, N*4d +B4f N2e Sx2f P*5f K7i B*5g K8i Bx4f+ Px4f P5g+ P3c+ Gx3c R*2a black wins. However, if white does not retreat with S3a after P*2c in the previous variation, but takes the pawn with Sx2c instead, things are not very clear. 80.R2f-3f 0/454 0/447 81.P5e-5d 0/454 0/447 82.P*5b 0/454 5/452 83.R2h-2i? 1/455 0/452 Too passive. Sato judges that white can do nothing but wait until his rook is being captured and decides to improve his position. However, this gives Habu time to strengthen his king position against a future rook drop as well. Sato should have attacked immediately with 83.S7d K3a Sx7c+ Sx7c N*4h. After Rx4f +Bx4f S6b R*8a black keeps his advantage. After 83.R2i, things get complicated again. 84.K4a-3a 0/455 1/453 85.G3h-4h 0/455 0/453 86.G5a-4b 0/455 1/454 87.S7e-7d 2/457 0/454 88.K3a-2a 0/457 1/455 89.N7g-6e? 3/460 0/455 Overlooks the next move. 90.B*9b! 0/460 3/458 Great move that took Sato completely by surprise. 91.Nx7c+ Sx7c Sx7c+ now fails to Bx5f and 91.P7e Nx6e Sx6e P*6d also loses. Sato has no choice: 91.S7dx7c+ 9/469 0/458 92.S6bx7c 0/469 0/458 93.N*2h 0/469 0/458 94.B9bx6e 0/469 7/465 95.+B5fx6e 0/469 0/465 96.R3f-3d 0/469 0/465 White has saved the rook and the black knight on 2h looks terrible. Still, the position is not hopeless. 97.N2h-1f? 7/476 0/465 But now it is. Habu feared 97.B*5f R1d +B6f and the two bishops have awesome power. For example, Rx5d S5e R1d B8c+ S6d P1f and a white win seems very far away. It may be that Sato was still disgusted by himself for missing 90.B*9b. 98.S7c-6d 0/476 4/469 99.+B6e-7d 0/476 0/469 100.P*3f 0/476 1/470 The combination of getting the silver into play and this attack on the weak head of the knight, give white a winning position. 101.N3g-4e 0/476 0/470 102.P3f-3g+ 0/476 1/471 103.+B7dx6c 2/478 0/471 If 103.Sx3g or 103.Gx3g then N4e wins easily, so Sato decides to make the final position look a little better. 104.+P3gx4h 0/478 1/472 105.+B6cx6d 0/478 0/472 106.N*8e 0/478 0/472 107.K6h-5g 0/478 0/472 108.P*6c 0/478 1/473 109.P*3e 0/478 0/473 110.N3cx4e 0/478 0/473 111.K5g-5f 1/479 0/473 112.P6cx6d 0/479 3/476 113.P3ex3d 0/479 0/476 114.G*6e 0/479 1/476 Resigns 0/479 0/476 Time: 07:59:00 07:57:00 115.Kx4e B*5f K3e N*2c leads to mate. A tough loss for Sato, after winning the opening. He now needs to win game 2 with white to avoid having a mountain to climb in the rest of the match. In other shogi news: ==================== * Moriuchi finally managed to become challenger for a title again. Despite winning all kinds of other tournaments, his first and only title match appearance has been in the Meijin title four years ago (lost to Habu 4-1). It is strange that a player of his ability is only making his second title match appearance. In the Kio he must have been worried that he would fail again, after Shima beat him to equalise the score in the challenger race. However, no worries for Moriuchi in the decisive game. Moriuchi got a very good position from the opening and that seemed to kill Shima's fighting spirit. Shima had a chance to make it difficult for Moriuchi, but he did not seem prepared for such a chance and lost without a fight. Moriuchi will meet his childhood rival Habu again in the Kio match that will start on February 12th. * In the Junisen A class three games of round 7 were played. Things are really interesting at both ends of the table. Maruyama and Moriuchi will decide the challenger of Sato this year. Maruyama played Tanigawa, who had a surprisingly bad 2-4 score. Things got even worse, since Maruyama won and took another step towards his first Meijin challenge. On the other hand, Tanigawa dropped to 2-5 and amazingly would relegate to B1 if the Junisen would finish today. Fortunately, there are still two rounds to play and with games against Shima and Morishita still to play, Tanigawa should be able to save his A class position. Another player surprisingly fighting for his life is Goda. A 2-4 score after six rounds and a bad Junisen position has made things very difficult. However, in round 7 he beat Nakahara, who is a main relegation rival. It was not easy, as Goda was not able to keep his initial advantage and needed some Nakahara mistakes to finally win this vital game. Nakahara now has a 2-5 score and needs to win both of his final games to be sure of staying in the league. Goda's troubles are also far from over, and with games against Habu and Maruyama still to play, relegation is still very much a possibility. Shima also won a vital game against Kato. Both players now have 3-4 scores and especially Shima has some tough opposition in Tanigawa and Habu. My predictions: Maruyama will become challenger, Nakahara and Tanaka will be relegated to B1. * In the eight round of the C1 Junisen there was a chance of seeing the first promotion of the year. Suzuki Daisuke had won his first seven matches and his high position in the class meant that he needed only one more win to promote to B2. Unfortunately he had to face the very strong Namekata, who just promoted from C2 last year and still had an outside chance for promotion himself. Namekata had the early lead, but Suzuki managed to fight back to an unclear position. However, in the end he made the mistake of being overly defensive and with that killed his own chances for attack. Namekata then won easily. Co-leader Kubo did not make a mistake against Nakata Isao and is now the only player with 8-0. With two games to play both Kubo and Suzuki need one win to promote, so they are still pretty safe. Kubo has two easy opponents in Sakurai and Kodama, but Suzuki still has to face promotion rival Sato Shuji (6-2) in the final round. He better beat Nakata Isao in the next round to avoid too much excitement... Other players with an outside chance to promote are Hatakeyama, Namekata and Kobayashi at 6-2. * Lifetime Kisei Yonenaga showed why he is given this title for past achievements in the tournament. He beat Tanaka Kaishu in the B group of the Kisei leagues to become the second player (after Habu) to qualify for the quarterfinal knock-out. * In the Ladies meijin a surprising start as challenger Nakai beat Shimizu in the first game. It looked like a good win for Nakai, who is looking for her first Meijin title in seven years. 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)298-54-3316 Fax: +81-(0)298-54-5918