From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 12 jul 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 848, July 12th 2000) Kisei Tanigawa won a difficult third game of the Kisei match against his eternal rival Habu to go 2-1 up with two to play. It is now suddenly very hard for Habu to add another major title to his four crowns, especially since Tanigawa showed again that he is in great form. Here is the game with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger White: Tanigawa Koji, Kisei 71st Kisei-sen, Game 3, July 6th 2000 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 1/1 3.P2g-2f 2/2 0/1 4.P8c-8d 0/2 1/2 5.P2f-2e 1/3 0/2 6.P8d-8e 0/3 0/2 7.G6i-7h 2/5 0/2 8.G4a-3b 0/5 0/2 9.P2e-2d 2/7 0/2 10.P2cx2d 0/7 0/2 11.R2hx2d 0/7 0/2 12.P8e-8f 0/7 0/2 13.P8gx8f 0/7 0/2 14.R8bx8f 0/7 0/2 15.R2dx3d 9/16 0/2 16.B2b-3c 0/16 2/4 17.R3d-3f 7/23 0/4 18.S3a-2b 0/23 1/5 19.P*8g 6/29 0/5 20.R8f-8e 0/29 1/6 Before the match, Tanigawa said that he would probably play Kakugawari with black and Shikenbisha or Yokofudori with white. This is exactly as it is played, with Tanigawa choosing the difficult R8e Yokofudori this time. 21.R3f-2f 0/29 0/6 22.K5a-4a 0/29 4/10 23.K5i-5h 17/46 0/10 24.S7a-6b 0/46 4/14 25.G4i-3h 2/48 0/14 26.G6a-5a 0/48 2/16 27.S3i-4h 2/50 0/16 28.P7c-7d 0/50 3/19 29.P3g-3f 1/51 0/19 30.N8a-7c 0/51 41/60 31.N2i-3g 7/58 0/60 32.P9c-9d 0/58 1/61 Subtle opening play. Tanigawa is allowing Habu the attack P3e by making this pass move. He has something prepared... 33.P4g-4f 8/66 0/61 34.P7d-7e 0/66 17/78 35.P3f-3e 18/84 0/78 36.P*2e! 0/84 6/84 Preparation for the 40th move. Black of course can not take this pawn with the rook because of Bx8b+ Sx8h B*1d, but he also can not pull the rook back as white can then play P3f. Black has no choice but to move his rook to a square where it can not easily move from. 37.R2f-3f 1/85 0/84 38.B3cx8h+ 0/85 29/113 39.S7ix8h 0/85 0/113 40.B*2i! 0/85 1/114 This seems to be what Tanigawa prepared. After 41.G3i B6e+ he gets a nice promoted bishop and after 40.S4g or B*4g, white seems to be winning after Bx3h+ followed by G*2f, or... 41.B*4g! 38/123 0/114 The position is very similar to the game between Nakamura and Inoue in this year's B1 Junisen. There, Nakamura played 41.N2e, but he was blown away after 42.P*2d B*4g Px2e. Habu did not even consider that line, but goes for active play with two bishops as compensation for the rook. Of course he is not really down in material, but giving up the rook for the bishop is quite painful in these types of position. 42.B2ix3h+ 0/123 6/120 43.B4gx3h 1/124 0/120 44.G*2f 0/124 0/120 45.B*1h 1/125 0/120 46.G5a-5b! 0/125 34/154 Well played. Tanigawa does not rush the capture of the rook, but takes time to defend the weak point 6c first, as this is the square where both black bishops are aiming for. 47.B3h-7d 44/169 0/154 48.R8e-8d 0/169 32/186 49.P7fx7e 1/170 0/186 50.P*8f 0/170 1/187 51.B7d-4g 5/175 0/187 52.R8d-8e! 0/175 10/197 Another good white move. This rook becomes very active now. White has the advantage. 53.P7e-7d 38/213 0/197 54.R8e-7e 0/213 0/197 55.N8i-7g 1/214 0/197 It is hard to defend the gold on 7h. If black would have played 51.B5f instead of B4g, he would have had the option of P6f here. However, the bishop on 5f would be vulnerable to other attacks (N*4d), so 5f is a worse position than 4g. 56.N7c-8e 0/214 5/202 57.P7d-7c+ 0/214 0/202 58.G2fx3f 0/214 20/222 59.B1hx3f 5/219 0/222 60.S6bx7c 0/219 1/223 61.G*6e! 15/234 0/223 Habu fights back with everything he has. White's position is extremely vulnerable to rook drops, so that is where Habu is looking for his counter chances. White is better, but the margin of error is small. 62.N8ex7g+ 0/234 4/227 63.S8hx7g 0/234 0/227 64.R7e-8e? 0/234 1/228 The first Tanigawa mistake which makes matters very complicated. Better would have been 64.Px8g+ Gx8g (Gx7e +Px7h is even better for white) R8e and white keeps his advantage. 64.R8e allows the black bishops to come alive. 65.P8gx8f 1/235 0/228 66.R8e-8b 0/235 0/228 67.G6e-7d 1/236 0/228 68.S7cx7d 0/236 3/231 69.B4gx7d 0/236 0/231 70.G*7c 0/236 0/231 71.B7d-6e? 13/249 0/231 Habu regretted this move. Pulling back the bishop to 4g immediately would have been better. Now white is given the chance to activate his gold and move it to a square where it is defended. 72.G7c-6d 0/249 16/247 73.B6e-4g 9/258 0/247 74.N*4d 0/258 2/249 75.B3f-1h 2/260 0/249 76.P*7f 0/260 16/265 77.S7g-8h 4/264 0/265 78.R8bx8f 0/264 1/266 79.P*8g 1/265 0/266 80.R8f-8e 0/265 0/266 81.P4f-4e 0/265 0/266 82.P*3f 0/265 0/266 83.P4ex4d 0/265 0/266 84.P3fx3g+ 0/265 0/266 85.S4hx3g 0/265 0/266 86.R8ex3e 0/265 3/269 87.S*4f 3/268 0/269 88.R3e-7e 0/268 0/269 89.N*3e 4/272 0/269 90.N*3d! 0/272 9/278 Typical Tanigawa move. He ignores black's attack on 4c and puts pressure on his opponent pieces instead. Defending by creating attacking chances. 91.P4dx4c+ 3/275 0/278 92.G3bx4c 0/275 0/278 93.N3ex4c+ 0/275 0/278 94.G5bx4c 0/275 0/278 95.N*3e 2/277 0/278 96.G4c-4d 0/277 5/283 97.P*4c 3/280 0/283 98.S2b-3c 0/280 3/286 99.N3e-2c+ 0/280 0/286 100.G4dx4c 0/280 1/287 101.B4g-8c+ 0/280 0/287 102.N3dx4f 0/280 3/290 103.S3gx4f 0/280 0/290 104.P*4g! 0/280 0/290 Probably the highlight of the game and an illustration of Tanigawa's special endgame skills. Even though this is not a mating threat, black will be mated after the natural attacking move 105.+B6a, since after R*4h K5i S*5h K6h S4i= K7i Rx7h+ etc. black has the square 6e for a gold drop to mate. The promoted bishop on 8c must stay there to defend 6e. This just takes enough sting out of black's attack. 105.+B8cx4g 3/283 0/290 106.P*4e 0/283 0/290 107.B1hx4e 6/289 0/290 108.N*3e 0/289 0/290 109.S4fx3e 0/289 0/290 110.R7ex4e 0/289 0/290 111.S3e-4f 0/289 0/290 112.R*3i 0/289 1/291 113.K5h-4h? 3/292 0/291 Here Habu misses his chance to keep the position very close. 113.N*5i was overlooked by both players, but is the right move here. After 114.B*2g or B*3h black can defend with +B4h. The best move seems 114.R7e and defend with S3d after N*3e, but being forced to move the rook away seems to be giving black the initiative and might have changed the outcome of the game. 114.R4ex4f 0/292 2/293 115.+B4gx4f 0/292 0/293 116.S*3h 0/292 0/293 117.R*7a 2/294 0/293 118.S*5a 0/294 0/293 119.K4h-5h 0/294 0/293 120.R3i-4i+ 0/294 0/293 121.K5h-6h 0/294 0/293 122.B*6i 0/294 0/293 123.R7ax7f+ 1/295 0/293 124.P*7e! 0/295 0/293 A pawn is worth a thousand golds. Without this final pawn to drop, white is lost. 125.+B4fx6d 0/295 0/293 126.B6i-5h+ 0/295 0/293 127.K6h-7g 0/295 0/293 128.P7ex7f 0/295 0/293 129.K7g-8f 0/295 0/293 130.P6cx6d 0/295 0/293 131.N*5e 0/295 0/293 132.R*8b 0/295 0/293 Resigns 0/295 0/293 Time: 04:55:00 04:53:00 A very close game that could have gone either way. However, Tanigawa's play stood out as he was dictating the pace of the game throughout and played the best moves. He seems to be in great form and should be able to win at least one of the two remaining games to keep his Kisei title. In other shogi news: ==================== * The challenger tournament of the Ryu-O has started with the games Yamamoto (winner of qualification group 5)-Tamura (winner of qualification group 6) and Aono (second place in group 3)-Miura (winner of group 4). Yamamoto and Tamura played a very violent game that for a while seemed to finish before lunch as both players played the opening without any hesitation. However, suddenly Tamura stopped and thought for 59 minutes after a Yamamoto move, only to realize that one of his quickly played opening move had been a big mistake. An hour of thought did not help and Yamamoto won quickly in 66 moves. Miura had a big scare against Aono. He seemed to have an easy win with a strong attack against an Aono castle consisting of three knights (!), while he himself had a four general defence. However, the unusual pattern of the knights seemed mesmerise him, as he gave away a bishop to one of them without any compensation. He was very fortunate that his attack was strong enough to leave him with a slight advantage. A few moves later Aono made a mistake and lost quickly after that. After the game, Miura was not happy at all: "I do not remember ever playing such a hideous move". Still, the important thing is that he is in the next round where he will play Nakahara. * The new Meijin Maruyama took a first step in adding another major title as he cleared the first round of the Kio challenger tournament with a convincing win over Hiura. Still a long way to go, as he has only qualified for the best sixteen players. Other players to reach this stage are Shima, Kubo, Yonenaga, Fujii, Sato Yasumitsu, Sanada and Moriuchi. 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