From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 6 jun 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no.843, June 7th 2000) This week in Shukan Shogi the fifth game of the Meijin match between Sato and Maruyama. Again the R8e Yokofudori was played, but Sato does not seem to be bothered by the high white winning percentage in this opening. For the second time he showed that he is perhaps the only one who can control Maruyama in his favourite opening. After a convincing win in game three, he again did not give Maruyama anything and converted a small opening advantage into a winning position. Here is the game with comments: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Meijin White: Maruyama Tadahisa, Challenger 58th Meijin-sen, Game 5, May 31st and June 1st 2000 1.P7g-7f 2/2 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/2 1/1 3.P2g-2f 1/3 0/1 4.P8c-8d 0/3 1/2 5.P2f-2e 1/4 0/2 6.P8d-8e 0/4 1/3 7.G6i-7h 0/4 0/3 8.G4a-3b 0/4 0/3 9.P2e-2d 0/4 0/3 10.P2cx2d 0/4 0/3 11.R2hx2d 0/4 0/3 12.P8e-8f 0/4 0/3 13.P8gx8f 0/4 0/3 14.R8bx8f 0/4 0/3 15.R2dx3d 11/15 0/3 16.B2b-3c 0/15 0/3 17.R3d-3f 4/19 0/3 18.S3a-2b 0/19 1/4 19.P*8g 0/19 0/4 20.R8f-8e 0/19 0/4 The pivotal game five and again the R8e Yokofudori. Both players stick to their prepared openings: the R8e Yokofudori in the games where Sato has black, the Kakugawari opening when Maruyama is black. Sato has no reason to fear Maruyama's R8e Yokofudori opening. In game 1 he lost, but he should have won, and in game 3 he overwhelmed Maruyama. 21.R3f-2f 0/19 0/4 22.K5a-4a 0/19 0/4 23.K5i-5h 5/24 0/4 24.S7a-6b 0/24 1/5 25.G4i-3h 3/27 0/5 26.G6a-5a 0/27 2/7 27.S3i-4h 0/27 0/7 28.P7c-7d 0/27 1/8 29.P3g-3f 2/29 0/8 30.P*2e 0/29 2/10 31.R2f-2h 0/29 0/10 32.P*8f 0/29 0/10 33.P8gx8f 0/29 0/10 34.R8ex8f 0/29 0/10 35.P4g-4f 2/31 0/10 36.R8fx7f 0/31 1/11 37.B8hx3c+ 1/32 0/11 38.N2ax3c 0/32 0/11 39.S4h-4g 0/32 0/11 40.P2e-2f 0/32 0/11 41.P*8h 28/60 0/11 A new move by Sato. In game 1 he played N7g. P*8h is a hard move to play for a professional as it seems to be a defence only move and it takes away the possibilities of dropping the pawn higher up the 8th file, like on 8c. Sato judged that it is more important to defend against a white pawn drop on 8h. Also, black now threatens to take the pawn on 2f, as B*4d is no longer effective. 42.P*8g?! 0/60 140/151 Maruyama was clearly surprised by Sato's new move and takes 140 minutes for his reply. He chooses the sharpest variation, but this game shows that this might not have been the best choice... 43.P*7g 141/201 0/151 Now Sato takes his time for his reply. "The Meijin wins by one minute" was the joke in the press room. The people there must have been a little bored waiting almost five hours for two moves. It is unclear if Sato had not given enough thought to P*8g in his preparation. The problem is that 43.Px8g Rx7h+ Sx7h B*8h is good for white. For example R*8b N7c and the white knight is going to help in attack. 44.R7f-7e 0/201 35/186 It seems like Maruyama had counted on 44.Px8h+ here. However, in the end he decided that he did not like Px7f (Sx8h R7e looks like the game variation, but then white has two pawns in hand instead of one) +Px9i N7g +P8i S6h. Giving up the pawn on 8g that was just dropped so forcefully is not a good sign. 45.P8hx8g 6/207 0/186 46.R7e-2e 0/207 4/190 47.N2i-3g 6/213 0/190 48.P2f-2g+ 0/213 74/264 The sealed move. Maruyama realised that he was in trouble and tries to complicate things for his opponent. 49.G3hx2g 12/225 0/264 50.P*2f 0/225 2/266 51.N3gx2e 66/291 0/266 52.N3cx2e 0/291 0/266 53.P7g-7f! 0/291 0/266 A fine move. The gold on 2g is hanging, but in this case it is better for black to let it be taken than to save it. Gx2f N3g+ is good for white, while Px2g+ Rx2g is good for black. An interesting example of how positional considerations can take preference over material. 54.N8a-7c 0/291 11/277 55.R*8a 29/320 0/277 56.P7d-7e 0/320 40/317 57.B*1e! 41/361 0/317 Another good Sato move. This bishop is aiming at the gold on 5a and at the same time at the pawn on 2f. Now Maruyama is forced to break the status quo and take the gold. 58.P2fx2g+ 0/361 111/428 59.R2hx2g 0/361 0/428 60.G*3g 0/361 0/428 61.R2gx2e 52/413 0/428 62.G3gx4g 0/413 10/438 63.K5hx4g 0/413 0/438 64.B*9b 0/413 0/438 65.N*7d! 6/419 0/438 A strong counter to the fork of king and rook. If Maruyama takes the rook, the games is over after 67.Nx6b+ Gx6b Rx2b+. 66.N*3c 0/419 1/439 Desperate defence. 67.B1ex3c+ 5/424 0/439 68.B9bx7d 0/424 7/446 69.P5g-5f 3/427 0/446 70.S2bx3c 0/427 0/446 71.R2e-2a+ 0/427 0/446 72.N*3a 0/427 6/452 73.P7fx7e! 6/433 0/452 The foundation of the victory. The black king now has a lot of free space on the left side of the board as it can run to 8h if necessary. White has no good way to attack. 74.B7dx5f 0/433 14/466 75.K4gx5f 3/436 0/466 76.B*9b 0/436 0/466 There is a saying in shogi that in professional games the player forking king and rook will lose. If so, Maruyama just lost this game for the second time... 77.K5f-6f 31/467 0/466 78.B9bx8a 0/467 2/468 79.P*5b! 0/467 0/468 The deciding move. 80.G5ax5b 0/467 1/469 Of course white can not take with the king, as the gold on 3b must be defended. Maruyama could have resigned here, but plays some quick moves that have no meaning. 81.G*2c 2/469 0/469 82.G5b-4b 0/469 1/470 83.G2cx3b 1/470 0/470 84.G4bx3b 0/470 0/470 85.G*5b 0/470 0/470 86.K4ax5b 0/470 1/471 87.+R2ax3b 0/470 0/471 88.S*4b 0/470 3/474 89.B*4a 2/472 0/474 90.K5b-6a 0/472 0/474 91.G*8b 1/473 0/474 Resigns 0/473 7/481 Time: 07:53:00 08:01:00 This is not a mating threat yet, but as white has no attack and no defence against +Rx4b next, Maruyama resigned. A great performance by Sato, who has completed his comeback from 2-0 down with three consecutive wins. He now must be considered the clear favourite to get his third consecutive Meijin title, as he has outplayed Maruyama for most of the match. Will game 4 see another Kakugawari game, or will Maruyama try something else? In other shogi news: ==================== * Tamura qualified for the Ryu-O challenger final for the first time with a win over veteran Numa. He was the favourite to win this game, but Numa gave him a good run for his money by choosing a very sharp opening that lead to all kinds of interesting complications. However, Tamura handled these better and won quickly as the game ended before the evening break. * Ishibashi equalised in the Ladies Osho title against challenger Shimizu. Losing would have meant 2-0 down with three to play, so this was a vital victory for her. However, Ishibashi seemed to play without any pressure and even though Shimizu seemed a little better for most of the game, Ishibashi was never far behind, waiting for a chance to turn the tables. These chanced came when both players had to play the difficult endgame in byoyomi. Things were far from flawless there, but Ishibashi found an early escape from Shimizu attack to get enough breathing space to give her own attack decisive strength. A tough fight that shows that Ishibashi is closing in on her teacher Shimizu, who will have a very hard time taking the Osho title from her. Not much other interesting shogi news, so this is it for this 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