From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 15 jun 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 844, June 14th 2000) This week in Shukan Shogi the opening game of the 71st Kisei title match between Tanigawa and Habu. These players have shown some excellent form lately, especially Habu who was looking for his 15th straight victory. This is not what happened, as Tanigawa came from behind to win an exciting game with an unusual number of Habu errors. Here is the game with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger White: Tanigawa Koji, Kisei 71st Kisei-sen, Game 1, June 9th 2000 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 A special game between these two rivals as it is exactly the 100th time they meet in an official game. Habu has a big lead of 60 wins against only 39 losses. Tanigawa wants to make it a nice even number while at the same time ending Habu's winning streak at 14. More importantly, he needs this game to have a good start in this Kisei match. In a short five game match, a win in the first game is very important. Still, he will need to break a jinx, as this was the fifth consecutive year that a Kisei game was played in Awajijima and the previous four games were all won by the Kisei challenger. 2.P3c-3d 0/0 2/2 3.P2g-2f 1/1 0/2 4.P4c-4d 0/1 1/3 5.P2f-2e 1/2 0/3 6.B2b-3c 0/2 0/3 7.S3i-4h 1/3 0/3 8.R8b-4b 0/3 2/5 Not really a surprise, as Tanigawa said in a pre-match interview that playing the Shikenbisha was a distinct possibility. He might want to rethink his opening after this game... 9.K5i-6h 3/6 0/5 10.S7a-7b 0/6 2/7 11.K6h-7h 1/7 0/7 12.P9c-9d 0/7 1/8 13.P9g-9f 6/13 0/8 14.S3a-3b 0/13 1/9 15.P5g-5f 2/15 0/9 16.G4a-5b 0/15 7/16 17.G4i-5h 7/22 0/16 18.S3b-4c 0/22 8/24 19.S4h-5g 15/37 0/24 20.P6c-6d 0/37 12/36 21.P8g-8f 23/60 0/36 22.K5a-6b 0/60 5/41 23.K7h-8g 1/61 0/41 24.K6b-7a 0/61 0/41 25.S7i-7h 0/61 0/41 26.P7c-7d 0/61 1/42 27.P3g-3f 3/64 0/42 28.N8a-7c 0/64 26/68 29.R2h-3h 30/94 0/68 30.R4b-3b 0/94 17/85 31.P6g-6f 1/95 0/85 32.K7a-8b 0/95 23/108 33.G5h-6g 1/96 0/108 34.G5b-6c 0/96 3/111 35.S5g-6h 13/109 0/111 36.R3b-2b 0/109 15/126 37.N2i-3g! 22/131 0/126 Good move by Habu. This knight is blocking the rook and is weak at the vital point 3f, so this move looks a bit awkward. However, Habu has judged correctly that white has no way to make use of the weaknesses. 38.P5c-5d 0/131 31/157 Admitting strategic defeat. 38.P2d only helps black after 39.R2h. 39.S6h-7g 26/157 0/157 40.P3d-3e?! 0/157 28/185 Tanigawa is not the type of player to sit back and watch where the attack will hit him. Attacking the head of the knight is the only positive plan, but it is only good for black. 41.P3fx3e 2/159 0/185 42.R2b-5b 0/159 0/185 43.B8h-7i 14/173 0/185 44.P5d-5e 0/173 1/186 45.P5fx5e 24/197 0/186 46.R5bx5e 0/197 1/187 47.P2e-2d 0/197 0/187 48.P2cx2d 0/197 9/196 49.P*2b 2/199 0/196 50.B3cx2b 0/199 4/200 51.R3h-2h 0/199 0/200 52.B2b-3c 0/199 2/202 53.P3e-3d 2/201 0/202 54.S4cx3d 0/201 24/226 55.B7ix2d 4/205 0/226 56.P*3f 0/205 8/234 57.B2dx3c+ 13/218 0/234 58.N2ax3c 0/218 0/234 59.R2h-2b+ 0/218 0/234 60.P*5f 0/218 14/248 61.P*5h 10/228 0/248 62.P3fx3g+ 0/228 1/249 63.+R2bx3c 0/228 0/249 64.B*4c! 0/228 0/249 White is in deep trouble, but this is a very good fighting move. This defends both the silver and attack the king side. 65.P6f-6e 15/243 0/249 66.R5ex6e 0/243 10/259 67.G6g-6f? 2/245 0/259 Habu completely overlooked the next move. Had he seen it, he would have played the correct 67.K8h +Px4g S6f after black keeps his big advantage. 68.P7d-7e! 0/245 11/270 Tanigawa magic. White suddenly gets a good counter attack. However, white has not managed to turn the tables yet. Black still has the advantage. 69.G6fx6e 32/277 0/270 70.N7cx6e 0/277 1/271 71.S7g-6f 3/280 0/271 72.P7ex7f 0/280 3/274 73.N*5e 1/281 0/274 74.P7f-7g+ 0/281 12/286 75.N8ix7g 0/281 0/286 76.N6ex7g+ 0/281 0/286 77.K8gx7g 0/281 0/286 78.G*7f 0/281 5/291 79.K7g-8h 0/281 0/291 80.G7fx6f 0/281 0/291 81.N5ex6c+ 1/282 0/291 82.S7bx6c 0/282 0/291 83.N*8e 1/283 0/291 84.N*8a 0/283 2/293 85.+R3c-4b? 1/284 0/293 Bad move that leads to an unclear position. Black could have won the game here with 85.B*7e!. After 86.G7f +Rx4c Sx4c G*7c Nx7c B*9c white is mated. 86.P*7b 0/284 0/293 87.B*5e 8/292 0/293 88.N*7f 0/292 1/294 89.K8h-9h 1/293 0/294 90.G6f-6e 0/293 1/295 91.P*6b? 3/296 0/295 Very uncharacteristic. Habu calculated that his attack was one move faster and usually he can be trusted in positions like this. However, he again overlooked something. After simple 91.B4d it is still very much unclear who will win the game. 92.G6ex5e 0/296 1/296 93.P6bx6a+ 1/297 0/296 94.B*8h! 0/297 1/297 The wake up call. Habu had only looked at moves like 94.P9e, which lead to mate after 95.G*7c Nx7c Nx7c+ Kx7c +R6b K7d G*8e K6e R*7e K5d R5e! However, with the white bishop on 8h the final check on 5e is not possible, so black no longer has mate. It is an indication of Tanigawa's good form that he had seen everything in only one minute. 95.R*8g 2/299 0/297 This switch to defence was not planned. Tanigawa now kills the black king very quickly. 96.N*7e 0/299 1/298 97.R8gx8h 0/299 0/298 98.N7fx8h+ 0/299 0/298 99.K9hx8h 0/299 0/298 100.R*8g 0/299 0/298 101.K8h-7i 0/299 0/298 102.S*8h 0/299 0/298 103.K7i-6h 0/299 0/298 104.P5f-5g+ 0/299 0/298 105.P5hx5g 0/299 0/298 106.R8g-7g+ 0/299 0/298 Resigns 0/299 0/298 Time: 04:59:00 04:58:00 And mate after 107.K5h B*7f or 107.Sx7g Sx7g+ Kx7g B8g+. A big win for Tanigawa after having such a bad position in the early middle game. Habu must be very disappointed, being beaten at the areas where he usually excels: surprise fighting moves and endgame accuracy. He will need to break back with the white piece in game two to keep a fifth crown in sight. In other shogi news: ==================== * In the Oi leagues the final round was played. In the white group there were four players still with a chance to win the group. Yashiki and Morishita both had 3-1 scores and had the chances in their own hands. Namekata and Fukaura both were 2-2 and could only hope to creep in if both leaders would make a mistake. Namekata and Fukaura played each other and that turned into a tremendous fight that was won by Fukaura in 195 moves. However, it was all for nothing as Yashiki beat Suzuki in a game that looked better for Suzuki for a long time, but was actually difficult for both players all the way through. Suzuki overlooked a nice counter by Yashiki until it was too late and lost after being forced to change his plans. Yashiki then had to wait for the result of the game between Morishita and Inoue to know if he would have to play a play-off game against Morishita. This proved unnecessary, as Inoue played very well in a reversed R8e Yokofudori. Morishita overlooked a strong Inoue attack in the early middle game. He fought back hard, but Inoue did not give him a chance to get back in the game. In the red group the situation was much clearer as leaders Tanigawa and Goda played each other in the final game. Goda seemed to have the edge as he managed to promote the bishop early on, but he overlooked a nasty Tanigawa counter drop. He was so surprised that instead of picking the reply that would lead to an even position, he picked the one that gave Tanigawa a big advantage. Goda also tried to fight back hard, but he was always one move late and Tanigawa won. By the way, there was a strange incident in this group as Nakata Isao lost his game to Minami by default. He was under the impression that the game was played in Tokyo, while actually it was played in Osaka. When he found out he had made a mistake, he had no time to get to the playing venue in time. Not very smart, but the game result did not really matter as both players drop out of the Oi league. On June 19th, the challenger game in the Oi league will be played between Tanigawa and Yashiki, just like last year. Can Yashiki get past Tanigawa this time? * In the Oza tournament, Sato reached the semi-finals with a win over Kato Hifumi. Sato was in trouble for a long time, but managed to turn the tables and win. However, it took a little more effort than was really necessary, as Sato overlooked a forced mate at one point. When the mate was pointed out to him after the game, he was very surprised as he had not been looking for one at all in that specific position. Still, it did not change the result and Sato will now play Fujii next. * Even though the Meijin match is still far from finished, the new Junisen season has started with one game in the A class and the first round in B1. In the A class Senzaki had not much fun in his first ever game in the top class. Moriuchi had a small lead after the opening, but a small mistake seemed to turn it into a very interesting game. However, Senzaki immediately blundered away a silver and never got another chance to make something of it. Good start for Moriuchi, who was very close to a Meijin challenge in the past two seasons, losing a play-off with Tanigawa and just missing a play-off with Maruyama by losing his final game this year. Maybe his third attempt will succeed. B1 promises to be very interesting with Goda, Nakahara, Inoue, Fujii and Miura all in the race for only two promotion spots. Goda seemed to have an easy start as he got an overwhelming position against Kobayashi very early in the game. However, he got confused in all the variations that looked very good and squandered the lead, giving Kobayashi every chance to win. But Kobayashi also failed to capitalize and after a long struggle Goda finally managed to win. This must be a great relief for him, as his form has been up and down recently and he can not afford to drop many games if he wants to return to the A class. Miura also seemed to have some problems in his B1 debut against Kamiya. In a very slow Yokofudori game (at the dinner break only 42 moves had been played), Kamiya seemed to have a good position, but an error in a tactical exchange cost Kamiya material and the game. Ryu-O Fujii also won his first game in B1 against Kiriyama. This was a very controlled win as he was trying to strangle Kiriyama slowly. Kiriyama decided to go out with a bang by sacrificing a silver. This might have given him a little more chances if he had chosen a slightly different follow-up to this. As he played, Fujii could defend strongly and was never in trouble. Nakahara showed in his game against Minami that he has not lost anything of his ambition despite falling from the top class for the first time in his brilliant career. He quickly disposed of Minami in a game that finished already at 20:44, which is quite early for a Junisen game at this level. Inoue also won (against Takahashi), so all the favourites started with a win. The final game was between Fukuzaki and Nakamura, which was won by Fukuzaki. This was a little surprising, as Fukuzaki had a very bad Junisen run last season. He probably realises that he needs to get into safe territory quickly with so many strong players in B1 this year. The fight against relegation will also be very interesting this year. 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