From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 23 jun 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 845, June 21st 2000) The Meijin match is again going to seven games! Maruyama won an interesting and close sixth game to level the match at 3-3. It is anybody's Meijin title now, but it seems that the player winning the furigoma might have the best chances. Here is game 6 with comments: Black: Maruyama Tadahisa, Challenger White: Sato Yasumitsu, Meijin 58th Meijin-sen, Game 6, June 14th and 15th 2000 1.P2g-2f 0/0 0/0 2.G4a-3b 0/0 7/7 3.P7g-7f 1/1 0/7 4.P8c-8d 0/1 2/9 5.G6i-7h 0/1 0/9 6.P8d-8e 0/1 2/11 7.B8h-7g 0/1 0/11 8.P3c-3d 0/1 0/11 9.S7i-8h 0/1 0/11 10.B2bx7g+ 0/1 11/22 11.S8hx7g 0/1 0/22 A do or die game for Maruyama, as he must win this game to take the match to a deciding seventh game. Despite his loss in game 4, he was not expected to change his game plan and indeed chose the Kakugawari again. 12.S3a-4b 0/1 0/22 13.S3i-3h 0/1 0/22 14.S7a-7b 0/1 0/22 15.P9g-9f 0/1 0/22 16.P1c-1d 0/1 4/26 17.P1g-1f 0/1 0/26 18.P9c-9d 0/1 0/26 19.P4g-4f 1/2 0/26 20.P6c-6d 0/2 1/27 21.S3h-4g 0/2 0/27 22.S7b-6c 0/2 0/27 23.K5i-6h 0/2 0/27 24.K5a-4a 0/2 13/40 25.S4g-5f 9/11 0/40 26.K4a-3a 0/11 1/41 27.K6h-7i 0/11 0/41 28.S6c-5d 0/11 9/50 29.P6g-6f 76/87 0/50 30.K3a-2b 0/87 117/167 31.P3g-3f 41/128 0/167 32.R8b-6b 0/128 60/227 Like in game 4, Sato is aiming for a quick attack. 33.P2f-2e 79/207 0/227 The sealed move and a surprise. Commentators expected 33.P7e to make it hard for white to use the knight on 8a. With 33.P2e Maruyama shows that he believes that Sato's attack is not strong enough and that his counter attack will be stronger. 34.P6d-6e?! 0/207 37/264 A decision that was probably influenced by the success of the quick attack in game 4. Sato himself had the feeling that this might be an overplay, but he could not help himself and played it anyway. The simple 34.S3c is probably better. 35.P6fx6e 112/319 0/264 36.S5dx6e 0/319 0/264 37.S5fx6e 1/320 0/264 38.R6bx6e 0/320 0/264 39.P*6f 0/320 0/264 40.R6e-6b 0/320 31/295 41.P1f-1e! 8/328 0/295 There is Maruyama's counter attack. It is very strong indeed. 42.P1dx1e 0/328 86/381 43.P2e-2d 1/329 0/381 44.P2cx2d 0/329 0/381 45.R2hx2d 0/329 0/381 46.P*2c 0/329 0/381 47.R2dx3d 14/343 0/381 48.P8e-8f 0/343 4/385 49.P*1b 36/379 0/385 50.L1ax1b 0/379 24/409 51.P8gx8f? 15/394 0/409 Here Maruyama misses a very good chance. After 51.P*1c! Lx1c B*1a K3a S*2b K4a R8d black has a very good position. Note that P*1c is a vital pawn sacrifice, as 51.B*1a immediately fails to Kx1a Rx3b+ S3c and black has no good continuation. 52.S4b-3c 0/394 7/416 53.R3d-8d 3/397 0/416 54.P*8c 0/397 3/419 55.R8dx8c+ 2/399 0/419 56.P*8b 0/399 0/419 57.+R8c-8e 18/417 0/419 58.P*6e! 0/417 4/423 Things have now changed in white's favour. White has to exchange the promoted rook here, as white is threatening to win it with S*7d. With a rook in hand, white's attack gets a lot more power. 59.+R8ex6e 8/425 0/423 60.R6bx6e 0/425 4/427 61.P6fx6e 0/425 0/427 62.B*2g 0/425 9/436 63.S*3h 0/425 0/436 64.B2gx3f+ 0/425 3/439 65.P*3d 0/425 0/439 Maruyama realises that he is in trouble and tries to complicate the position. 66.S3c-4d?! 0/425 35/474 Hard to judge, but taking the pawn might have been better. 66.Sx3d R*6d is a double attack on silver and gold, but after R*6i K8h P*6f Rx3d P6g+ Rx3f +Px7h Kx7h G*7i K8h Gx8i K7h G7i K8h and now white has to give up the initiative with P*3c. This is a very tough position, but it seems easier for white to play the attack as R6g+ next is devastating. 67.K7i-8h 27/452 0/474 Here Sato feared that the game would end in sennichite after 67.B*4g +Bx4g (+Bx4f P*1c is good for black) Sx4g B*2g S3h B3f+ B*4g. It seems that Maruyama never gave this possibility any thought. 68.P*6f 0/452 4/478 69.S7gx6f 6/458 0/478 70.+B3f-6i? 0/458 15/493 A clear mistake that changes the game again in Maruyama's favour. After 70.R*6i S7g P9e Px9e Lx9e Lx9e P*6f L*6h S*6g white has a strong attack. 71.R*6g! 1/459 0/493 It seems that Sato overlooked this move. He now has to retreat the bishop and never gets a good attack going anymore. 72.+B6i-3f 0/459 0/493 73.P6e-6d 6/465 0/493 74.+B3fx4f 0/465 11/504 75.S6f-7g 1/466 0/504 76.P9d-9e 0/466 3/507 77.P9fx9e 3/469 0/507 78.P*6f 0/469 3/510 79.S7gx6f 0/469 0/510 80.+B4fx1i 0/469 0/510 81.N2i-3g 3/472 0/510 82.L*3f 0/472 22/532 83.P*4e 2/474 0/532 84.L3fx3g+ 0/474 5/537 85.P4ex4d 3/477 0/537 86.+L3gx3h 0/477 0/537 87.S*4a 1/478 0/537 88.G3b-4b 0/478 1/538 89.P4dx4c+ 1/479 0/538 90.G4bx4c 0/479 0/538 91.P*2d 0/479 0/538 92.P*3b 0/479 1/539 93.G4ix3h 0/479 0/539 94.L9ax9e 0/479 0/539 95.B*1a! 6/485 0/539 The deciding move. Of course 95.Lx9e was impossible because of N*9f, but this bishop sacrifice has been calculated very deep. White can get an entering king, but Maruyama has judged correctly that he will have no trouble to mate the king in the black camp. 96.K2b-1c 0/485 0/539 White can not take the bishop. 96.Kx1a P2c+ and there is no defence. 97.S4ax3b= 0/485 0/539 98.G4cx3d 0/485 0/539 99.B1a-2b+ 2/487 0/539 100.K1cx2d 0/487 0/539 101.+B2bx2c 0/487 0/539 102.K2d-2e 0/487 0/539 103.P*2f 0/487 0/539 104.K2ex2f 0/487 0/539 105.+B2cx3d 0/487 0/539 106.S*2g 0/487 0/539 107.L*2i 1/488 0/539 108.+B1ix2i 0/488 0/539 109.G*3g 1/489 0/539 110.K2f-1g 0/489 0/539 111.G3gx2g 0/489 0/539 112.K1g-1h 0/489 0/539 113.P*1i 0/489 0/539 114.K1hx1i 0/489 0/539 115.R6g-6i 3/492 0/539 Resigns 0/492 0/539 Time: 08:12:00 08:59:00 A nice way to finish. The rook that first worked well in defence, now plays a deciding role in attack. There is no defence against S*2h next, so Sato resigned. The meijin match is going the full stretch for the third year in a row. Sato is perhaps the favourite still, as he has experience with this situation and won the seventh game in the previous two years. However, one feels that the furigoma will be watched with more than average anticipation as both players seem to be hard to beat with black. In other shogi news: ==================== * Habu and Tanigawa did not waste much time to play their 101st game against each other as they met in the first round of the A class Junisen. There was a lot of politeness before the game as Habu let Tanigawa have the higher seat, the seat for the senior player. In return, Tanigawa gave Habu the king without the dot which is the king for the senior player. After this, the politeness was over as it was gloves off in a violent game where both players missed winning opportunities. The final opportunity was missed by Tanigawa, who thought he was losing and did not look deep enough for an attack that would have won him the game. So Habu had a good start in the Junisen for the first time in years and is of course a strong favourite to challenge for the title next year. Shima has been fighting against relegation from the top class for years, last year barely hanging in there. He must be looking for a little less stress this year and therefore wanted a good start against Morishita. The two had played Yagura for their last seven encounters in the Junisen, but for the first time in eight years, Shima changed the opening to a N3c Yokofudori. He might have regretted this, as he seemed to make a mistake very early in the middle game. He spent more than two hours on one move, even contemplating resignation. He decided to toughen it out and for a long time the game looked like an easy victory for Morishita. However, in the endgame Morishita lost his way a little and let Shima back in. Shima, probably tired from defending a hopeless position for such a long time, wasted the opportunity and lost quickly after that. * In C1 also the first round was played. There were almost no surprises. Promotion favourite Namekata beat Okazaki, who started his Junisen campaign with a loss for the third straight year. Horiguchi was the only rookie in the class who won with a victory over Murooka. Horiguchi had a strong attack where he chased Murooka's king from 5i to 8i, but when Murooka managed to strengthen his king position and get an attack of his own, it seemed like Horiguchi was in trouble. However, Horiguchi showed his potential by showing that Murooka's king was not as safe as it looked and his king was not as dangerous as it looked. The most surprising thing was probably that Yashiki won. Despite being a former title holder, he has had a losing start in the Junisen for the past three years and one has to wonder if he will ever get out of this class. If luck has a say in it, this might be his year as he beat Kitajima from a very bad position. He had to work very hard for it as it was the second to last game to finish at one o'clock in the morning. The only game that lasted longer was the game between Nakata Isao and Sugimoto. Nakata had managed to make an entering, but when he blundered in the final stages of entering he gave Sugimoto a chance to stop the king and mate it. Sugimoto did not see it in byoyomi and at ten minutes past two and more than 200 moves, Nakata won the game. A good start that he needs to stay in this class as he was bottom of the league last year. * Tanigawa joined Fujii and Sato in the semifinals of the Oza challenger tournament with a win over Nakahara. Nakahara played the game very positive, but it was Tanigawa who dictated the pace all the way, finishing off with some excellent 'lightning speed' endgame that surprised everyone. He will now meet the winner of the game between Moriuchi and Maruyama. * In the ladies Osho challenger Shimizu crushed title holder Ishibashi in game three to take a 2-1 lead with two games to play. She is now very close to taking back the title she lost last 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