From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 30 mar 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 833, March 29th 2000) This week in Shukan Shogi the fourth game of the Kio match between Habu and Moriuchi. Again a difficult fight that Habu decided in a close endgame. Moriuchi looked like he was playing as well as he could, but in the end he only managed to win a game where his opening preparation was superior. In all the other games Habu showed that he is simply stronger than his childhood rival. Here is game 4 with comments: Black: Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Kio 25th Kio-sen, Game 4, March 21st 2000 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 3/3 3.P2g-2f 0/0 0/3 4.P8c-8d 0/0 0/3 5.P2f-2e 0/0 0/3 6.P8d-8e 0/0 0/3 7.G6i-7h 0/0 0/3 8.G4a-3b 0/0 0/3 9.P2e-2d 0/0 0/3 10.P2cx2d 0/0 0/3 11.R2hx2d 0/0 0/3 12.P8e-8f 0/0 0/3 13.P8gx8f 0/0 0/3 14.R8bx8f 0/0 0/3 15.R2dx3d 0/0 0/3 16.B2b-3c 0/0 1/4 17.R3d-3f 0/0 0/4 18.S3a-2b 0/0 1/5 19.P*8g 0/0 0/5 20.R8f-8e 0/0 2/7 After three consecutive wins by black, Habu is looking to break the pattern and decide the match in game 4. It is not a big surprise that he selects the R8e Yokofudori for this. Moriuchi will have prepared this. 21.R3f-2f 0/0 0/7 22.K5a-4a 0/0 1/8 23.G4i-3h 0/0 0/8 24.S7a-6b 0/0 2/10 25.S3i-4h 0/0 0/10 26.P7c-7d 0/0 6/16 27.K5i-5h 0/0 0/16 28.G6a-5a 0/0 3/19 29.P3g-3f 1/1 0/19 30.P*2e 0/1 13/32 31.R2f-2h 0/1 0/32 32.P*8f 0/1 0/32 33.P8gx8f 8/9 0/32 34.R8ex8f 0/9 0/32 35.P4g-4f 1/10 0/32 36.R8fx7f 0/10 28/60 37.B8hx3c+ 0/10 0/60 38.N2ax3c 0/10 0/60 39.S4h-4g 4/14 0/60 40.P2e-2f 0/14 6/66 41.N8i-7g 37/51 0/66 42.N8a-7c 0/51 17/83 43.N2i-3g 25/76 0/83 44.B*4d! 0/76 41/124 Long thought but with good reason. The following complications are very hard to judge. White seems to be getting a strong attack, but it is unclear if it is strong enough or if white can defend and win from there. The preliminary conclusion is that B*4d is a good move. 45.P6g-6f 11/87 0/124 46.B4dx6f 0/87 13/137 47.K5h-6g 27/114 0/137 Puts the pressure on black's major pieces. Moving the king up towards the enemy pieces is quite frightening, though. 48.P7d-7e 0/114 1/138 49.S4g-5f 2/116 0/138 50.N7c-8e! 0/116 26/164 Strong attack. It seems like white has the advantage here, but Moriuchi will show that things are still very close. 51.S7i-6h 4/120 0/164 52.B6f-4d 0/120 18/182 53.P*7c! 7/127 0/182 Good move that shook Habu's confidence a little. 54.S6bx7c! 0/127 1/183 Looks dangerous, but it is white's strongest reply. 54.G6a or S7a would weaken white's position too much. 55.R2h-2i 16/143 0/183 Very tempting is 55.Nx8e, but after 56.Bx9i+ P*7g R8f white gets an overwhelming position after both Nx7c+ L*6f~R8a+ and P*8g L*6f~Rx8e. Having to give up the move to white is a tell-tale sign that white has the advantage. 56.R7f-6f 0/143 4/187 57.K6g-5h 0/143 0/187 58.N8ex7g+ 0/143 0/187 59.S6hx7g?! 28/171 0/187 Immediately after the game was over, Moriuchi suggested 59.Gx7g as better. It seems that black can stop the white attack after for example 60.R6d P*6f R8d P*8e R8b G4h P5d. 60.R6fx5f 0/171 9/196 61.P5gx5f 0/171 0/196 62.P7e-7f 0/171 0/196 63.P*6f 14/185 0/196 64.P7fx7g+ 0/185 2/198 65.G7hx7g 0/185 0/198 66.N*6e 0/185 14/212 67.G7g-6g 1/186 0/212 68.P2f-2g+ 0/186 0/212 69.R2ix2g 4/190 0/212 70.S*7h 0/190 0/212 71.P6fx6e 3/193 0/212 72.S*6i 0/193 0/212 73.K5h-5g 1/194 0/212 74.P*2f 0/194 0/212 75.R2g-2i 1/195 0/212 76.S7hx6g+ 0/195 0/212 77.K5gx6g 0/195 0/212 78.B4dx9i+ 0/195 0/212 79.K6g-5g 21/216 0/212 80.G*5h 0/216 3/215 81.K5g-4g 0/216 0/215 82.+B9i-6f 0/216 0/215 83.P3f-3e! 0/216 0/215 It seems like white is steamrolling through black's position, but this move is a strong fighting move. The black king can suddenly run away and it is not so easy to mate him with only a lance. 84.P*3d 0/216 17/232 Here, Habu was not sure of the position anymore. This move is not a mating threat, so black gets a chance to counterattack. 85.N*2d 4/220 0/232 86.G5h-5g 0/220 1/233 87.K4g-3f 0/220 0/233 88.P3dx3e 0/220 0/233 89.K3fx2f 0/220 0/233 90.L*2c 0/220 0/233 91.R*2a 11/231 0/233 92.K4a-5b 0/231 0/233 93.R2ix6i 2/233 0/233 Suddenly the roles are reversed. Moriuchi has a strong attack and Habu must defend. 94.L2cx2d 0/233 0/233 95.P*2e 0/233 0/233 96.N*3d 0/233 2/235 97.K2f-2g 0/233 0/235 98.+B6fx5f 0/233 0/235 99.P*5d 5/238 0/235 If black can find a way to make consecutive mating threats, he will win. However, it seems that white can barely survive. Black would like to play 99.N*6d here, but unfortunately for him he is mated after 100.Sx6d Px6d N*1e. 100.G3b-3a 0/238 0/235 101.P5dx5c+ 0/238 0/235 102.K5bx5c 0/238 0/235 103.B*7e 0/238 0/235 Without pieces in hand for intermediate drops, white seems to be in trouble here... 104.P6c-6d! 0/238 2/237 Great defence and the deciding move. 105.Px6d P*6h stops black's attack. 105.P*5d 0/238 0/237 106.K5c-4b 0/238 0/237 107.P5d-5c+ 1/239 0/237 108.K4bx5c 0/239 0/237 109.N*4e 0/239 0/237 110.N3cx4e 0/239 1/238 111.N3gx4e 0/239 0/238 112.K5c-6b 0/239 0/238 113.B7ex5g 0/239 0/238 Moriuchi realises he has lost and plays a "katachizukuri" move. 114.L2dx2e 0/239 0/238 115.P*2f 0/239 0/238 116.L2ex2f 0/239 0/238 117.K2g-1h 0/239 0/238 118.+B5fx5g 0/239 0/238 119.P6ex6d 0/239 0/238 120.B*3f 0/239 0/238 121.P*2g 0/239 0/238 122.L2fx2g+ 0/239 0/238 123.G3hx2g 0/239 0/238 124.B3fx2g+ 0/239 0/238 125.K1hx2g 0/239 0/238 126.P*2f 0/239 0/238 127.K2g-1f 0/239 0/238 128.N*2d 0/239 0/238 Resigns 0/239 0/238 Time: 03:59:00 03:58:00 Mate after 129.K2e +B4g K3d G*4d K2d +B1d. Moriuchi again tried everything in this game, but Habu is almost invincible in the endgame. With this result, Habu ended the Kio match with a 3-1 result. This is the 10th Kio title in a row that he has won and he is only the second player in history to get 10 or more consecutive titles. The great Oyama Yashuharu did it twice with 13 consecutive Meijin titles and 12 consecutive Osho titles. Can Habu break these records? In other shogi news: ==================== * In the Red Group of the Oi leagues, the second round game between Goda and Nakagawa was played. Both players had won their first game, so winning this would mean an important step towards challenging Habu. Nakagawa had not won a single game in their previous six encounters, so most commentators expected a Goda win. Surprisingly, it was a very easy victory for Nakagawa. An overwhelming middle game position was confidently converted to a win. After the game, Nakagawa commented that he would do his best to avoid relegation from the league, but that might be a little too modest. Since Tanigawa surprisingly lost against Nakata Isao, Nakagawa is now the only undefeated player in the red group. * In the Ryu-O things are slowly getting interesting. In the first group former Ryu-O title holders Habu, Sato and Tanigawa had already advanced to the semi-finals. They would be joined by either Morishita or Nakahara. It was an interesting difference of opinion that was the theme of the game. Nakahara played an attack, convinced that it was good (maybe winning). Morishita allowed the attack because he thought that it was an overplay. Morishita is probably the best defender in shogi, but this time his feeling was wrong. Nakahara indeed had a strong attack and even though it was not completely clear it was winning, Morishita lost quickly after a rare defensive mistake. 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