From: "'Reijer Grimbergen'" ETL GO JP> Date: 19 may 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 840, May 17th 2000) This week in Shukan Shogi the third game of the Meijin match between Sato and Maruyama. A pressure game for Sato, as a loss would mean he would go 3-0 down, which would almost certainly mean the loss of his Meijin title. Sato came through and won the game, but the way it happened will not do his confidence much good. After the opening Maruyama's position was completely in ruins and Maruyama even considered resigning very early. He played on and surprisingly managed to get back in the game after a couple of Sato mistakes. In the end it was not enough to win, as Sato just had enough composure to find a strong endgame sequence. Here is the game with comments: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Meijin White: Maruyama Tadahisa, Challenger 58th Meijin-sen, Game 3, May 8th and 9th 2000 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/1 0/0 3.P2g-2f 2/3 0/0 4.P8c-8d 0/3 2/2 5.P2f-2e 1/4 0/2 6.P8d-8e 0/4 1/3 7.G6i-7h 1/5 0/3 8.G4a-3b 0/5 2/5 9.P2e-2d 0/5 0/5 10.P2cx2d 0/5 1/6 11.R2hx2d 0/5 0/6 12.P8e-8f 0/5 2/8 13.P8gx8f 0/5 0/8 14.R8bx8f 0/5 2/10 15.R2dx3d 0/5 0/10 16.B2b-3c 0/5 1/11 17.R3d-3f 6/11 0/11 18.S3a-2b 0/11 2/13 19.P*8g 2/13 0/13 20.R8f-8e 0/13 2/15 This is a game that Sato has to win to stay in the match as no shogi player has ever come back from 3-0 down in a best-of-seven match. In the first game Sato also faced the R8e Yokofudori, so this development is no surprise. Even though Sato lost in game 1, he got a very good position after the opening, so there is no reason to avoid this strategy. 21.R3f-2f 0/13 0/15 22.K5a-4a 0/13 2/17 23.S3i-3h 21/34 0/17 24.S7a-6b 0/34 36/53 25.K5i-6h 7/41 0/53 26.G6a-5a 0/41 44/97 27.P3g-3f 7/48 0/97 28.P7c-7d 0/48 3/100 29.N2i-3g 8/56 0/100 30.N8a-7c 0/56 4/104 31.P4g-4f 2/58 0/104 32.P5c-5d 0/58 50/154 33.B8hx3c+ 37/95 0/154 34.N2ax3c 0/95 0/154 35.P6g-6f!? 1/96 0/154 A new idea. In the game between Tanigawa and Maruyama in the A class Junisen in January this year, Tanigawa played 35.N7g and got into trouble after 36.R5e. The weak point 5g turned out to be more important than the awkward position of the white rook. Sato's idea is to play N7g later. If the rook still moves to 5e, the weak point 5g can be defended with a gold move to 6g. 36.B*4d 0/96 31/185 37.R2f-2i 9/105 0/185 38.B4dx6f 0/105 25/210 39.N8i-7g 53/158 0/210 40.R8e-8d 0/158 2/212 41.G4i-5h 14/172 0/212 42.B6f-4d? 0/172 51/263 Looks natural, but immediately after the game Maruyama suggested 42.P*8f as better. If 43.Px8f then 44.P7e seems good for white. If black defends with 43.S8h then 44.Px8g+ Sx8g P*8f S9h P*2h R4i N8e Nx8e Rx8e G5h-6g leads to an unclear position with chances for both players. 43.G5h-6g 39/211 0/263 44.P1c-1d 0/211 20/283 45.P*2d 53/264 0/283 46.P*2f 0/264 4/287 47.S7i-8h 5/269 0/287 48.P5d-5e 0/269 1/288 49.B*4g! 30/299 0/288 This bishop works very well. If white does nothing, the knight on 3c will get lost after 51.P3e~P3d. 50.P*3d 0/299 25/313 Admitting a strategic defeat. Having to drop back a pawn here is very painful. 51.P4f-4e 24/323 0/313 52.B4d-5c 0/323 0/313 53.P7f-7e 0/323 0/313 The bishop on 4g is also working on the left side of the board, having its eye on the weak point 7d. 54.B5cx7e 0/323 6/319 55.P3f-3e 1/324 0/319 56.N3cx4e 0/324 2/321 After the game, Maruyama admitted that he seriously considered resigning here. Black has an overwhelming position and he can pick the weak spots that he want to aim at. 56.Nx4e is the only way to get some play for the knight. 57.N3gx4e 44/368 0/321 58.P4c-4d 0/368 0/321 59.R2ix2f? 21/389 0/321 If there is too much that looks good, it is easy to get confused. Sato could have won quickly here with 59.P*4b. If white takes this pawn, the fork N*5d is devastating. Moving away with 60.K5b fails to 61.Px3d Px4e N*4d. This variation is what made Maruyama consider resignation earlier. 60.P4dx4e 0/389 1/322 61.P3ex3d? 17/406 0/322 A second mistake to complicate things further. 61.P*4d G5b (to defend against P2c+ followed by P4c+) Px3d B5c N*3e B4d P2c+ Sx2c Rx2c+ Gx2c Nx2c+ followed by P3c+ is winning for black. Even an early escape with K5a does not help after S*7b. Now things get a little dangerous for black. 62.B7e-5c 0/406 22/344 63.R2f-2e 4/410 0/344 64.P*8f 0/410 4/348 65.N7g-6e 40/450 0/348 66.N*5f! 0/450 27/375 This knight drop is a very good try. 67.B4gx5f? 17/467 0/375 Again a mistake by Sato. 67.Gx5f Px5f Nx5c= does not give white a bishop and still is a safe win. Black now no longer has the advantage. 68.P5ex5f 0/467 0/375 69.N6ex5c+ 0/467 0/375 70.S6bx5c 0/467 0/375 71.P2d-2c+ 3/470 0/375 72.S2bx2c 0/470 1/376 73.P3d-3c+ 0/470 0/376 74.G3bx3c 0/470 24/400 75.B*6f 0/470 0/400 76.S2c-2d 0/470 72/472 77.P*3d 19/489 0/472 78.P8fx8g+? 0/489 28/500 Shogi can be a tough game. Maruyama has battled back from a hopeless position to a complicated endgame with everything to play for. However, here he throws all of his hard work away. After 78.Gx3d Bx8d Gx2e Bx7c+ R*4h N*5h R3h+ nothing is decided yet. 79.S8hx8g 1/490 0/500 80.S2dx2e 0/490 29/529 81.P3dx3c+ 26/516 0/529 82.N*7e 0/516 0/529 83.+P3c-4c 1/517 0/529 84.G5a-4b 0/517 1/530 85.+P4cx5c 1/518 0/530 86.G4bx5c 0/518 0/530 87.B6f-3c+ 1/519 0/530 88.K4a-5b 0/519 0/530 89.S*5a 2/521 0/530 90.N7ex6g+ 0/521 0/530 91.G7hx6g 0/521 0/530 92.P5fx5g+ 0/521 0/530 93.G6gx5g 1/522 0/530 94.B*7g 0/522 0/530 95.+B3cx7g 4/526 0/530 96.N7c-6e 0/526 0/530 97.G*4b 2/528 0/530 98.K5b-6a 0/528 0/530 99.S5a-6b+ 0/528 0/530 Resigns 0/528 5/535 Time: 08:48:00 08:55:00 And after 100.Kx6b B*5a K7a Bx8d+ white has no mate and no good defence. Sato got the win he desperately needed, but he got a good scare after three mistakes in short order when he had a clearly winning position. Maruyama will be disappointed to lose this one in the end, but his decision to play on when he considered resigning might have some psychological significance. After all, by playing on he showed that he is in better form than the Meijin, making only one mistake while Sato made three. Game four will tell us more about the impact of this. In other shogi news: ==================== * In the Ryu-O the games in the preliminary groups are in the final stages and the challenger knock-out is taking shape. Last week two former Kisei title holders added their names to the list of challenger finalists. In group 2 Yashiki reached the finals with a win over Urano. In group 4 Miura qualified with a win over Iizuka. It is only the first time that Miura managed to qualify which is a bit surprising for a player of his caliber. * Recently, the top players are all showing great form. Final qualification stages of the Kisei and Ryu-O had almost no players from Junisen classes lower than B1. The same pattern applies to the Oza challenger finals. Nakahara (B1) beat Abe (B2) and Kato (A) beat Kitahama (B2) to join Goda (B1), Fujii (Ryu-O), Sato (Meijin), Moriuchi (A) and Maruyama (A). The only possible surprise left can come from Arimori (B2), who plays the final remaining game against Tanigawa (A). We are only in the quarterfinal stage, but the challenger of Habu will not be a big surprise this year. * In the Red group of the Oi, Tanigawa decided the fight for first place with Nakagawa in his favour to get to 3-1. This was not easy, as Tanigawa lost the opening fight and then made a big mistake that could have cost him the game immediately. Tanigawa saw it only after he had played his move and must have been agonising a little when Nakagawa was thinking about his reply. Fortunately for Tanigawa, Nakagawa was too focussed on repairing the final weakness in his position to notice the chance he was given. Nakagawa still had chances to win after that, but in the end rushed his attack and lost. In the white group a survival game between Namekata and Suzuki Daisuke. Both players had a 1-2 score, but still had a chance to win the group if they would win their two remaining games. Namekata won convincingly, but only looked forward after the game. After all, even though this win still gives him an outside chance to become Oi challenger, losing the final game against Fukaura will mean that he relegates from the Oi league. So there is still a big game coming up. * Shimizu is looking to get the Ladies Osho title back that she lost to Ishibashi last year. This will not be easy as the young Ishibashi is getting stronger and stronger. Ishibashi was controlling the pace of the first game as well, but when she rushed her attack, Shimizu managed to turn the tables and win. It did not seem to bother Ishibashi much, as immediately after the game the challenged visiting Suzuki Daisuke to some 10 second byoyomi games that did not finish until late in the evening. I think being able to play with so much enthusiasm after a painful loss in a title match game is amazing and to me this is showing that Ishibashi (not even 20 yet) has a bright future. 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