From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 8 nov 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 865, November 8th 2000) This week in Shukan Shogi the second game of Ryu-O match between Fujii and Habu. Habu was under a lot of pressure to win this one, but he stood up to the task and won a difficult game with a couple of unusual moves that can only be called "Habu specials". Here is the game with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger White: Fujii Takeshi, Ryu-O 13th Ryu-O sen, Game 2, November 1st and 2nd 2000 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 This is a big game for Habu, as he suffered a total defeat in the first game. Another disaster like that, especially with black, would make it very difficult to take the Ryu-O title from Fujii. Of course, Habu knows how to deal with pressure like that. 2.P3c-3d 0/1 7/7 3.P2g-2f 3/4 0/7 4.P4c-4d 0/4 0/7 5.S3i-4h 4/8 0/7 6.S3a-3b 0/8 0/7 7.P5g-5f 8/16 0/7 8.R8b-4b 0/16 1/8 9.K5i-6h 8/24 0/8 10.P9c-9d 0/24 0/8 11.K6h-7h 12/36 0/8 12.S3b-4c 0/36 11/19 13.G4i-5h 13/49 0/19 14.S7a-7b 0/49 1/20 15.P9g-9f 6/55 0/20 16.K5a-6b 0/55 1/21 17.S4h-5g 20/75 0/21 18.P6c-6d 0/75 1/22 19.P2f-2e 8/83 0/22 20.B2b-3c 0/83 0/22 21.P3g-3f 0/83 0/22 22.K6b-7a 0/83 28/50 23.S5g-4f 13/96 0/50 Again, Habu avoids the Fujii System and plays a quick attack. It is unclear if he actually thinks that this is a good strategy against Fujii's Shikenbisha or that there are only psychological reasons. Habu has had some good results with the quick attack against Fujii, even though he did not get any advantage from the opening in those games. 24.R4b-3b 0/96 70/120 25.P3f-3e 32/128 0/120 26.K7a-8b 0/128 28/148 27.P1g-1f 72/200 0/148 Habu judges that an all-out attack in this position is not good enough. The white position is a little bit different from the most common opening theory as the white gold is still on 4a. This might actually help white, as it is more difficult for black to later drop a rook in white's camp. Even with the gold on 5b instead of 4a, opening theory says that black's attack is not strong enough and that positional play like Habu shows in the game is best. 28.P1c-1d 0/200 14/162 29.S7i-6h 49/249 0/162 30.L1a-1c! 0/249 51/213 The sealed move and a sign that Fujii is confident about his position. He does not want to wait for Habu, but is aiming at his own attack with R1b followed by P1e. 31.P3ex3d 28/277 0/213 32.S4cx3d 0/277 0/213 33.P*3e 0/277 0/213 34.S3d-4c 0/277 0/213 35.S4f-3g 0/277 0/213 36.G4a-5b 0/277 86/299 Fujii waits until the final moment before settling the shape with this gold move. Up until this point, it could still go to 5b, 4b or 3b. 37.S3g-3f 39/316 0/299 38.R3b-1b 0/316 4/303 39.P4g-4f 18/334 0/303 40.P1d-1e 0/334 6/309 41.P2e-2d?! 27/361 0/309 This might not have been the best move. Things now get very wild, but these complications should have ended in white's favour. The alternative is 41.Px1e Lx1e P*1h R1d, but Habu thought this was too passive. It might be that black is in trouble here. 42.P2cx2d 0/361 1/310 43.P4f-4e 18/379 0/310 44.P1ex1f 0/379 1/311 45.P4ex4d 0/379 0/311 46.P1f-1g+ 0/379 2/313 47.P4dx4c+ 11/390 0/313 Both players ignore the moves of the opponent and suddenly everywhere pieces are hanging. Habu considered the more quiet 47.R4h here, but after 48.S3b P3d B1a P3c+ Bx3c S3e P*4b there is no way to proceed for black. 48.B3cx8h+ 0/390 1/314 49.K7hx8h 0/390 0/314 50.+P1gx2h 0/390 0/314 51.B*3d 0/390 0/314 52.R*4i 0/390 13/327 53.+P4cx5b 23/413 0/327 54.R1bx5b? 0/413 5/332 This is a mistake that gives Habu the advantage. Both players overlooked that after 54.+Rx6i 55.G*7i white can continue strongly with 56.+Rx7i! Sx7i Rx5b P*4d P*4b R*4a G*5a and the difference in king safety is too big. 55.G5h-5i 2/415 0/332 56.R4ix2i+ 0/415 23/355 57.B3dx5b+ 11/426 0/355 58.G6ax5b 0/426 0/355 59.R*3b! 0/426 0/355 This looks like a simple move, but it is quite subtle. The obvious drop is 59.R*4a, but after G*5a Rx2a+ P*4a the black dragon is out of play. With 59.R*3b Habu more or less forces a pawn drop on 4b, after which the black dragon is much more active. 60.P*4b 0/426 42/397 61.R3b-3a+ 11/437 0/397 62.N*7a 0/437 1/398 63.S*6a 15/452 0/398 64.S7bx6a 0/452 5/403 65.+R3ax6a 0/452 0/403 66.B*6c 0/452 0/403 67.S*6b? 9/461 0/403 Very hard to see, but the awful looking 67.S*4a was the best move here. After 68.S*5a S4g +Rx1i Sx5b= Sx5b +Rx2a Habu would have kept his advantage. 68.B*4d 0/461 2/405 69.P5f-5e?! 9/470 0/405 Better was 69.N7g. 70.G5bx6b 0/470 1/406 71.+R6ax6b 0/470 0/406 72.S*7b 0/470 0/406 73.G*6a 0/470 0/406 74.P5c-5d 0/470 0/406 A perfect defence. We now enter a stage of the game where nobody knew what was happening. The side who just played a move looks to be better and Shukan Shogi has no comments for this complicated attack and defence sequence. All moves look reasonable, but it seems likely that a number of improvements for both players can be found. 75.+R6bx4b 0/470 0/406 76.S*5c 0/470 13/419 77.+R4b-3a 0/470 0/419 78.B4dx5e 0/470 13/432 79.N8i-7g 1/471 0/432 80.P*4a 0/471 15/447 81.G6ax7a 0/471 0/447 82.K8bx7a 0/471 0/447 83.+R3ax2a 0/471 0/447 84.+R2ix1i 0/471 2/449 85.N*7e 2/473 0/449 86.B6c-7d 0/473 0/449 87.G*4c 1/474 0/449 88.G*4b 0/474 9/458 89.G4cx4b 3/477 0/458 90.S5cx4b 0/477 0/458 91.N*6f 0/477 0/458 92.B7d-5b 0/477 8/466 93.P*5c 1/478 0/466 94.S4bx5c 0/478 0/466 95.G*5a! 0/478 0/466 Even after seeing it so often, it is still amazing to see what moves Habu can come up with to make things difficult for his opponents. This gold drop looks very bad, but it is the only way for black to make progress. 96.B5b-1f? 0/478 2/468 It seems that Fujii should have strengthened his position here with 96.G*6b. Hard to see indeed, and that is what makes Habu so special. He needs another magical touch, though... 97.+R2ax4a 0/478 0/468 98.G*4b 0/478 0/468 99.+R4a-3a 0/478 0/468 100.K7a-8b 0/478 4/472 And the end of black's attack, Fujii thought... 101.P3e-3d! 0/478 0/472 Incredible move. Surely this must be too far from the white king. It may be that Habu picked this move because he thought it was the only way he would have a chance of winning, but still his judgement is perfect. This tokin attack comes just in time, as Fujii's attack is one move too slow. 102.B5e-3g+ 0/478 7/479 Fujii uses his last seven minutes to find a quick attack, but he is unable to find one. For example, 102.L*7d P*4c Lx7e P4b+ Lx7f G5b is also losing for white. 103.P3d-3c+ 0/478 0/479 104.L*5e 0/478 0/479 105.+P3cx4b 0/478 0/479 106.L5ex5i+ 0/478 0/479 107.G5a-5b 0/478 0/479 108.+L5ix6i 0/478 0/479 109.G*7a 0/478 0/479 110.G*6a 0/478 0/479 111.G5bx6a 0/478 0/479 112.S7bx6a 0/478 0/479 113.G7ax8a 0/478 0/479 114.K8bx8a 0/478 0/479 115.N7ex8c+ 0/478 0/479 After the game, Habu said that only here he felt sure that he would win. 116.G*8b 0/478 0/479 117.+N8cx8b 0/478 0/479 118.K8ax8b 0/478 0/479 119.G*8d 0/478 0/479 120.P6d-6e 0/478 0/479 121.G*8c 1/479 0/479 122.K8b-7a 0/479 0/479 123.+R3ax6a 0/479 0/479 124.K7ax6a 0/479 0/479 125.S*7b 0/479 0/479 Resigns 0/479 0/479 Time: 07:59:00 07:59:00 And a simple mate after 126.K6b N*7d Px7d Nx7d. Again a game where Fujii dominated the opening and early middle game, but that was decided by Habu's awesome endgame skills. The theme of this match might be if Fujii can get a big enough advantage after the opening to win the game or not. A close endgame fight seems to be in Habu's favour. In game 3 it will be again very interesting to see how Habu will play in the early stages of the game. The Fujii System still looks rock solid. In other shogi news: ==================== * Yamasaki came very close to winning his first major title by beating Kitahama in the second game of the Shinjin-O match after he had already won game 1 of this best-of-three match. Everything seemed to be going to plan as he came out of the Kakugawari opening with a big advantage. However, with the victory almost certain, he played an unbelievable blunder by giving away a bishop for almost nothing. Kitahama jumped at this chance to get the match into a decisive third game. A very tough loss for 19-year old Yamasaki. Can he make the mental adjustment to fire himself up for the final game? * In the Osho league a big game was played as leaders Sato and Tanigawa met in the third round. Both had 2-0 scores going into this game and a victory would mean a major step forward to winning the league and challenging Habu for the title. It was another complicated R8e Yokofudori battle where Sato (with black) won a lance, but Tanigawa had compensation strong pressure against the king. Even at professional level defence is more difficult than attack, as Sato made a small mistake that was enough to give Tanigawa's attack decisive power. Tanigawa is a specialist in quickly killing opponents if he gets a good attack going and in the end he won in only 76 moves. Another Habu-Tanigawa match to start the 21st century? More next week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Complex Games Lab Electrotechnical Laboratory 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305-8568 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