From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 29 nov 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 868, November 29th 2000) This week in Shukan Shogi the fourth game of the Ryu-O match between Fujii and Habu. Fujii is turning out to be Habu's worst nightmare, as again he did not get anything going with black and lost without too much of a fight. Here is the game with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger White: Fujii Takeshi, Ryu-O 13th Ryu-O sen, Game 4, November 23rd and 24th 2000 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 5/5 3.P2g-2f 1/1 0/5 4.P4c-4d 0/1 2/7 5.S3i-4h 2/3 0/7 6.S3a-3b 0/3 2/9 7.P5g-5f 2/5 0/9 8.R8b-4b 0/5 2/11 9.K5i-6h 3/8 0/11 10.P9c-9d 0/8 3/14 11.P9g-9f 9/17 0/14 12.S7a-7b 0/17 8/22 13.K6h-7h 0/17 0/22 14.S3b-4c 0/17 1/23 15.G4i-5h 5/22 0/23 16.K5a-6b 0/22 1/24 17.S4h-5g 10/32 0/24 18.P6c-6d 0/32 9/33 19.P2f-2e 5/37 0/33 20.B2b-3c 0/37 0/33 21.P8g-8f 3/40 0/33 22.G4a-5b 0/40 47/80 23.K7h-8g 7/47 0/80 Again Habu tries something new in the opening. After the Vanguard Pawns in game 1, the Quick Attack in game 2 and the Subway Rook in game 3, this time he plays a slow build-up with the Left Mino. 24.K6b-7a 0/47 18/98 25.S7i-7h 8/55 0/98 26.G5b-6c 0/55 5/103 27.S5g-6h 54/109 0/103 28.P7c-7d 0/109 38/141 29.P6g-6f 10/119 0/141 30.P3d-3e 0/119 14/155 31.S6h-7g 18/137 0/155 32.R4b-3b 0/137 2/157 33.P1g-1f 2/139 0/157 34.B3c-5a 0/139 5/162 35.R2h-2f 10/149 0/162 36.P8c-8d 0/149 16/178 37.P1f-1e 28/177 0/178 38.P5c-5d 0/177 11/189 39.B8h-7i 4/181 0/189 40.K7a-8b 0/181 0/189 41.K8g-8h 3/184 0/189 42.P4d-4e 0/184 2/191 43.G5h-6g 20/204 0/191 44.S4c-4d 0/204 1/192 45.S7h-8g 3/207 0/192 46.R3b-3d 0/207 2/194 47.G6i-7h 4/211 0/194 48.B5a-6b 0/211 3/197 49.L9i-9h 39/250 0/197 Black has a four general castle, but white has a good position too with the silver on 4d and the rook on 3d. Habu's opening is not a failure, but it causes Fujii no problems at all. With 49.L9h Habu wants to further strengthen his castle by moving into the anaguma. 50.N2a-3c 0/250 8/205 A small change of plan. Fujii intended to play 50.S8c, but did not trust his position after 51.P4f G7b Px4e Sx4e P*4f P3f R1f Px3g+ Px4e +P4g P4d as Bx4d fails to S*4e. 50.N3c defends against this silverdrop on 4e. 51.P4g-4f 16/266 0/205 After the game, Habu said that it might have been better to just play 51.K9i here. However, this is probably the best chance he will get to start the fight at his own terms, so 51.P4f is a natural move. 52.P5d-5e 0/266 63/268 53.P5fx5e 34/300 0/268 54.P3e-3f 0/300 55/323 55.R2fx3f 23/323 0/323 56.S4d-3e 0/323 3/326 57.R3f-1f 1/324 0/326 58.P4ex4f 0/324 1/327 59.B7ix4f 19/343 0/327 60.P*3f 0/343 52/379 61.B4fx3e 12/355 0/379 62.B6bx3e 0/355 21/400 63.R1fx3f 25/380 0/400 64.B*5h 0/380 6/406 65.S*4c 1/381 0/406 66.B3e-7i+! 0/381 3/409 This bishop sacrifice surprised the professionals in the press room. It is unclear if it actually leads to a white advantage, but it shows Fujii's confidence and positive attitude. White sacrifices material for attack, but the most important point here is that the silver on 4c becomes an idle piece. This is not the case after 66.Bx3f+ Sx3d+ +Bx2e. 67.K8hx7i 2/383 0/409 Of course 67.Gx7i fails to Rx3f Px3f Bx6g+. 68.R3dx3f 0/383 1/410 69.P3gx3f 0/383 0/410 70.R*6i 0/383 5/415 71.K7i-8h 1/384 0/415 72.B5hx6g+ 0/384 0/415 73.G7hx6g 2/386 0/415 74.R6ix6g+ 0/386 0/415 75.B*3d 18/404 0/415 76.+R6g-5h 0/404 6/421 77.B*7h 4/408 0/421 78.G*4d! 0/408 8/429 79.B3d-6g? 4/412 0/429 This is a little out of character. Habu does not often miss an opportunity to fight. Here 79.Bx2c+ was the right move. After 80.N4e +B3c Gx4c +Bx4c N5g+ R*3b G6a-6b P8e black also has good attacking chances as the head of the white king is a little thin. 80.+R5h-5i 0/412 0/429 81.S4c-5d+ 22/434 0/429 82.G6cx5d! 0/434 10/439 Another good move by Fujii. After the more natural looking 82.G4dx5d Px5d S*7i K9g N7c R*4c S6h= Sx6h +Rx6h S*7g +Rx7g Nx7g S*6h G*8h it is hard for white to get to the black king. 83.P5ex5d 0/434 0/439 84.N3c-4e 0/434 0/439 85.G*5h 11/445 0/439 86.S*7i 0/445 9/448 87.K8h-9i? 10/455 0/448 Here Habu misses his last chance to make things difficult. After 87.K9g +Rx2i P5c+ N7c P7e N*6e Px6e Nx6e S6f N4e-5g+ Gx5g Nx5g+ Sx5g +R2g black still seems to be losing, but Fujii said after the game that he did not know what would have happened after K9g, so this would have been Habu's best try. 88.+R5ix5h 0/455 4/452 89.B6gx5h 0/455 0/452 90.N4e-5g+ 0/455 1/453 91.B5h-4i 0/455 0/453 92.G4d-5e! 0/455 0/453 The decisive move. This gold gives white's attack decisive strength. In the rest of the game Habu tries everything to keep his position together, but to no avail. 93.B7h-3d 6/461 0/453 94.G5ex6f 0/461 0/453 95.B3dx6a+ 0/461 0/453 96.S7bx6a 0/461 0/453 97.G*7h 0/461 0/453 98.G*6h 0/461 11/464 99.G7hx7i 1/462 0/464 100.G6fx7g 0/462 0/464 101.N8ix7g 0/462 0/464 102.G6hx7i 0/462 0/464 103.G*8h 0/462 0/464 104.B*5f 0/462 6/470 105.S*7h 4/466 0/470 106.S*6h 0/466 4/474 107.P*6g 2/468 0/474 108.+N5gx6g 0/468 0/474 109.B4ix6g 0/468 0/474 110.B5fx6g+ 0/468 0/474 111.N*8i 0/468 0/474 112.B*3d 0/468 4/478 113.R*3c?! 2/470 0/478 Better was 113.Sx6g Bx6g+ B*7h, but even then white wins after Gx7h Sx7h S*7i G*8g +Bx7f. 114.G*7b 0/470 0/478 Now white's king is nicely defended again, so Fujii only has to worry about his attack. 115.R3cx3d+ 2/472 0/478 116.+B6gx3d 0/472 0/478 117.R*3a 0/472 0/478 118.S6hx7g+ 0/472 0/478 119.G8hx7g 3/475 0/478 120.N*6e 0/475 0/478 121.R3ax3d+ 0/475 0/478 122.N6ex7g+ 0/475 0/478 123.S7hx7g 0/475 0/478 124.G*6g 0/475 0/478 125.S*6h 1/476 0/478 126.G7ix8i 0/476 0/478 127.K9ix8i 0/476 0/478 128.R*4i 0/476 0/478 129.N*7i 0/476 0/478 130.N*6e 0/476 0/478 131.B*8h 0/476 0/478 132.N6ex7g+ 0/476 0/478 133.S6hx7g 0/476 0/478 134.G6gx7g 0/476 0/478 135.B8hx7g 0/476 0/478 136.G*6g 0/476 0/478 137.B*3c 1/477 0/478 138.S*6h 0/477 0/478 Resigns 2/479 0/478 Time: 07:59:00 07:58:00 After 139.B8h Sx7i+ Bx7i N*7g or S*6h black has no defence. Another very good game by Fujii, who again outplayed Habu. More importantly, he seems to have broken Habu's fighting spirit. Habu missed two opportunities to make a fight of it, so in the end the game looks very one-sided. Habu needs to come up with something very special if he wants to avoid being completely blown away in this match. In other shogi news: ==================== * For a while, it seemed that the A class would be clearly divided in a group fighting for challenging Meijin Maruyama and a group fighting relegation. This is still more or less the case, but in the last couple of rounds there have been a number of upsets between these two groups. Last week there was another one as Kato (1-3) beat Moriuchi (3-1). Moreover, he did this more or less straight from the opening. Moriuchi was so unhappy with his position that he even missed a chance to get back in the game after Kato played his attack a little too quickly. Moriuchi dropped a lance in defence that he needed to set up a strong attack and lost quickly after that. With the lance he had a strong (probably winning) attack, without the lance he had nothing. So, Moriuchi drops from the lead after two consecutive losses. He does not have time to think about that long, because he plays Tanigawa already this week. Losing that game would end his hopes, but winning this game would mean that he and Tanigawa end up with the same 4-2 score, with only Sato to catch up with. * In B2 the 6th round was played last week. After five rounds only Tsukada had a 100% score and he seems determined to get back to B1 after being in a slump for a couple of years, sliding down from the A class to B2. Tsukada played Arimori and this was a typical Junisen game. A very slow build-up that lasts all day, followed by a violent fight in the evening. Tsukada seemed to have the edge, but when he made a mistake in defending against Arimori's desperate attack, things became very complicated. Tsukada needed to find some difficult moves to survive, but he managed to do so and won. He is now very close to returning to B1 as none of his remaining four opponents currently has more than a 2-4 score. Moreover, he only needs three wins out of four to secure promotion. The question seems to be who will accompany him to B1. The most interesting game in this respect was the game between Kubo (4-1) and Fukaura (3-2). Kubo has just promoted to B2 and two losses with a low Junisen position is almost certainly not enough. Fukaura just missed promotion to B1 last year, so with two losses still can hope to sneak in through the back door this year with his high Junisen ranking. In short, for the loser the Junisen season would be over. For a long time it looked like this would be Kubo, who seemed to have a horrible position after the opening. However, this game was another sign of how deep shogi really is, as Kubo managed to claw back in the game and win without Fukaura making any obvious mistakes. Kubo was even more lucky as Nakagawa and Hatakeyama both lost, so he is now the only player with a 5-1 score. Abe, Nakagawa, Izumi, Hatakeyama, Tomioka and Suzuki Daisuke all have 4-2 scores, waiting for a mistake by Kubo. However, Kubo also seems to have an easy schedule, with only a game against Hatakeyama that might be hard. * Also in C2, round 6 was played. The only two players with five wins going into the round were Naganuma and Yamamoto. However, attention first went to the game between Ito Hatasu and Tachi, which ended early in the afternoon after Ito played two moves in a row. A rare incident in professional games, but of course an immediate loss. Naganuma had a tough opponent in Chuza, who had a 4-1 record so far. In the middle game he overplayed his position with a king still outside of the castle and lost in only 96 moves. Yamamoto also had a difficult time, as Kubota came out of the opening with a solid advantage. However, in tough times the anaguma can be a great help as Yamamoto did everything to keep the game close and slowly managed to turn things around and win. So Yamamoto is now the only player without a loss in C2. With his bad Junisen ranking after he completely blew it last season (he is ranked 31st) he can not relax, as he is followed by Nozuki, Chuza, Kobayashi, Naganuma and Akutsu, the surprising 18-year old rookie, who beat Masuda. Moreover, Yamamoto plays Nozuki and Chuza next. The battle for the three spots in C1 is still wide open. * With a third of the games in the Osho league still left to play, Tanigawa already has decided the challengership race. He only needed to win against his only remaining rival Nakahara to be out of reach and he did so in great style. After an early mistake by Nakahara he got a solid advantage in the middle game which he carried over to the endgame. There he again showed his exceptional endgame skills with a nice silver sacrifice that finished off Nakahara very quickly. Tanigawa has not had much luck against Habu this year, but maybe this will change in the first Habu-Tanigawa match of the 21st century. * In the Kio challenger tournament the semi-final between Tanigawa and Kubo was played. Actually, these two players had met five days before for their game in the Osho league and for 22 moves the games developed exactly the same way. Even though he won the game in the Osho league, Tanigawa was the one to choose a different variation this time. He might have been sorry, as he overlooked a nasty Kubo counter to his quick attack and it was all Kubo after that who won in only 86 moves. Kubo will now meet Goda in the final of the main section of the Kio challenger tournament. Because of the special Kio tournament system, Tanigawa gets a chance to fight his way back through the second chance round, where he will meet Maruyama first. 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