From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 15 sep 2000 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no.857, September 13th 2000) No time this week (or next week), so here is just the two title match games (5th Oi game and 2nd Oza game) with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Oi White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger 41st Oi-sen, Game 5, September 4th and 5th 2000 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/1 1/1 3.P2g-2f 3/4 0/1 4.P4c-4d 0/4 4/5 5.P2f-2e 4/8 0/5 6.B2b-3c 0/8 0/5 7.S3i-4h 1/9 0/5 8.R8b-4b 0/9 6/11 9.K5i-6h 5/14 0/11 10.S3a-3b 0/14 6/17 11.K6h-7h 3/17 0/17 12.S7a-7b 0/17 8/25 13.P5g-5f 4/21 0/25 14.P9c-9d 0/21 27/52 15.B8h-6f 37/58 0/52 16.S3b-4c 0/58 30/82 17.B6f-5g 5/63 0/82 18.R4b-2b 0/63 7/89 19.G4i-5h 6/69 0/89 20.K5a-6b 0/69 12/101 21.P6g-6f 29/98 0/101 22.K6b-7a 0/98 8/109 23.P3g-3f 5/103 0/109 24.K7a-8b 0/103 12/121 25.N2i-3g 19/122 0/121 26.S4c-5d 0/122 36/157 27.G5h-6g 12/134 0/157 28.P6c-6d 0/134 10/167 29.N8i-7g 7/141 0/167 30.P9d-9e 0/141 14/181 31.K7h-8i 50/191 0/181 Again Habu plays the "millenium". The bad loss against Fujii in the first game of the Oza has not discouraged him. 32.G4a-5b 0/191 18/199 33.G6i-7h 1/192 0/199 34.P8c-8d 0/192 18/217 35.P1g-1f 20/212 0/217 36.P1c-1d 0/212 11/228 37.P6f-6e? 24/236 0/228 This is asking a little much of the position. From now on, it is white who is dictating the pace. 38.P6dx6e 0/236 30/258 39.B5gx8d 0/236 0/258 40.P4d-4e 0/236 0/258 41.B8d-5g 16/252 0/258 42.G5b-6c 0/252 2/260 43.S4h-5i 27/279 0/260 44.R2b-6b 0/279 50/310 White has a strong attacking base on 6e and the capture of his pawn on 8d also helps, as white can drop a pawn later on either 8f or 8h. 45.S5i-5h 53/332 0/310 Another problem of black's position is the formation of silver and gold on 7i and 7h. These two pieces are a wall that make it difficult for the king to escape from the edge attack that is going to follow. Black would like to repair his position with S5i-6h, followed by S8h and S6h-7i. However, after 45.S5i-6h G7d P7e P6f G7f G6e Nx6e Sx6e Gx6e Rx6e G*7f P9f white gets a very strong attack. 45.S5h creates a square for the gold to pull back to 6h after P6f in this variation, but the silver is not very well placed here. Habu's opening has turned out to be a failure and Tanigawa now has the advantage. 46.G6c-7d 0/332 38/348 47.P2e-2d 27/359 0/348 No choice. White has weakened himself on this side of the board so black can break through. Still, it seems a lot further from the king than white's attack. 48.P2cx2d 0/359 0/348 49.P3f-3e 0/359 0/348 50.N2a-1c 0/359 44/392 51.P3ex3d 23/382 0/392 52.B3c-4d 0/382 0/392 53.R2hx2d 2/384 0/392 54.P9e-9f 0/384 1/393 55.P9gx9f 10/394 0/393 56.P*9g 0/394 1/394 57.P3d-3c+? 8/402 0/394 Careless, underestimating the power of white's 60th move. Best was 56.Lx9g P*3f P3c+ Bx3c R3d Bx7g+ G6gx7g Px3g+ and even though white strongly threatens N*8e next, black still has counter chances with the bishop in hand. 58.B4dx3c 0/402 3/397 59.R2d-2c+ 0/402 0/397 60.B3c-6f! 0/402 20/417 Strong move. White is aiming for a bishop exchange, after black can no longer take the pawn on 9g because of the fork B*6d. 61.+R2cx5c?! 27/429 0/417 Again inaccurate. Better would have been 61.P*6c Rx6c P*6d Rx6d Lx9g. 62.R6b-5b 0/429 5/422 63.+R5cx5b 28/457 0/422 64.G6ax5b 0/457 0/422 65.G6gx6f 0/457 0/422 66.P6ex6f 0/457 0/422 67.P7f-7e 0/457 0/422 68.G7dx7e 0/457 7/429 69.R*8d 1/458 0/429 70.S7b-8c? 0/458 13/442 A bad move that gives away all the advantage. Tanigawa has calculated this deeply and saw that 71.Rx5d leads to mate after 72.G*9h: 73.Lx9h Px9h+ Kx9h Lx9f P*9g Lx9g= Kx9g L*9e P*9f Lx9f Kx9f R*9h P*9g P*9e Kx9e Rx9g+ P*9f P*9d Rx9d Sx9d Kx9d R*9c K8d G*7d. In this variation, having the silver on 8c is vital. Tanigawa thinks he is going for a straight win, but he has not calculated Habu's alternatives deep enough. If he would have played the natural 70.P*8c instead, he would probably have won after 71.Rx5d P*5c R4d G*9h Lx9h Px9h+ Kx9h Lx9f P*9g Lx9g= Kx9g L*9e P*9f Lx9f Kx9f R*9h. 71.R8dx8c+ 0/458 0/442 72.K8bx8c 0/458 0/442 73.B*6a 0/458 0/442 74.R*7b 0/458 3/445 Painful. White would like to play 74.K8d, but after Bx5b+ the black bishop is also defending 9f, so white suddenly does not have a strong attack anymore. 75.L9ix9g 0/458 0/445 76.P*9e 0/458 6/451 77.G7h-8h 8/466 0/451 78.P9ex9f 0/466 8/459 79.L9gx9f 3/469 0/459 80.L9ax9f 0/469 0/459 81.P*9g 0/469 0/459 82.P*9h? 0/469 3/462 Overlooking black's 87th move. Better was 82.R*5i S*8d K8b Sx7e Rx5h+ Bx1c+ Lx1c Bx7b+ Kx7b R*9b P*8b N*6d K6c and things are still unclear. 83.S*8d 1/470 0/462 84.K8c-8b 0/470 2/464 85.K8ix9h 0/470 0/464 86.G7e-7f 0/470 5/469 White's attack still looks strong, but... 87.B5gx1c+! 1/471 0/469 The decisive move. White can not take this bishop because of N*6d. 88.G5b-6b 0/471 6/475 89.N*9d 2/473 0/475 90.K8b-9a 0/473 0/475 The only defence. After 90.K7a Bx7b+ white can not take the bishop with the gold as the black promoted bishop comes into play strongly with +B3e. 91.B6ax7b+ 0/473 0/475 92.G6bx7b 0/473 0/475 93.R*5b 0/473 0/475 94.P*8f 0/473 2/477 This is not even have a mating threat, and there is no defence against the black attack. Game over. 95.R5bx7b+ 2/475 0/477 96.P8fx8g+ 0/475 0/477 97.G8hx8g 0/475 0/477 98.G7fx8g 0/475 0/477 99.K9hx8g 0/475 0/477 100.L9fx9g+ 0/475 2/479 101.K8gx9g 1/476 0/479 102.R*9i 0/476 0/479 103.P*9h 0/476 0/479 104.G*9f 0/476 0/479 105.K9gx9f 0/476 0/479 106.R9ix9h+ 0/476 0/479 107.P*9g 0/476 0/479 108.L*9e 0/476 0/479 109.S8dx9e 1/477 0/479 110.B*8g 0/477 0/479 111.K9f-8f 0/477 0/479 112.P*8e 0/477 0/479 113.K8f-7e 0/477 0/479 Resigns 0/477 0/479 Time: 07:57:00 07:59:00 After 114.G*6e K8d or 114.G*7d Kx6f G6e K5g (or Nx6e) there is no mate, so Tanigawa resigned. Again Tanigawa was dictating the pace in this game, but again he wanted to win too quickly in the endgame, giving Habu a chance to get back in. Habu now needs only one win from two games to win his 8th consecutive Oi title. Black: Fujii Takeshi, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Oza 48th Oza-sen, Game 2, September 8th 2000 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 3/3 3.P6g-6f 1/1 0/3 4.S7a-6b 0/1 1/4 5.R2h-6h 5/6 0/4 6.K5a-4b 0/6 1/5 7.P1g-1f 2/8 0/5 8.K4b-3b 0/8 3/8 9.S3i-3h 5/13 0/8 10.P5c-5d 0/13 10/18 11.S7i-7h 7/20 0/18 12.G6a-5b 0/20 4/22 13.S7h-6g 20/40 0/22 14.P8c-8d 0/40 4/26 15.P1f-1e 17/57 0/26 16.S6b-5c 0/57 20/46 17.G6i-5h 2/59 0/46 18.P8d-8e 0/59 19/65 19.B8h-7g 0/59 0/65 20.B2b-3c 0/59 0/65 21.P4g-4f 5/64 0/65 22.P4c-4d 0/64 8/73 23.P3g-3f 0/64 0/73 24.G5b-4c 0/64 5/78 25.N2i-3g 1/65 0/78 26.K3b-2b 0/65 26/104 No millenium castle this time. Habu just said that he wanted to play the normal anaguma, facing the Fujii system head on. 27.P6f-6e 13/78 0/104 28.G4a-3b 0/78 1/105 29.S3h-4g 2/80 0/105 30.P7c-7d?! 0/80 4/109 Brave move. This opens the diagonal to the rook and looks very risky. It is Habu's way of saying "come and get me if you can". 31.N3g-2e 27/107 0/109 After some thought, Fujii accepts the challenge and attacks. 32.B3c-5a 0/107 2/111 33.P1e-1d 1/108 0/111 It is important to play this move earlier, so that the lance can be sacrificed on 1d after B7c. 34.P1cx1d 0/108 4/115 35.P4f-4e 0/108 0/115 36.P8e-8f 0/108 53/168 37.P8gx8f 2/110 0/168 38.N8a-7c 0/110 0/168 39.S4g-5f 88/198 0/168 More natural is 40.S6g-5f, but with the sitting king, the attack on the head of the bishop (P7e) is too dangerous. 40.P2c-2d 0/198 37/205 The point of the game. Black's attack on 4d looks very strong, but white has to force black into action with this attack on the knight. 41.P4ex4d 0/198 0/205 42.S5cx4d 0/198 4/209 43.P*4e 0/198 0/209 44.S4d-5e 0/198 0/209 45.S5fx5e 0/198 0/209 46.P5dx5e 0/198 0/209 47.B7gx5e 0/198 0/209 48.P*4d! 0/198 0/209 Great defence. White just ignores the power of the bishop on the king's diagonal. 49.P4ex4d? 1/199 0/209 Here Fujii misses a good chance. The right move was 49.P*1b. It looks a little strange as after 50.Kx1b (the move Habu intended to play), the king is no longer on the diagonal of the bishop. However, after 51.Lx1d P*1c Px4d G5d Nx1c+ Nx1c B8h black can play Lx1c+ followed by N*4c next, which is very strong. Probably better is 50.Lx1b, but then P*1c Px2e Px1b+ Kx1b L*1h is good for black, as he can also use the bishop on 4f. 50.G4c-5d 0/199 0/209 51.B5e-8h 0/199 0/209 52.P*5e! 0/199 26/235 Now black's attack is stopped and the bishop on 8h is just ballast. 53.P6e-6d? 34/233 0/235 The move Fujii regretted most after the game. He counted on 54.Px6d P*6b, but overlooked Habu's next move. Better was 53.S5f Px2e Sx5e Gx5e Bx5e and things are still complicated. 54.P2dx2e 0/233 8/243 Habu just ignores the pawn promotion. 55.P6dx6c+ 1/234 0/243 56.B5a-2d 0/234 5/248 A perfect square for the bishop to attack the black king and this also defends against S*5b. The game is virtually over from now, even though Fujii desperately struggles for another 40 moves. It might have been enough to get back in the game against any other player, but Habu does not give him any chance. 57.+P6cx7c 33/267 0/248 58.R8bx8f 0/267 0/248 59.N*7i 0/267 0/248 60.P*6f 0/267 10/258 61.S6gx6f 9/276 0/258 62.N*5f 0/276 0/258 63.R6h-7h 0/276 0/258 64.S*8g 0/276 3/261 65.N7ix8g 0/276 0/261 66.R8fx8g+ 0/276 0/261 67.S*7i 0/276 0/261 68.N*6g 0/276 14/275 69.K5i-6i 0/276 0/275 70.N6gx7i+ 0/276 0/275 71.K6ix7i 0/276 0/275 72.G5dx4d 0/276 0/275 There goes black's final stronghold. 73.P*6h 7/283 0/275 74.P*8f 0/283 3/278 75.P9g-9f 9/292 0/278 76.B2d-4f 0/292 4/282 77.R7h-7g 2/294 0/282 78.+R8gx7g 0/294 1/283 79.B8hx7g 0/294 0/283 80.S*8g 0/294 0/283 81.B7gx8f 0/294 0/283 82.R*7h 0/294 1/284 83.K7i-6i 0/294 0/284 84.S8g-8h+ 0/294 0/284 85.G5h-5i 0/294 0/284 86.B4f-3g+ 0/294 2/286 87.K6i-5h 1/295 0/286 88.R7hx7f+ 0/295 2/288 89.B8f-5c+ 0/295 0/288 90.+R7fx6f 0/295 3/291 91.+B5cx4d 0/295 0/291 92.N2a-3c 0/295 0/291 93.G*3h 0/295 0/291 94.+B3gx3f 0/295 4/295 95.P*4g 0/295 0/295 96.P*4h 0/295 0/295 97.P*3g 0/295 0/295 98.+S8h-7h 0/295 2/297 99.R*6g 0/295 0/297 100.P4hx4i+ 0/295 0/297 101.R6gx6f 0/295 0/297 102.+P4ix5i 0/295 0/297 Resigns 0/295 0/297 Time: 04:55:00 04:57:00 Mate after 103.K6g Nx6h+ etc. or 103.Kx5i +Bx3g etc. -- 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