From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 3 aug 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 900-902, July 18th, Three weeks without a Shukan Shogi report means two commented title match games: the first game of the Oi title match between Habu and Yashiki and the fourth game of the Kisei title match between Habu and Goda. Both ended in Habu's favor, tying the Kisei match at 2-2 and starting the Oi match 1-0. Without further ado, here are the two games with comments: Black: Yashiki Nobuyuki, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Oi 42nd Oi-sen, Game 1, July 17th and 18th 2001 1.P7g-7f 00:01:00 00:00:00 For the first time Yashiki plays a title match where each game is played over two days. Furthermore, this first game is played in Hokkaido, his native island. How would the challenger deal with these two first time experiences? 2.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:01:00 3.S7i-6h 00:01:00 00:01:00 4.P3c-3d 00:01:00 00:03:00 5.P6g-6f 00:01:00 00:03:00 6.S7a-6b 00:01:00 00:06:00 7.P5g-5f 00:03:00 00:06:00 8.P5c-5d 00:03:00 00:11:00 9.S3i-4h 00:04:00 00:11:00 10.S3a-4b 00:04:00 00:14:00 11.G4i-5h 00:05:00 00:14:00 12.G4a-3b 00:05:00 00:19:00 13.G5h-6g 00:19:00 00:19:00 14.K5a-4a 00:19:00 00:29:00 15.S6h-7g 01:10:00 00:29:00 Habu and Yashiki have never played in a title match before, but they have met in other official games ten times. Habu has an overwhelming lead, winning eight of them. Habu and Yashiki are both all-round players and this clearly shows from the openings in their games: 5 times Shikenbisha, 2 times Aigakari, Hineribisha once, Yokofudori once and Yagura once. Recently, the Shikenbisha is often played in title matches and this was more or less expected in this game as well. However, the game started with a Yagura opening. The Yagura once was played in almost every title match game, but these times are over. It has actually been one year and four months since the last Yagura opening appeared in a title match game: the 3rd game of the 25th Kio match between Habu and Moriuchi. 16.P7c-7d 01:10:00 00:43:00 17.B8h-7i?! 01:21:00 00:43:00 An interesting choice by Yashiki. Pulling this bishop back quickly aims at winning a move by making the quick castle K6h-7h-8h followed by G7h. Keeping the bishop on 7i then wins black a move. Still, this only works if white plays quietly. If not, black runs the risk of being blown away by a quick attack. This game is a perfect example of this. Commentator Morishita was very surprised by Yashiki's opening selection, as black's winning rate is pretty bad with this strategy. 18.P6c-6d 01:21:00 01:12:00 19.P3g-3f 01:58:00 01:12:00 20.S6b-6c 01:58:00 01:26:00 21.P3f-3e 02:41:00 01:26:00 22.R8b-5b! 02:41:00 02:15:00 White ignores the pawn on 3e and goes straight for the king. After the game Habu said that he had played this position before and felt it was good for white. 23.P3ex3d 03:05:00 02:15:00 24.P5d-5e 03:05:00 02:16:00 25.S4h-5g 03:21:00 02:16:00 26.P5ex5f 03:21:00 02:40:00 27.G6gx5f 03:22:00 02:40:00 This is not the piece with which you want to take this pawn, but after the normal 27.Sx5f S5d P4f S5e Sx5e Rx5e P*5f R3e black is in deep trouble. 28.N8a-7c 03:22:00 03:13:00 29.G6i-5h 04:11:00 03:13:00 30.S6c-5d 04:11:00 03:31:00 31.G5h-6g 04:22:00 03:31:00 32.P6d-6e 04:22:00 03:43:00 White has won the opening and keeps on attacking. 33.K5i-6i 04:31:00 03:43:00 34.R5b-6b 04:31:00 04:21:00 35.P6fx6e 05:31:00 04:21:00 36.N7cx6e 05:31:00 04:32:00 37.P*6f 05:32:00 04:32:00 38.N6ex5g+ 05:32:00 04:34:00 39.G5fx5g 05:33:00 04:34:00 40.P*6e 05:33:00 04:59:00 White has already won a silver for a knight, but Habu is not satisfied with this small material gain. He wants black's king. 41.P6fx6e 05:47:00 04:59:00 42.P7d-7e 05:47:00 05:20:00 43.P7fx7e? 05:57:00 05:20:00 This was already Yashiki's last and only chance to try and make a real game of it. 43.G5g-6f Sx6e Gx6e Rx6e P*6f R6d B4f R4d Bx9a+ Rx4g+ S*5h and even though white still has the upper hand, the undeveloped bishop on 2b makes things a little hard for Habu. 44.R6bx6e 05:57:00 05:33:00 45.G5g-6f 06:02:00 05:33:00 46.R6e-4e 06:02:00 05:48:00 47.B7i-4f 06:07:00 05:48:00 48.R4ex4f 06:07:00 06:21:00 49.P4gx4f 06:07:00 06:21:00 50.P*6e 06:07:00 06:21:00 51.G6f-7f 06:14:00 06:21:00 52.B2b-5e! 06:14:00 06:21:00 Black seems to have improved his position a little by exchanging the bad bishop for the rook, but this strong bishop move ends all hope. It has no less than three different meanings: 1) Attack next with Bx4f; 2) Defending the lance on 9a, taking the sting out of R*8a next; 3) Moving the wall bishop from 2b, so that white's king now has an escape route to 2b. Aono's comment: "If a move like that is played against you, there is no way to win". 53.R2h-4h 06:37:00 06:21:00 There is nothing for black to play. 53.K7h Bx4f R1h B*4e threatening both S*6i and Bx2g+ is even worse. 54.S*6f 06:37:00 06:29:00 Not a very sophisticated move, but very effective. 55.G6g-6h 06:40:00 06:29:00 56.B*5f 06:40:00 06:36:00 57.R*8a 06:51:00 06:36:00 58.P*7a 06:51:00 06:38:00 59.P*6b 07:00:00 06:38:00 A desperate last attempt by the man known for his "Ninja shogi". 60.B5fx8i+! 07:00:00 06:48:00 Lesser gods might have played 60.G7b?, but then P6a+ followed by +Px7a suddenly gives white some hope. However, a holder of five major title doesn't play moves like that. 61.P6bx6a+ 07:02:00 06:48:00 62.N*5f 07:02:00 06:49:00 63.R8ax7a+ 07:05:00 06:49:00 64.S6fx7g+ 07:05:00 06:50:00 65.+P6a-6b 07:05:00 06:50:00 66.S*5a 07:05:00 06:50:00 67.+P6bx5a 07:05:00 06:50:00 68.K4a-3a 07:05:00 06:50:00 69.+P5a-5b 07:05:00 06:50:00 70.K3a-2b 07:05:00 06:50:00 71.+P5bx4b 07:05:00 06:50:00 With enormous effort Yashiki has managed to get within one move, but Habu has already calculated long before that this is as far as white will get. 72.+S7gx6h 07:05:00 06:50:00 73.R4hx6h 07:05:00 06:50:00 74.N5fx6h+ 07:05:00 06:50:00 75.K6ix6h 07:05:00 06:50:00 76.R*3h 07:05:00 06:50:00 Resigns 07:05:00 06:50:00 Simple mate after both 77.K5g G*5f and 77.P*5h G*6g K5i Gx5h. A terrible game for Yashiki, being blown away with black in front of his home crowd. Will he be able to bounce back in game 2 or will this Oi match become a one-sided Habu show? And here is the fourth game of the Kisei-sen: Black: Goda Masataka, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Kisei 72nd Kisei-sen, Game 4, July 23rd 2001 1.P2g-2f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:01:00 3.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:01:00 4.P8c-8d 00:00:00 00:01:00 5.P2f-2e 00:00:00 00:01:00 6.P8d-8e 00:00:00 00:03:00 7.G6i-7h 00:00:00 00:03:00 8.G4a-3b 00:00:00 00:04:00 9.P2e-2d 00:00:00 00:04:00 10.P2cx2d 00:00:00 00:04:00 11.R2hx2d 00:00:00 00:04:00 12.P8e-8f 00:00:00 00:05:00 13.P8gx8f 00:00:00 00:05:00 14.R8bx8f 00:00:00 00:05:00 15.R2dx3d 00:13:00 00:05:00 16.B2b-3c 00:13:00 00:09:00 17.R3d-3f 00:14:00 00:09:00 18.S3a-2b 00:14:00 00:10:00 19.P*8g 00:16:00 00:10:00 20.R8f-8e 00:16:00 00:12:00 It's not often that Habu is with his back against the wall, but this is a game he must win to avoid losing his Kisei title to Goda. Especially since he is playing white and after his dramatic loss in the third game there must have been a lot of pressure. In this all-important game it is not a real surprise that he plays the immensely popular Chuza Yokofudori. Statistically it's white's best chance to win. 21.G4i-3h 00:21:00 00:12:00 22.K5a-4a 00:21:00 00:15:00 23.K5i-5h 00:22:00 00:15:00 24.S7a-6b 00:22:00 00:18:00 25.R3f-2f 00:27:00 00:18:00 26.G6a-5a 00:27:00 00:23:00 27.S3i-4h 00:28:00 00:23:00 28.P7c-7d 00:28:00 00:34:00 29.P3g-3f 00:28:00 00:34:00 30.P*2e 00:28:00 00:58:00 31.R2f-2h 00:28:00 00:58:00 32.P*8f 00:28:00 00:58:00 33.P8gx8f 00:45:00 00:58:00 34.R8ex8f 00:45:00 00:58:00 35.P4g-4f 00:45:00 00:58:00 36.R8fx7f 00:45:00 01:00:00 37.B8hx3c+ 00:46:00 01:00:00 38.N2ax3c 00:46:00 01:00:00 39.S4h-4g 00:46:00 01:00:00 40.P2e-2f 00:46:00 01:10:00 41.P*8h 01:00:00 01:10:00 42.R7f-7e 01:00:00 01:19:00 43.R2hx2f 01:32:00 01:19:00 44.B*4d 01:32:00 01:34:00 45.P3f-3e!? 02:34:00 01:34:00 The first point of the game. As Takahashi (9-dan) explains in Shukan Shogi, he thinks that the only way to beat Habu is to surprise him (and he immediately jokingly admits that he himself almost never manages to do that). Normal would have been 45.R2h Bx8h+ and even though it is impossible to say if this is good for black or white, this would be playing according to Habu's plans, which in Takahashi's opinion is a psychological mistake. 45.P3e gives white two different options and therefore a chance to get confused. 46.B4dx8h+?! 02:34:00 01:47:00 Habu sticks with his original plan. The other alternative was 46.Rx3e S3f R2e! which looks a bit scary for black as well. However, flirting with disaster like this is Goda's style. Now Habu has decided to play Bx8h+ anyway, Goda's 45.P3e is much better than the normal 45.R2h. 47.P*7f 02:34:00 01:47:00 48.R7ex7f 02:34:00 01:47:00 49.P*7g 02:34:00 01:47:00 50.+B8hx7h 02:34:00 01:47:00 51.S7ix7h 02:37:00 01:47:00 Habu was not at all convinced that this exchange of bishop for gold was good. This game is too difficult to draw any conclusions at this point. 52.R7f-8f 02:37:00 01:47:00 53.P*8g 02:37:00 01:47:00 54.R8f-8e 02:37:00 01:47:00 55.S4g-3f 02:37:00 01:47:00 56.P*8h 02:37:00 02:52:00 57.P3e-3d 02:37:00 02:52:00 58.P*2c! 02:37:00 02:52:00 Habu shows his great feeling for the balance of the position. Much more positive looks 58.P*2e, but after 59.R2h Px8i+ Px3c+ Sx3c N3g this pawn becomes a target for attack. White wants to keep black without pawns in hand as long as possible. This is more important than leaving the initiative to black in this position. 59.N2i-3g 03:28:00 02:52:00 Another difficult decision. 59.Px3c+ Sx3c N*3e is a strong looking alternative. 60.P8hx8i+ 03:28:00 02:55:00 61.S7hx8i 03:32:00 02:55:00 62.R8ex8g+ 03:32:00 03:11:00 63.R2f-2i! 03:35:00 03:11:00 This rook is vulnerable to a knight drop on 3d and on 2i it is doing important work in defense. 64.N*5d! 03:35:00 03:38:00 Attack and defense. 64.P*8h is not good after 65.B*9h +Rx7g Px3c+ Sx3c B*5e and black has a very strong attack with the two bishops. The knight on 5d both threatens to take on 4f and defends the square 4c, which is the Achilles' heel of white's position in this opening. The position is impossible to judge here; judgement of who's better changes with every move. 65.B*5e 03:46:00 03:38:00 66.+R8g-8e 03:46:00 03:40:00 67.B5ex9a+ 03:46:00 03:40:00 68.N8a-7c 03:46:00 03:40:00 69.S3f-4g 03:47:00 03:40:00 70.G*3e 03:47:00 03:40:00 71.P3dx3c+ 03:47:00 03:40:00 72.S2bx3c 03:47:00 03:40:00 73.N*4e 03:49:00 03:40:00 74.S3c-3d 03:49:00 03:44:00 75.P*3c 03:52:00 03:44:00 76.G3b-4b 03:52:00 03:45:00 77.B*1f 03:54:00 03:45:00 78.P*3a 03:54:00 03:46:00 79.L*3f 03:58:00 03:46:00 80.G3ex3f 03:58:00 03:51:00 81.B1fx3d 03:58:00 03:51:00 82.L*2f 03:58:00 03:51:00 83.R2i-4i? 03:58:00 03:51:00 When a game is as close as this one, it's really a subtle difference that decides the outcome. Bad luck for Goda that he makes the wrong choice here about where to put his rook. 83.R4i looks very natural, as it defends the pawn on 4f, giving the silver a little more freedom to move. However, correct was 83.R3i. Then if white plays the same as in the game, then after 84.L2g+ Gx2g Gx2g the knight attack N4e brings the rook into the attack, which is a vital difference. The post-mortem analysis didn't show that black would actually win after that, but this was the way to keep the game too close to call. 84.L2f-2g+ 03:58:00 03:51:00 85.G3hx2g 03:58:00 03:51:00 86.G3fx2g 03:58:00 03:51:00 87.N4ex5c+ 03:58:00 03:51:00 88.S6bx5c 03:58:00 03:55:00 89.N3g-4e 03:58:00 03:55:00 90.N7c-6e! 03:58:00 03:57:00 This classic knight attack, threatening Nx5g+ Kx5g N*6e decides the game in white's favor. 91.L*5f 03:58:00 03:57:00 92.G2g-3g 03:58:00 03:59:00 93.+B9a-7c 03:59:00 03:59:00 94.N6ex7g+ 03:59:00 03:59:00 95.B3dx2c+ 03:59:00 03:59:00 96.K4a-5b 03:59:00 03:59:00 97.S*4a 03:59:00 03:59:00 98.G5ax4a 03:59:00 03:59:00 99.+B2cx4a 03:59:00 03:59:00 100.G4bx4a 03:59:00 03:59:00 101.N4ex5c+ 03:59:00 03:59:00 102.K5bx5c 03:59:00 03:59:00 103.L5fx5d 03:59:00 03:59:00 104.K5c-4b 03:59:00 03:59:00 Resigns 03:59:00 03:59:00 104.Kx5d also doesn't look like mate, but Habu plays the safest move. A very good and extremely difficult game of which both players can be proud. Still, it must have been a big disappointment to Goda that he didn't win the Kisei title here. On the other hand, Habu must have been very happy that he managed to pull out this tough game under immense pressure, taking the Kisei match to the final game. Considering his vast experience in these situations, he should be favorite to keep his title, but in this match Goda has shown some great fighting spirit, so this is not over yet. Other shogi news: ================= * Kubo earned himself another title match encounter with Habu by winning the challenger tournament of the Oza-sen. He did so in impressive style, beating first Tanigawa, then Sato Yasumitsu and finally Meijin Maruyama in the final. The result of this final game was not as surprising as some might think, as Kubo has never lost against Maruyama. This game made it 4-0 in Kubo's favor. Still, the way Maruyama lost is not really worthy of a Meijin. He overplayed his position, seeking something that was never there and lost without any chances after that. Kubo's rout of the Meijins combined with his experience against Habu in the Kio-sen earlier this year might make him a dangerous opponent for Habu this time. I predict a close match. * In the A class of the Junisen, the final game of the first round between Tanigawa and Senzaki and the second round games Fujii-Miura and Habu-Aono were played. Tanigawa had a good start to try and get another shot at the Meijin title next year. He convincingly beat Senzaki, who overlooked a subtle move in the middle game just as he was rearranging his castle. He was never able to finish that and even though it looked close in the end, Tanigawa had seen it all. Maybe Senzaki's mistake was caused by a lapse of concentration due to bad health as after the game he clearly wasn't feeling very well. When asked if he was OK, he said that he would take it easy in the near future. Not a good sign and hopefully it's nothing serious. Newly promoted Fujii and Miura played their second round game. Recently Miura has become famous for his opening experiments, winning the special Masuda Kozo price for the millenium castle. This game he also started with an unusual opening, but Fujii calmly played his favorite opening style and got a winning position. However, in the endgame he made a terrible blunder, playing an attacking move in a position where Miura had mate. Fortunately for him, Miura also overlooked the mating sequence in byoyomi and Fujii escaped. A big win for Fujii who is now 2-0 and a big loss for Miura who is now 0-2. Habu recovered a little from a false start with a win against Aono. A difficult middle game where both players took a lot of time for their moves ended in Habu's favor and this small advantage was good enough to win. Habu can not be counted out of the Meijin challenger race yet. * In B1 the third round was played and Shima and going are already stating their claims on a return to the top class. Both won their third straight game, but both had some serious trouble. Shima was clearly worse against Nakahara but found a nice combination to make things complicated again and won the difficult endgame. Goda was also in trouble against Kiriyama, but finally managed to win after a gruelling 148 moves. Bad news for Kubo, who lost his first round game against Kiriyama, but followed this up with two wins. However, because of his bad Junisen position as a first year player, he is actually still a full game behind both Shima and Goda. The other B1 rookie Abe actually has a better chance for promoting straight to the A class, as he still has to drop a game after a win over Kamiya. The only other player involved in the promotion race is Inoue, who didn't play in round 3 and is still on 2-0. * In B2 things are going more or less as expected after two rounds. Fukaura won his second game against Kitahama and Nakagawa beat Ono to get to 2-0 as well. The biggest game of this round was between Suzuki Daisuke and newly promoted Namekata. Namekata won this vital game and has now also two wins against two difficult opponents (the other was Tsukada). As there is no Fukaura-Namekata game scheduled (and no Fukaura-Suzuki for that matter!), one feels that these two have the biggest chance to promote this year. Still, Nakagawa still plays both, so he definitely has a chance to take a promotion spot. Suzuki and Tsukada will have to wait and hope for a chance to get back into the promotion race. By the way, Tosa and Urano also started with two wins, but it's doubtful that they will play an important role later in the year. Urano plays Fukaura next, so that will be a good test to see if I'm wrong. * In C1 the second round was played and already things have gotten quite interesting. I always thought that C1 was the most difficult class to promote from, but this year I'm not so sure about how strong this class is. There are only six players in their twenties in this class this time (out of 29) and only newly promoted Kobayashi is younger than 25. This should be a perfect year for Yashiki to finally make his move, but maybe because of the Oi title match he again dropped out of the lead early with a loss in the second round against Arimori. This means he again needs to wait for a mistake by the leaders Sugimoto, Okazaki, Kimura, Nakata Isao (all 2-0) and Horiguchi Kazushiza (1-0). For the time being I will be putting my money on Sugimoto and Horiguchi. * In C2 also the second round was played and in a class with 42 players it is better to look at the players who drop out of the lead than to the players who are still at the top. There are twelve players with two wins now, among them promotion favorites Toyokawa, Tamaru (who should have lost against Masuda, but miraculously escaped), Yamamoto and Yagura. Painful was Watanabe's loss against Chuza. He managed to get a great position after the opening, let his opponent back in and ended the game by overlooking a mate. Not a game that will end up in the biography of this 17-year old prodigy. Also painful was the loss by Akutsu, who could only blame himself, as he arrived 42 minutes late for his game against Takano, resulting in a 2 hour and 6 minute penalty (according to professional rules, the time that someone is late is multiplied by three and substracted from the total time). Takano used this to full advantage, even though it almost went wrong for him at the very end. It also doesn't look like the rookies will play any role in the promotion race this year, as none of them managed to win his second game in a row. Chiba even lost his second game in the class and will be desperate to finally get his first Junisen win in the next round. Not easy as he will be playing Masuda. * In the challenger tournament of the Ryu-O, Habu managed to reach the semi-finals with a win over Inoue. Going into the game Inoue was 5-4 up in their rivalry, so this was far from an easy match-up for Habu. In the game Habu showed his determination with a fine performance. He needed only one mistake by Inoue to win and is now close to a rematch with Fujii. There was a big surprise in the game between Hatakeyama Mamoru and Goda as Hatakeyama was the one to advance to the semi-finals. He played a great game in which he had the lead for a long time, but Goda showed why he is Kisei challenger by slowly clawing his way back into the game. Just when he was ready to take control of the endgame, he made a serious mistake and this time Hatakeyama took full advantage. Hatakeyama will now play the winner of the game between Tanigawa and Kimura. Kimura is the man of the moment with a staggering 20-2 score for the season (more than 90%!). His opponent Waki is known to be a great fighter, but might have been a little to impressed by the Kimura whirlwind as he threw the towel quite early by overplaying a position that held plenty of chances for both players. In the final game in this challenger tournament, Nakamura ended the Ina dream. Not only did Ina manage to get out of the free class last month, he also won the 6th qualification group of the Ryu-O and followed this with fine victories over Kitajima and Tomioka to advance to the quarterfinals. Big money for Ina, who is still living in his one room apartment without an airconditioner (really tough in the blistering Tokyo heat) and without his own shower. These Spartan conditions have toughened Ina enough to fight hard in every game and the game against Nakamura was no exception. In the end it took more than 13 hours and more than 180 moves to decide the winner. Ina may be out of the Ryu-O tournament, but he has shown that years of free class hell has made him a force to be reckoned with. * Fukaura won the quick play television tournament for players under 30 for the third time in a row with a victory over Namekata in the final. He had a big advantage after the opening, but an ill-advised bishop for silver exchange completely turned around the game, giving Namekata a winning position. Fukaura desperately tried to make something out of nothing, maybe inspired by his wife and young son, who had come to the studio to support him. His prayers were answered when Namekata blundered in the endgame, overlooking a mate by his opponent after making a hisshi. -- Reijer Grimbergen Department of Information Science Saga University 1 Honjo, Saga-shi, 840-8502 Japan E-mail: grimbergen fu is saga-u ac jp URL: http://www.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp/~grimberg/ Tel: +81-(0)952-28-8821 Fax: +81-(0)952-28-8650