From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 6 dec 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 920, December 5th 2001) This week in Shukan Shogi the fifth game of the Ryu-O match between Fujii and Habu. It is sad that this game is the final game of this year's Ryu-O match. Habu won to take the title from Fujii, but I would have loved to see this match go the full distance. Great shogi in every game and it doesn't seem very likely that Fujii and Habu will meet in another title match any time soon. Here is the fifth game with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger White: Fujii Takeshi, Ryu-O 14th Ryu-O sen, Game 5, November 29th and 30th 2001 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:06:00 3.P2g-2f 00:03:00 00:06:00 4.P4c-4d 00:03:00 00:07:00 5.S3i-4h 00:05:00 00:07:00 6.R8b-4b 00:05:00 00:10:00 7.K5i-6h 00:11:00 00:10:00 8.P9c-9d 00:11:00 00:16:00 9.P9g-9f 00:14:00 00:16:00 10.S7a-7b 00:14:00 00:20:00 11.K6h-7h 00:16:00 00:20:00 12.S3a-3b 00:16:00 00:25:00 13.P5g-5f 00:26:00 00:25:00 14.S3b-4c 00:26:00 00:30:00 15.G4i-5h 00:37:00 00:30:00 16.K5a-6b 00:37:00 00:33:00 17.P3g-3f 00:44:00 00:33:00 18.K6b-7a 00:44:00 00:36:00 19.S7i-6h 00:55:00 00:36:00 20.K7a-8b 00:55:00 00:36:00 21.S6h-5g 00:56:00 00:36:00 Not really a surprise. Fujii and Habu have played each other 23 times before. In games with a quick attack Habu has a 7-1 lead. In games with a slow build-up Fujii leads 10-5. Despite the fact that Habu's quick attack almost never leads to an advantage after the opening, it seems to create the type of positions where he is the better player, allowing him to come from behind more easily. 22.B2b-3c 00:56:00 00:36:00 23.P2f-2e 01:12:00 00:36:00 24.L1a-1b 01:12:00 00:58:00 25.G6i-6h 01:36:00 00:58:00 26.P1c-1d 01:36:00 01:13:00 27.P1g-1f 02:04:00 01:13:00 28.L1b-1c 02:04:00 01:36:00 In general, it is bad to use two moves to go to 1c where one move would have sufficed. However, Fujii is thinking on a different level here. He doesn't want to commit his left gold yet and also doesn't want to play P6d to keep the possibility of a later R4d-R8d switch in the position. Combined with the silver maneuver S4c-5d-6e this would make a dangerous attack. 29.P4g-4f 02:48:00 01:36:00 30.S4c-5d 02:48:00 01:50:00 31.N2i-3g 02:49:00 01:50:00 32.G4a-3b 02:49:00 02:31:00 Finally, the gold is going to the left instead of the right. 33.S5g-6f 03:33:00 02:31:00 Habu also doesn't like the silver-rook attack and switches to a more defensive position. 34.P6c-6d 03:33:00 02:33:00 35.P5f-5e 03:35:00 02:33:00 Closes the bishop diagonal, making it almost impossible to attack quickly. 36.S5d-6c 03:35:00 02:33:00 No more quick attack worries, so Fujii strengthens his castle. 37.S4h-5g 03:36:00 02:33:00 38.G3b-4c 03:36:00 02:41:00 39.P4f-4e!? 03:43:00 02:41:00 This is very hard to explain. It seemed that Habu had switched to a waiting game, but suddenly he decides to attack after all. 39.S5f looks like the natural move, but Habu didn't like 40.P1e Px1e R1b and white can break through on the first file. 40.S6c-7d 03:43:00 03:59:00 Strange looking move, but high class stuff. Fujii wants to wait for the move S5f and then attack with P3e. However, if he waits with 40.R4a then there will be a hole on 3b for a future bishop drop. Also, if he doesn't threaten something to make black play S5f, black will keep the silver on 5g, where it is better positioned for defense. 41.S5g-5f 03:47:00 03:59:00 42.P3d-3e 03:47:00 04:12:00 43.R2h-2f 04:25:00 04:12:00 44.G4c-3d 04:25:00 04:31:00 45.P4ex4d 04:29:00 04:31:00 46.B3cx4d 04:29:00 04:44:00 47.P*4e 04:38:00 04:44:00 48.P3ex3f 04:38:00 04:47:00 49.P4ex4d 04:39:00 04:47:00 50.P3fx3g+ 04:39:00 04:47:00 An interesting exchange of material. White has only a knight for the bishop, but the tokin makes it almost an exchange of two pieces for one. Materially, white has enough compensation. 51.P5e-5d 04:50:00 04:47:00 52.P5cx5d 04:50:00 04:57:00 53.S6f-5g 04:59:00 04:57:00 54.N*8d 04:59:00 05:57:00 55.B*5c 06:26:00 05:57:00 56.R4b-4a 06:26:00 05:58:00 57.B5cx6d+ 06:26:00 05:58:00 58.G3d-3e 06:26:00 06:00:00 59.R2f-2i 06:26:00 06:00:00 60.P*4f 06:26:00 06:01:00 61.P4d-4c+ 06:28:00 06:01:00 62.R4ax4c 06:28:00 06:07:00 63.B8h-2b+? 06:49:00 06:07:00 "That was a strange move", Habu admitted after the game. Better was 63.+B5d, which seems to be giving black the advantage after 64.R4a P*4h P4g+ Px4g P*4f Px4f P*4g B4d G3f B2b+ P4h+ Gx4h Gx4f +B2b-3b Gx5g +Bx4a Gx6h Kx6h +Px4h K5g. However, this is quite a frightening variation with all kinds of side variations and hard to play in an actual game. 64.P4f-4g+ 06:49:00 06:37:00 65.+B2bx2a 06:49:00 06:37:00 66.R4c-6c 06:49:00 06:38:00 67.+B6dx5d 06:50:00 06:38:00 68.+P4gx5h 06:50:00 06:46:00 69.G6hx5h 06:50:00 06:46:00 70.P*4g 06:50:00 06:46:00 71.P*4i 07:00:00 06:46:00 72.+P3g-3h 07:00:00 07:00:00 73.R2i-2g 07:01:00 07:00:00 74.P*5c 07:01:00 07:00:00 75.+B5d-5e 07:16:00 07:00:00 76.G*5d 07:16:00 07:01:00 Fujii slowly drives back the black pieces and is getting the upper hand here. 77.+B5e-7g 07:21:00 07:01:00 78.G3e-3f 07:21:00 07:01:00 79.R2g-1g 07:21:00 07:01:00 80.+P3h-3g 07:21:00 07:01:00 81.N*6f 07:23:00 07:01:00 Habu realizes that he is in trouble and starts to fight back. 82.+P3g-2g 07:23:00 07:12:00 83.N6fx5d! 07:23:00 07:12:00 Habu magic! It is so tempting to take the silver on 7d (which is closer to the king and defending the rook) that almost every player would have preferred that over a capture of the gold. However, Habu has judged that his only way to win in this position is a slow but unstoppable attack, putting pressure on Fujii's attack. Fujii's attack should be quicker, but a small mistake can be devastating. Creating opportunities for the opponent to make a mistake is the core of Habu's magical powers. 84.+P2gx1g 07:23:00 07:12:00 85.N5d-4b+ 07:23:00 07:12:00 86.R*3h 07:23:00 07:13:00 A good alternative was 86.R*2i. After 87.Lx1g Rx4i+ G*5i +R2i P*5b P*3g P5a+ G7a +N5b P3h+ followed by P4h+ seems to be good for white. However, 86.R*3h wasn't bad either. 87.P*5i 07:27:00 07:13:00 88.+P1g-2h 07:27:00 07:13:00 89.+B2a-4c 07:31:00 07:13:00 90.+P2hx1i 07:31:00 07:28:00 91.+N4b-5b 07:31:00 07:28:00 92.L*5d? 07:31:00 07:29:00 This is a mistake. 92.Gx5b was better. Then after 93.+Bx5b 94.P*6a the white position is quite strong. Fujii feared 95.P7e next, but after 96.Sx7e +Bx6c Sx6c R*3b N*6b the white position is surprisingly strong. "There is no move with two golds and L*7f next doesn't give me much confidence in this position" (Habu). 93.P*3i 07:35:00 07:29:00 94.R3h-1h+ 07:35:00 07:29:00 95.+N5bx5c 07:36:00 07:29:00 96.R6cx5c? 07:36:00 07:39:00 Here Fujii misses his final chance to keep his Ryu-O title. 96.Lx5f Sx5f P*5g G5h-6h P4h+ +Nx6c S7dx6c +Bx6a +P5h is winning for white. If instead of +Bx6a, black plays Px4h here, then +Rx4h attacks the bishop on 4c and white has good chances to win. 97.+B4cx5c 07:36:00 07:39:00 The difference is that in the variation above, the bishop is now no longer on 4c, so that +Rx4h is no longer an attack on this bishop. 98.L5dx5f 07:36:00 07:40:00 99.S5gx5f 07:36:00 07:40:00 100.P*5g 07:36:00 07:41:00 101.G5h-6h 07:36:00 07:41:00 102.N*6e 07:36:00 07:46:00 103.+B7g-6f 07:39:00 07:46:00 104.S*8e 07:39:00 07:49:00 105.S5fx6e 07:43:00 07:49:00 106.S7dx6e 07:43:00 07:49:00 107.+B6fx6e 07:43:00 07:49:00 108.N8dx7f 07:43:00 07:49:00 109.L*3h 07:43:00 07:49:00 Resigns 07:43:00 07:50:00 White has no moves after 109.Nx6h+ Kx6h and defending against moves like S*7a or N*6d only extends the agony so Fujii resigned. After six years, Habu takes another Ryu-O title (his fifth), and with this his 50th victory in title match (third place in the record books after Oyama's 80 titles and Nakahara's 64 titles). When looking at the result, Habu's victory was overwhelming, but looking at each individual game tells a different story. Last year Fujii most of the time managed to convert good positions into wins, but this time was different. Again, he got Habu in trouble in almost every game, but let this all slip away in the endgame. Fujii will be very disappointed with the way he played the endgame in this match. In other shogi news: ==================== * B1 Junisen, Round 9: Nakamura-Shima 0-1, Goda-Kamiya 1-0, Tanaka-Nakahara 1-0, Minami-Inoue 0-1, Takahashi-Kiriyama 1-0, Fukuzaki-Abe 0-1. Shima has now won 9 games in a row and needs only one more win from three games to promote back to A1. Still some problems to overcome with Kubo, Goda and Takahashi as his final opponents. Goda follows with 8-1. Only Kubo (6-2), Abe (6-3) and Takahashi (5-3) have a theoretical chance to promote. Unless Goda breaks down in the final rounds like last year, I think Kubo will have to wait another year to make an appearance in the top class. * Osho league, Round 6: Sato-Yonenaga 1-0, Kubo-Tanigawa 1-0. Only Sato and Kubo are left as candidates for challenging Habu. Sato has a 5-0 score, while Kubo has 4-1. Both players have rather difficult opponents in the final round. Sato plays Moriuchi and Kubo plays Goda, who is in great form lately. It seems likely that we will see another Habu-Sato match to start the new year. More next week, Reijer -- Reijer Grimbergen Department of Information Science Saga University 1 Honjo-machi, 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