From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 9 feb 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 877, February 7th 2001) This week in Shukan Shogi the third game of the Osho match between Habu and Tanigawa. And what a game it was! Without further introduction, here it is with comments: Black: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger 50th Osho-sen, Game 3, January 29th and 30th 2001 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 2/2 3.P2g-2f 3/3 0/2 4.P4c-4d 0/3 2/4 5.P2f-2e 12/15 0/4 6.B2b-3c 0/15 2/6 7.S3i-4h 1/16 0/6 8.R8b-4b 0/16 5/11 9.K5i-6h 7/23 0/11 10.P9c-9d 0/23 1/12 11.K6h-7h 19/42 0/12 12.S3a-3b 0/42 6/18 13.P5g-5f 19/61 0/18 14.S7a-7b 0/61 9/27 15.G4i-5h 1/62 0/27 16.S3b-4c 0/62 34/61 17.S4h-5g 17/79 0/61 18.P9d-9e 0/79 17/78 19.B8h-7g 22/101 0/78 20.P7c-7d 0/101 22/100 21.P6g-6f 6/107 0/100 22.P6c-6d 0/107 7/107 23.G5h-6g 2/109 0/107 24.N8a-7c 0/109 3/110 If you can't beat them, join them. After some tough lessons by the inventor in the Ryu-O match, Habu gives the Fujii system a try himself. 25.P5f-5e!? 17/126 0/110 Positive play, as is Tanigawa's style. Rather then being forced to defend after 25.K8h, he is aiming for early complications. It is unclear which move is better. 26.R4b-5b! 0/126 44/154 Habu doesn't back down. Normal would have been the development 26.P4e followed by S4d, but he doesn't want to give black the nice formation P5e-S5f. With this move Habu makes clear that he is prepared to fight with the king on 5a. Castling with the rook on 5b is difficult, as the head of the knight is weak and white's rook is blocking the route of the gold on 4a to 6c. 27.S5g-5f 47/173 0/154 28.P5c-5d 0/173 8/162 Off we go after only 28 moves. This surely will be short game, or... 29.R2h-5h! 8/181 0/162 Good for white is 29.Px5d Sx5d P*5e Sx5e Sx5e Rx5e and now P6e R5c N6e. 30.P5dx5e 0/181 34/196 31.S5fx5e 1/182 0/196 32.S7b-6c 0/182 0/196 33.B7g-8f 63/245 0/196 34.B3c-4b 0/245 24/220 The sealed move. 35.P*5d 37/282 0/220 36.S4cx5d 0/282 47/267 37.S5ex5d 46/328 0/267 38.S6cx5d 0/328 0/267 39.K7h-8h 1/329 0/267 An important turning point in the game. Tanigawa of course looked at the direct 39.Rx5d Rx5d S*4c R5c Sx4b+ Gx4b Bx6d, but that just doesn't work after R*2h S6h S*5h Bx5c+ Sx6i= Kx6i S*5h K7i Gx5c R*3a K4b Rx6a+ and even though black is threatening mate, white has just enough material to mate himself after G*7h. Turning to defence with 39.K8h means that white has won the opening. Tanigawa has not been able to break through and he is a pawn down. Still, things are far from easy for white, whose pieces are all over the place. 40.G4a-3b 0/329 78/345 41.P7f-7e 32/361 0/345 42.P7dx7e 0/361 0/345 43.B8fx7e 0/361 0/345 44.S*6c 0/361 8/353 45.B7e-8f 3/364 0/353 46.K5a-4a 0/364 6/359 47.R5h-7h 15/379 0/359 48.P*7d 0/379 1/360 49.R7h-2h 0/379 0/360 50.G6a-5a 0/379 28/388 51.S7i-7h 6/385 0/388 52.K4a-3a 0/385 2/390 53.B8f-6h 15/400 0/390 54.P6d-6e 0/400 12/402 55.P2e-2d 8/408 0/402 56.P2cx2d 0/408 2/404 57.B6hx2d 1/409 0/404 58.B4bx2d 0/409 18/422 59.R2hx2d 0/409 0/422 60.P6ex6f 0/409 0/422 61.G6gx6f 9/418 0/422 62.B*5g 0/418 22/444 63.R2d-2f 0/418 0/444 64.B5g-3e+ 0/418 0/444 65.R2f-2h?! 1/419 0/444 Probably better is 65.R3f to aim at exchanging major pieces, followed by B*8f. 66.P*2g 0/419 1/445 67.R2hx2g 3/422 0/445 68.P*2f 0/422 2/447 69.R2g-2h 0/422 0/447 70.S5d-6e 0/422 1/448 71.P*5c 6/428 0/448 72.R5bx5c 0/428 0/448 73.P*5d 0/428 0/448 74.R5cx5d 0/428 1/449 75.S*5e 5/433 0/449 76.R5d-5b 0/433 1/450 77.P*5c 15/448 0/450 78.R5b-9b 0/448 0/450 79.G6fx6e 0/448 0/450 80.N7cx6e 0/448 0/450 81.P*2c 0/448 0/450 82.P*6g 0/448 17/467 83.P4g-4f 7/455 0/467 84.N6e-5g+ 0/455 0/467 85.B*8a 7/462 0/467 86.R9b-6b 0/462 1/468 87.S*2b 0/462 0/468 88.G3bx2b 0/462 2/470 89.P2cx2b+ 0/462 0/470 90.K3ax2b 0/462 0/470 91.G*7c 6/468 0/470 92.R6b-6a 0/468 0/470 93.B8ax6c+ 0/468 0/470 94.R6ax6c 0/468 0/470 95.G7cx6c 0/468 0/470 96.P6g-6h+ 0/468 2/472 97.R*7b 3/471 0/472 98.P*6b 0/471 1/473 99.G6cx6b 0/471 0/473 100.G*8a!! 0/471 1/474 This is one of those Habu moves that makes you wonder whether he is psychic, brilliant or just lucky. This is a terrible looking move, as this gold seems to be in a hopeless position. However, forcing the rook from the king rank is the right decision. The second exclamation mark is for the fact that this gold is going to save Habu's king at the very end. 101.R7b-7c+ 0/471 0/474 102.+P6hx6i 0/471 0/474 103.S7hx6i 0/471 0/474 104.B*8b 0/471 0/474 105.+R7cx8b 0/471 0/474 106.G8ax8b 0/471 0/474 107.G6bx5a 0/471 0/474 108.R*5i 0/471 0/474 109.S*3b 5/476 0/474 110.K2bx3b 0/476 0/474 111.B*4a 0/476 0/474 112.K3b-4c 0/476 0/474 113.P5c-5b+? 0/476 0/474 Objectively this is not a bad move, as it does not change the result of the game. However, 113.G*2c would have given Tanigawa the most practical chances to win this game. During the post-mortem none of the professionals could find a win for white after that. It was only when the position was given to the computer program Todai Shogi 3 that a mate for white was found here. It is so long and complicated that Shukan Shogi only gives S*7i as (the obvious) first move. It is doubtful that Habu would have found this with only six minutes left. 114.S*3b?! 0/476 1/475 A similar mate as in the previous position is still possible here. Todai Shogi gives 114.S*7i Kx7i Rx6i+ Kx6i +B2e S*3f +Bx3f Px3f S*5h Rx5h +Nx5h Kx5h P*5g leading to mate even though it will take most of us a very long time to figure out all the variations. After 114.S*3b Habu has to sweat a little, but he can just survive the attack. 115.G*5d 1/477 0/475 116.K4c-3c 0/477 0/475 117.S5ex4d 0/477 0/475 118.+B3ex4d 0/477 0/475 119.G5dx4d 0/477 0/475 120.K3cx4d 0/477 0/475 121.B*7g 0/477 0/475 122.P*6f 0/477 0/475 This pawn gives the white attack the extra strength that is needed. The loss of the rook is not so important. 123.B7gx5i 0/477 0/475 124.S3bx4a 0/477 0/475 125.R*4e 0/477 0/475 126.K4d-5d 0/477 0/475 127.B5i-8f 0/477 0/475 128.S*7e 0/477 1/476 129.B8fx7e 0/477 0/476 130.P7dx7e 0/477 0/476 131.S*6e 0/477 0/476 132.K5d-6c 0/477 0/476 133.+P5b-6b 1/478 0/476 134.K6cx6b 0/478 1/477 135.R4ex4a+ 1/479 0/477 136.P6f-6g+ 0/479 0/477 137.G5a-5b 0/479 0/477 138.K6b-7c 0/479 0/477 There it is. The gold on 8b just gives enough cover for the white king to escape. 139.+R4a-7a 0/479 0/477 140.G*7b 0/479 1/478 141.S*7d 0/479 0/478 142.K7c-8d 0/479 0/478 143.+R7ax9a 0/479 0/478 144.B*7i 0/479 0/478 Resigns 0/479 0/478 Time: 07:59:00 07:58:00 Mate after 145.Kx7i S*6h Rx6h +Nx6h Sx6h G*7h. The best title match game I have seen in a very long time. Everything that makes shogi such a great game was in this one. We got two fights for the price of one, with Habu winning the early battle but just surviving the second one as Tanigawa tried everything he could to win. One would almost wish that a draw was possible in shogi, because Tanigawa made this game what it was, just as much as Habu. Let's hope this title match goes to seven games! In other shogi news: ==================== * Fujii beat an in-form Tanigawa in the A group of the Kisei league to secure a place in the challenger knock-out. Sato Yasumitsu also qualified with a win over Yonenaga. Tanigawa and Yonenaga get a second chance to reach the challenger tournament, but it is not yet known who their opponent will be. * The Oi leagues started last week with the game between Morishita and Nakamura in the Red Group. In the Oi league every game is vital as only the group winners play for the right to challenge the Oi title holder. Morishita did not make a mistake and showed some nice attacking skills (even though he is famous for his defence) in breaking down Nakamura's anaguma. * Shinjin-O Yamasaki's great run in the Zen Nihon Pro tournament (beating Fukuzaki, Kiriyama, Miura and Fujii!) was ended in the quarterfinals by Moriuchi. Moriuchi showed that an A class opponent is still something different as he did not give Yamasaki much of a chance. In the other quarterfinal Nakahara seemed on his way to the final four as the Lifetime Meijin had the current Meijin Maruyama in an iron grip. However, Nakahara played the endgame in the wrong way and suddenly Maruyama could free himself and won in the counter attack. We have two top class semi finals coming up with Moriuchi against Sato and Tanigawa against Maruyama. 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