From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 16 feb 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 878, February 14th 2001) This week in Shukan Shogi the exciting fourth game of the Osho match between Habu and Tanigawa. Habu got the lead after the opening, but Tanigawa almost came from behind to win the game. Here is the game with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Osho White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger 50th Osho-sen, Game 4, February 8th and 9th 2001 1.P7g-7f 0/0 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/0 2/2 3.P2g-2f 1/1 0/2 4.P4c-4d 0/1 1/3 5.P2f-2e 2/3 0/3 6.B2b-3c 0/3 0/3 7.S3i-4h 1/4 0/3 8.S3a-3b 0/4 3/6 9.P5g-5f 5/9 0/6 10.R8b-4b 0/9 3/9 For the third time in this match a Furibisha game. It is hard to imagine that a couple of years ago neither Habu nor Tanigawa would have played this opening in an important game. 11.K5i-6h 4/13 0/9 12.S7a-7b 0/13 6/15 13.K6h-7h 5/18 0/15 14.S3b-4c 0/18 5/20 15.G4i-5h 39/57 0/20 16.P9c-9d 0/57 10/30 17.B8h-7g 3/60 0/30 18.P9d-9e 0/60 42/72 19.K7h-8h 27/87 0/72 20.P7c-7d 0/87 49/121 21.L9i-9h 27/114 0/121 22.N8a-7c 0/114 9/130 23.K8h-9i 28/142 0/130 In this game Habu is moving into the anaguma as quickly as possible, without moving up the silver on 4h or closing the bishop diagonal with P6f to defend against N6e. 24.P6c-6d 0/142 24/154 25.S7i-8h 9/151 0/154 26.S7b-6c 0/151 2/156 27.P6g-6f 20/171 0/156 28.G4a-3b 0/171 10/166 29.G5h-6g 7/178 0/166 30.R4b-6b 0/178 16/182 31.S4h-5g 12/190 0/182 32.G6a-5b 0/190 19/201 33.G6i-7h 28/218 0/201 34.K5a-4a 0/218 21/222 Moving the king to the right in a Gangi (snowroof) type formation is often played by Sugimoto. He has had good results with it, so that is probably why Tanigawa studied it for this game. 35.P3g-3f 21/239 0/222 36.S6c-5d 0/239 18/240 37.B7g-5i 45/284 0/240 38.K4a-3a 0/284 3/243 39.P1g-1f 3/287 0/243 40.P1c-1d 0/287 6/249 41.B5i-3g 4/291 0/249 42.P4d-4e 0/291 11/260 43.P4g-4f 15/306 0/260 44.R6b-6a 0/306 18/278 45.R2h-4h 25/331 0/278 46.P4ex4f 0/331 19/297 47.S5gx4f 0/331 0/297 48.P6d-6e 0/331 8/305 Habu has managed to complete his anaguma, and was quite happy with his position here. Tanigawa realises that this is his only chance to fight. Moving the silver to 4f has weakened the 6th file and also blocks both the rook and the bishop, so it is now or never. 49.P6fx6e 2/333 0/305 50.P*6f 0/333 58/363 51.G6g-6h 0/333 0/363 52.N7cx6e 0/333 1/364 53.P*4d! 57/390 0/364 Good move. The simple 53.P*4e would have led to disaster after 54.P6g+ G6hx6g Bx8h+ Gx8h P*6f G6h S*5i. Habu sacrifices a pawn to stop the white attack. 54.B3cx4d 0/390 36/400 55.P*4e 5/395 0/400 56.B4d-3c 0/395 0/400 57.P5f-5e 0/395 0/400 58.S5d-6c 0/395 0/400 This retreat is quite painful. White now needs time to regroup and this gives black the chance to attack. Black has the advantage here. 59.P1f-1e 16/411 0/400 60.P1dx1e 0/411 0/400 61.P3f-3e 0/411 0/400 62.P7d-7e 0/411 7/407 63.P4e-4d 17/428 0/407 64.B3cx4d 0/428 0/407 65.L1ix1e 0/428 0/407 66.L1ax1e 0/428 0/407 67.B3gx1e 0/428 0/407 68.P*1d 0/428 3/410 69.B1e-2f 0/428 0/410 70.P7ex7f 0/428 5/415 71.L*4e 0/428 0/415 72.L*7g 0/428 8/423 73.L4ex4d 3/431 0/423 74.S4cx4d 0/431 3/426 75.P3ex3d 0/431 0/426 76.P*4c 0/431 1/427 77.P*7i! 3/434 0/427 Strong defence. White's attack is now losing a lot of steam. 78.L7gx7h+ 0/434 4/431 79.P7ix7h 0/434 0/431 80.L*6g 0/434 1/432 81.B2fx4d 12/446 0/432 82.P4cx4d 0/446 0/432 83.L*3c 0/446 0/432 A very strong looking attack. Tanigawa does not seem to have anything quick and on the monitor in the press room one could see how Habu played the last couple of moves with obvious confidence. The game looked almost over... 84.N2ax3c 0/446 10/442 85.P3dx3c+ 0/446 0/442 86.G3bx3c 0/446 0/442 87.P*3d 1/447 0/442 88.G3cx3d 0/447 1/443 89.B*5f 3/450 0/443 90.L6gx6h+ 0/450 12/455 91.R4hx6h 1/451 0/455 92.G*7g! 0/451 7/462 Tanigawa shows why he is the best attacker in the world. The bishop on 5f is attacking knight and gold and 92.G*6g is too slow as even after Gx6h white does not even have a check. After 92.G*7g white only needs one more piece to have a mate after Gx8h, so Habu can not attack blindly. 93.P7hx7g 2/453 0/462 94.P7fx7g+ 0/453 0/462 95.B5fx3d 3/456 0/462 96.+P7gx8h 0/456 3/465 97.R6hx8h 0/456 0/465 Black's king seems a little safer than white's king, but things are far from easy. 98.S*7i 0/456 0/465 99.G*7h 1/457 0/465 100.S7ix8h+ 0/457 5/470 101.G7hx8h 0/457 0/470 102.G*7g 0/457 0/470 103.S*7i 10/467 0/470 104.G7gx8h 0/467 1/471 105.S7ix8h 0/467 0/471 106.G*3b! 0/467 3/474 Cool defence. Tempting was to try and go for sennichite with 106.G*7g, but Habu intended to take that gold with the knight. After 107.Nx7g Px7g+ Sx7g white has no mating threat (not even with P*7f), so black wins. 107.P*3c 4/471 0/474 108.G3bx3c 0/471 0/474 109.L*3g 0/471 0/474 110.K3a-4b 0/471 1/475 111.G*7c 1/472 0/475 112.R*4h 0/472 0/475 113.B3d-5f? 7/479 0/475 Habu took his final seven minutes to find the win here, but couldn't find it. He is lucky that this is not the losing move. It would have been a perfect performance if he would have played 113.Bx5b+ and 114.Sx5b Lx3c+ Kx3c G*3d Kx3d N*2f leads to mat, while 114.Kx5b Lx3c+ is a hisshi and white has no mate. 114.P*3d 0/479 2/477 115.L3gx3d 0/479 0/477 116.G3cx3d 0/479 0/477 117.N*2f 0/479 0/477 118.G3dx2e? 0/479 1/478 Tanigawa misses his chance. Best would have been 118.P*3c Nx3d Px3d B*6e S*5d! S*3a! and now Kx3a G*3c wins for black, but after Rx3a Px5d P6g+ the game is too close to call. 119.B5fx2c+ 0/479 0/478 120.P5c-5d 0/479 0/478 121.P5ex5d 0/479 0/478 122.S6cx5d 0/479 0/478 123.P*5e 0/479 0/478 124.S5d-6c 0/479 0/478 125.S*6d 0/479 0/478 126.R6a-3a 0/479 0/478 By bringing this extra rook into the attack, it seems like white has turned the tables. "I thought it was a win" (Tanigawa). Unfortunately for him, the giant bishop on 2c can just hold the black position together. 127.S6dx6c+ 0/479 0/478 128.G5bx6c 0/479 0/478 129.G7cx6c 0/479 0/478 130.R4hx8h+ 0/479 0/478 131.K9ix8h 0/479 0/478 132.S*7i 0/479 1/479 133.K8hx7i 0/479 0/479 134.R3a-3i+ 0/479 0/479 135.P*6i 0/479 0/479 136.S*6h 0/479 0/479 137.K7i-8h 0/479 0/479 138.B*7g 0/479 0/479 139.N8ix7g 0/479 0/479 140.S6hx7g+ 0/479 0/479 141.K8h-9i 0/479 0/479 142.+R3ix6i 0/479 0/479 143.R*8i 0/479 0/479 Resigns 0/479 0/479 Time: 07:59:00 07:59:00 And no mate after 144.+Rx8i +Bx8i or 144.+S8h Kx8h. Tanigawa did everything in this game to win, but Habu just managed to bring his opening lead over the finish line. He now needs only one win from three games to get his 6th consecutive Osho title. In other shogi news: ==================== * In the A class the complete 8th round was played and even though there were no decisions about challenging Maruyama or relegation to B1, the situation got a lot clearer after all games were finished. First of all, leader Tanigawa surprisingly lost against Aono. A big win for Aono, because this means that the second oldest player in the class has saved his place in the top group for next year. A great performance against the odds. Tanigawa did not decide the challenger race early, but he has another chance in the final round against Sato Yasumitsu. This actually is a challenger game, as both players have 6-2 scores and Habu lost to Moriuchi to keep the Meijin crown out of his reach for another year at 5-3. At the other end of the table, Shima took his last chance to stay in the A class for another year by beating Kato. He still is far from safe yet, but at 3-5 now has both Tanaka and Kato behind him at 2-6. The other relegation candidate is Senzaki, who lost against Morichita and also has 3-5. Shima and Senzaki meet in the final round and the loser of this game will probably go down, while the winner will stay in the A class. Because of this, Kato and Tanaka still have reasonable chances to stay in the A class if they win. Kato has his chances in his own hands (he plays Morishita). If Kato wins, then Tanaka is definitely back in B1. If Kato loses, Tanaka can safe his place with a win over Habu. The last round will be played on March 2nd. * In C1 a bad day for leader Horiguchi Kazushiza, who lost a better position against Hatakeyama Mamoru to drop from the lead to fifth place. With one round to play, there are now seven players with 7-2 scores. Namekata (who beat Horiguchi Koji) and Sato Shuji (a win over Ishikawa) have their promotion chances in their own hands. This should not be too difficult as Namekata plays Sakurai, who is already relegated with only one win and Sato plays Kobayashi, who is not having a great Junisen season with 3 wins and 6 losses. If Namekata and/or Sato crack under the pressure, Nakata Hiroki, Nishimura, Horiguchi Kazushiza, Sugimoto and Katsumata (in that order) are ready to pick up the pieces. I do not think they will get the chance... * A surprise in the Kisei leagues as Nakagawa beat Moriuchi to reach the challenger finals. Moriuchi will get another chance against one of the other players with one win and one loss. * In the white group of the Oi leagues, Fukaura and Hatakeyama started with wins over Goda and Kanezawa. Goda seems to be saving all his energy for his final two Junisen games. He can already clinch promotion today if he wins his next to final game in B1. * In the ladies Meijin, Nakai won the third game to take a 2-1 lead against challenger Saita. Nakai only needs to win one more game out of the next two to defend her title. More next week with the first game of the Kio match and Junisen action in C2, B2 and B1, 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