From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 26 jan 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 875, January 24th 2001) The second game of the Osho match was a little closer than I thought last week. Tanigawa had the edge for most of the game, but in the endgame things were very complicated and that is usually when Habu is most dangerous. However, a rare mistake in positional judgement cost him the game. Here it is with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Osho White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger 50th Osho-sen, Game 2, January 18th and 19th 2001 1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0 2.P3c-3d 0/1 3/3 3.P2g-2f 6/7 0/3 4.P4c-4d 0/7 1/4 5.P2f-2e 5/12 0/4 6.B2b-3c 0/12 1/5 7.S3i-4h 1/13 0/5 8.R8b-4b 0/13 9/14 Before the game, Tanigawa said that he would like to try different openings in this match. Also, Habu has had a lot of problems against the Shikenbisha in his matches against Fujii. So even though Tanigawa is far from an Shikenbisha expert, it was not a big surprise that he chose this opening after he lost the first game in the R8e Yokofudori. 9.K5i-6h 2/15 0/14 10.S3a-3b 0/15 5/19 11.K6h-7h 7/22 0/19 12.S7a-7b 0/22 3/22 13.P5g-5f 20/42 0/22 14.P9c-9d 0/42 5/27 15.P9g-9f 12/54 0/27 16.K5a-6b 0/54 19/46 17.G4i-5h 15/69 0/46 18.S3b-4c 0/69 9/55 19.P3g-3f 15/84 0/55 20.K6b-7a 0/84 5/60 21.S7i-6h 9/93 0/60 22.K7a-8b 0/93 12/72 23.S6h-5g 5/98 0/72 24.G4a-5b 0/98 32/104 25.S5g-4f 74/172 0/104 Quick fight again. Maybe Habu regretted a little that he played the Left Mino in the decisive game of the Ryu-O match... 26.R4b-3b 0/172 66/170 27.P3f-3e 11/183 0/170 28.P5c-5d 0/183 15/185 29.P3ex3d 12/195 0/185 30.S4cx3d 0/195 2/187 31.P2e-2d 0/195 0/187 32.P2cx2d 0/195 80/267 The sealed move. This is one of those games where you wonder what the players thought about for a full day. This position has been played a million times before. 33.R2h-3h 5/200 0/267 34.P4d-4e 0/200 7/274 35.B8hx3c+ 60/260 0/274 36.R3bx3c 0/260 3/277 37.B*6f 0/260 0/277 38.P*3e 0/260 39/316 The first really interesting point in the game. The sharpest variation is 38.Px4f Bx3c+ P*3g Rx3g P*3f +Bx3d (Rx3f S4e is good for white) Px3g+ Nx3g Px4g+ Sx4g R*3i R*4a. This was played in the game between Kimura and Moriuchi in the Kisei tournament last spring. Moriuchi followed with G5b-5a and won the game after Rx2a+ S*8h. However, Habu was in the press room when this game was played and analysed it with Sato Yasumitsu. Tanigawa must have figured that they found some improvement for Kimura's play, so he decided to play 38.P*3e here instead. 39.S4f-5g 24/284 0/316 40.B*6d 0/284 0/316 41.P*2b 40/324 0/316 This looks good for black. However, analysis in the press room and a postmortem analysis of one and a half hours did not find any way for black to get a solid advantage from here. If this position is better for black, the difference is very small. 42.B6dx1i+ 0/324 30/346 43.P2bx2a+ 0/324 0/346 44.R3c-4c 0/324 0/346 45.R3h-3i 1/325 0/346 46.L*2f 0/325 2/348 47.B6fx1a+ 29/354 0/348 48.L2fx2i+ 0/354 1/349 49.R3i-5i 0/354 0/349 50.P3e-3f 0/354 0/349 51.N*8f? 19/373 0/349 A rare mistake in positional judgement by Habu. He was convinced that his position was worse here and decided to attack. He also seriously considered 51.L*4d R5c N*6e R2c +P2b R3c +P2a here, which leads to sennichite. The white rook can not be trapped, but it can also not escape. In the end Habu decided that a sennichite with black was not a good result and played 51.N*8f. However, there was a much better move here to avoid sennichite: 51.+B6f. As the proverb says: "The promoted rook in the opponent camp, the promoted bishop in your own camp". Then, if 52.S3e L*9h with a strong edge attack coming up, or 52.N*2f +P3a N3h+ +P3b and black has good chances. 52.S3d-3e 0/373 14/363 53.N8fx9d 23/396 0/363 54.K8b-7a! 0/396 2/365 If 54.Lx9d P9e then white is in trouble, but after 54.K7a the position has changed in white's favour. Black has to attack this king from both sides to avoid that the king runs away, but does not have the material to do so. Despite the white advantage, things are still very much unclear here. 55.P*3d 0/396 0/365 56.P3f-3g+ 0/396 15/380 57.S4hx3g 12/408 0/380 58.+B1ix3g 0/408 0/380 59.R5ix2i 0/408 0/380 60.L9ax9d 0/408 14/394 61.P9f-9e 14/422 0/394 62.N*6e 0/422 2/396 63.S5g-6f 12/434 0/396 64.P4e-4f 0/434 21/417 65.P3d-3c+ 5/439 0/417 66.R4c-4d 0/439 3/420 67.+P3c-3d 1/440 0/420 68.R4dx3d 0/440 0/420 69.+B1a-1b 0/440 0/420 70.R3d-4d 0/440 6/426 71.P4gx4f 1/441 0/426 72.+B3g-3h 0/441 10/436 An alternative was 72.P*9h Lx9h P*9g Lx9g N*8e followed by S*7g, but Tanigawa did not like this variation. 73.R2i-1i 3/444 0/436 74.L9dx9e 0/444 17/453 75.L9ix9e 0/444 0/453 76.P*4g 0/444 0/453 77.P4f-4e 6/450 0/453 78.P4g-4h+ 0/450 2/455 79.G5hx4h? 0/450 0/455 The losing move. This brings the promoted bishop one step closer to the king and that just means the difference between winning and losing. Simply taking the rook with 79.Px4d was best. Then 80.+B2h +B3d +Bx1i P4c+ is still very much unclear. For example, R*9h L*8h N*9f +Bx3e P*4d S*9g and no one could find a win for white. Habu said after the game that he thought he was already losing here, while in reality things were still very difficult. 80.+B3hx4h 0/450 0/455 81.P4ex4d 0/450 0/455 82.N*9g 0/450 0/455 83.R1i-1h 5/455 0/455 84.P*3h 0/455 1/456 85.R*4e 1/456 0/456 86.+B4hx6f 0/456 7/463 87.P6gx6f 0/456 0/463 88.N9gx8i+ 0/456 0/463 89.R4ex6e 3/459 0/463 90.S*8h 0/459 0/463 91.G6i-6h 1/460 0/463 92.S3e-4f 0/460 1/464 93.N*4i 4/464 0/464 94.S*5i 0/464 2/466 95.R1hx3h 8/472 0/466 96.S4f-4g+ 0/472 1/467 Resigns 0/472 0/467 Time: 07:52:00 07:47:00 White threatens mate with Sx6h+ and black has no defence. Despite a slow start, this was a very interesting game that was complicated until the very end. Habu's mistakes in positional judgement are uncharacteristic. The next game will show if this was just an incident or if Habu is losing form a little bit. In other shogi news: ==================== * In the A class the relegation battle between Kato and Senzaki was played. Both players had 2-4 scores, and especially for Senzaki this was a game he could not afford to lose, as he is at the bottom of the league. For a long time it looked like he would, as Kato got a very good position despite spending a total of 147 minutes on his 3th and 4th move (!). Senzaki fought hard to keep things close and was rewarded with a late Kato mistake that gave Senzaki the win he so desperately needed. It is still too early for him to relax, as he has only Kato, Tanaka and Shima behind him and the game against Shima still to play in the final round. Still, he has his chances of a second year among shogi's elite in his own hands. * In B1 things have become very clear with two rounds left to play. Minami lost his second game in a row against Nakamura and the usual suspects Miura, Goda and Fujii all one, so these three are the only players left with a chance to promote to the A class. Miura is in the lead with a 9-2 score, followed by Goda with 8-2 and Fujii with 7-3. Fujii needs to win both of his last two games to promote, while Goda needs to win only one out of two. Goda should be alright, but for Miura the situation is a little more complex. He only has one more game to play, but his opponent Takahashi is in good form lately, winning his last five Junisen games in a row. Not the easiest opponent when promotion to the top class is at stake... * In B2 the 8th round made things suddenly a little more complicated for Tsukada. After seven consecutive wins, he lost against Urano in a R8e Yokofudori game that turned out to be too difficult for anyone to understand. There was no clear Tsukada mistake and his opening position also looked alright, so he was a little unlucky to lose. Still, with games against veterans Ariyoshi and Tamaru coming up, he should be able to get back to B1. Tsukada was joined in the lead by Kio challenger Kubo, who had a lot of trouble with Ishida, but managed to pull out the win. Tsukada and Kubo are followed by Abe and Suzuki, so they still must be careful in the final two rounds, but don't think Abe or Suzuki will catch up. * In C2 the 8th round was played. The biggest game of the round was between leaders Yamamoto and Chuza. For Yamamoto it was a really big game, as he had lost in the previous round and his Junisen position was bad, so a loss would make his promotion chances very slim indeed. On the other hand, Chuza is positioned near the top of the table and a win would bring promotion very close. Chuza got the upper hand in the middle game, but in the endgame Yamamoto managed to turn the tables. With two minutes left he played a nice looking silver sacrifice that looked winning. However, he has completely overlooked Chuza's reply. He still could have won, but he panicked and blundered. Kobayashi Hiroshi joined Chuza in the lead with a win over Matsuo. Nozuki could have been the third player with a 7-1 score, but he surprisingly lost against Kubota. Other players on 6-2 are Iizuka, Naganuma, Kanezawa and rookies Akutsu and Watanabe. Watanabe got a free win because his opponent Mori was ill, and Akutsu had a lucky escape against Kondo to stay in the promotion race. There is still a lot to play for, as Kobayashi will meet Akutsu in the next round and Nozuki still has to play Watanabe. 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