From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 10 may 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 888 and 889, It seems that Tanigawa is a player of streaks. He struggled with his form at the start of the season, losing his first four games. However, this time there is only good news for the Tanigawa fans as he won the second game of the Meijin match and the fourth game of the Zen Nihon Pro tournament. Both matches are now tied and suddenly Tanigawa looks on his way to take the first two titles of the 2001-2002 season. Here are the games with comments: Black: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger White: Maruyama Tadahisa, Meijin 59th Meijin-sen Game 2 April 26th and 27th 2001 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:01:00 3.P2g-2f 00:01:00 00:01:00 4.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:02:00 5.P2f-2e 00:02:00 00:02:00 6.P8d-8e 00:02:00 00:02:00 7.G6i-7h 00:03:00 00:02:00 8.G4a-3b 00:03:00 00:02:00 9.P2e-2d 00:05:00 00:02:00 10.P2cx2d 00:05:00 00:03:00 11.R2hx2d 00:05:00 00:03:00 12.P8e-8f 00:05:00 00:03:00 13.P8gx8f 00:06:00 00:03:00 14.R8bx8f 00:06:00 00:04:00 15.R2dx3d 00:06:00 00:04:00 16.B2b-3c 00:06:00 00:15:00 17.R3d-3f 00:13:00 00:15:00 18.S3a-2b 00:13:00 00:15:00 19.P*8g 00:43:00 00:15:00 20.R8f-8e 00:43:00 00:22:00 The Chuza-ryu R8e-Yokofudori is Maruyama's favorite opening, so this was no surprise. 21.R3f-2f 00:43:00 00:22:00 22.K5a-4a 00:43:00 00:35:00 23.K5i-6h 00:48:00 00:35:00 24.S7a-6b 00:48:00 00:42:00 25.S3i-3h 01:05:00 00:42:00 26.G6a-5a 01:05:00 01:06:00 27.P3g-3f 01:21:00 01:06:00 28.P7c-7d 01:21:00 01:35:00 29.N2i-3g 01:40:00 01:35:00 30.N8a-7c 01:40:00 01:59:00 31.P4g-4f 01:49:00 01:59:00 32.P7d-7e 01:49:00 02:26:00 This is the most popular variation at the moment. Here 32.R5e followed by R5d is also often played (actually, Tanigawa played this himself in the third game of the Zen Nihon Pro tournament against Moriuchi). However, white's winning percentage with 32.P7e is higher. 33.B8hx3c+ 02:21:00 02:26:00 This seems to be the only move here. There are many games with this variation, but in all previous cases this move was played as well. 34.N2ax3c 02:21:00 02:27:00 35.P3f-3e 02:21:00 02:27:00 36.P*2e 02:21:00 03:10:00 37.R2f-1f 02:35:00 03:10:00 38.P*3f 02:35:00 03:21:00 Here white can also play 38.R8d which allows the attack at the head of the knight after 39.P3d Rx3d B*5f R5d P*3d, but white has good chances to counter so it is unclear which side is better in this variation. 39.R1fx3f 03:42:00 03:21:00 40.B*5d 03:42:00 03:23:00 41.B*4g 03:43:00 03:23:00 42.P7ex7f 03:43:00 03:27:00 43.P3e-3d 03:46:00 03:27:00 44.B5dx3f 03:46:00 03:29:00 45.B4gx3f 03:46:00 03:29:00 46.R8e-3e 03:46:00 03:30:00 47.P3dx3c+ 04:50:00 03:30:00 48.S2bx3c 04:50:00 03:30:00 49.B3f-4e 05:09:00 03:30:00 This is still all known territory. Tanigawa contemplated 49.B*4g here, but this is not clear after 50.N6e N4e S4d P*3c G3b-4b. 50.P*3f 05:09:00 03:56:00 51.N*4g 05:12:00 03:56:00 52.P3fx3g+ 05:12:00 04:04:00 53.N4gx3e 05:12:00 04:04:00 54.+P3gx3h 05:12:00 04:04:00 55.G4ix3h 05:12:00 04:04:00 56.N*2f 05:12:00 05:54:00 For professionals, this is the interesting part of the game. The position is still known from previous games, but there are a lot of different options here. In a position as unstable as this one, finding one good move can mean the difference between winning and losing. Here 56.P*3g is a possible alternative that has been played before. 57.G3h-3i 05:15:00 05:54:00 And here 57.N2c+ has been tried before. 58.R*3g 05:15:00 05:59:00 59.N3e-2c+ 05:16:00 05:59:00 60.R3gx3i+ 05:16:00 07:51:00 This is a new move. In the B2 Junisen game between Tosa and Abe (played on March 9th), Abe played 60.S*5i and won after 61.K5h?! Rx3i+ +Nx3b K5b P6f P7g+ Gx7g? S4d. However, black seems to survive after Nx7g (instead of the bad Gx7g) G*7g R*4i. Also, 61.Kx5i Rx3i+ K6h seems good for black. After 60.Rx3i+ black gets the advantage, so it seems that Maruyama made a mistake in his preparation somewhere. As the match has just started, he was not very talkative about what went wrong, but losing the opening battle in his favorite opening must be painful. 61.+N2cx3b 05:19:00 07:51:00 62.K4a-5b 05:19:00 07:51:00 63.P6g-6f 05:19:00 07:51:00 64.+R3i-3h 05:19:00 08:06:00 65.K6h-6g 05:26:00 08:06:00 66.G*7e 05:26:00 08:09:00 67.G7h-6h 06:20:00 08:09:00 Here Tanigawa felt he was getting the upper hand. He took 54 minutes here to compare 67.G6h with 67.R*6h, but he wasn't sure about the variation 67.R*6h +R3i +Nx3c +Rx3c G*3d +R4b. "It looks good, but I didn't see how to finish." (Tanigawa) 68.S*7g 06:20:00 08:14:00 69.N8ix7g 06:21:00 08:14:00 70.P7fx7g+ 06:21:00 08:15:00 71.K6gx7g 06:21:00 08:15:00 72.N7c-8e 06:21:00 08:21:00 73.K7g-7h 06:24:00 08:21:00 74.N*7f 06:24:00 08:24:00 This is not a mating threat, so white seems to be clearly losing here. However, Maruyama has one more ace up his sleeve... 75.R*8a 06:29:00 08:24:00 76.P5c-5d! 06:29:00 08:25:00 This must have been an unpleasant surprise for Tanigawa. 77.Bx5d Nx6h+ Sx6h G*7g K8i G8h Kx8h Rx6h+ leads to mate! Black needs the bishop on the diagonal to 7h, but it also needs to work on 6c to help the attack. 77.+N3bx3c! 07:01:00 08:25:00 Fortunately, Tanigawa has used his time wisely and had more than two and a half hours left. He used 32 moves to recover and find the correct answer. His first thought was 77.B*3a, but after 78.S*4b!, suddenly white wins. The white king can't be mated and with an extra knight, white has mate after Nx6h+ Sx6h P*7g K7i G*8h K6i P7h+ Bx7h N7g= etc. 78.N7fx6h+ 07:01:00 08:29:00 79.S7ix6h 07:03:00 08:29:00 80.G*7g 07:03:00 08:54:00 81.K7h-8i 07:03:00 08:54:00 82.+R3hx3c 07:03:00 08:54:00 83.P*3d! 07:09:00 08:54:00 Driving this promoted rook back followed by shutting it out with 83.P*3d is the winning plan. Black can take the gold on 7g next after which there is a rather long, but not too difficult mate. 84.N*7f 07:09:00 08:58:00 85.S6hx7g 07:09:00 08:58:00 86.N8ex7g+ 07:09:00 08:58:00 87.N*6d 07:13:00 08:58:00 88.P6cx6d 07:13:00 08:59:00 89.S*6c 07:13:00 08:59:00 90.K5bx6c 07:13:00 08:59:00 91.B*7b 07:13:00 08:59:00 Resigns 07:13:00 08:59:00 Mate after 92.Kx7b Bx5d S6c G*8c K6b G*7c or 92.K5b S*5c Kx5c Bx5d+ K5b G*5c K4a G*4b +Rx4b Gx4b Kx4b P3c+ Kx3c R*2c. A fine win by Tanigawa, who not only beat Maruyama in the opening preparation, but also played a perfect endgame. The rest of the match will show how important this break against Maruyama's R8e Yokofudori is going to be. Black: Tanigawa Koji, 9-dan White: Moriuchi Toshiyuki, 8-dan 19th Zen Nihon Pro Tournament Game 4 April 23rd 2001 1.P2g-2f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:00:00 3.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 4.P4c-4d 00:00:00 00:00:00 5.P2f-2e 00:00:00 00:00:00 6.B2b-3c 00:00:00 00:00:00 7.S3i-4h 00:00:00 00:00:00 8.P9c-9d 00:00:00 00:00:00 9.G4i-5h 00:02:00 00:00:00 10.P9d-9e 00:02:00 00:00:00 11.K5i-6h 00:02:00 00:00:00 12.R8b-4b 00:02:00 00:00:00 For the first time Moriuchi plays Furibisha in this match. Both players have now played Furibisha and the R8e Yokofudori two times. This seems the be the common pattern in modern professional play. For Moriuchi this game must have been hard, as it should never have been played. He should already have had the Zen Nihon Pro title in the bag... 13.K6h-7h 00:02:00 00:00:00 14.S7a-7b 00:02:00 00:00:00 15.P5g-5f 00:02:00 00:00:00 16.G4a-5b 00:02:00 00:00:00 17.S4h-5g 00:07:00 00:00:00 18.S3a-3b 00:07:00 00:00:00 19.P3g-3f 00:07:00 00:00:00 20.K5a-6b 00:07:00 00:00:00 21.B8h-7g 00:07:00 00:00:00 22.P6c-6d 00:07:00 00:03:00 23.K7h-8h 00:08:00 00:03:00 24.P7c-7d 00:08:00 00:03:00 25.P6g-6f 00:16:00 00:03:00 26.N8a-7c 00:16:00 00:03:00 27.L9i-9h 00:26:00 00:03:00 28.K6b-7a 00:26:00 00:03:00 29.K8h-9i 00:26:00 00:03:00 30.G5b-6c 00:26:00 00:03:00 31.S7i-8h 00:26:00 00:03:00 32.K7a-8b 00:26:00 00:03:00 33.G6i-7i 00:26:00 00:03:00 This position almost looks old-fashioned. In the past few years the Fujii system was designed to make it hard for black to build an anaguma. This opening system became so popular that one would almost forget that it is possible to face the anaguma head on. This is what Suzuki Daisuke is doing quite successfully lately. So much so that this is sometimes called "Suzuki-style". Moriuchi gives it a try in this game and indeed, the anaguma doesn't look that frightening here. 34.S3b-4c 00:26:00 00:04:00 35.P1g-1f 00:34:00 00:04:00 36.P8c-8d 00:34:00 00:04:00 37.G5h-6h 00:35:00 00:04:00 38.P4d-4e 00:35:00 00:11:00 39.G6h-7h 00:37:00 00:11:00 40.P5c-5d 00:37:00 00:11:00 41.B7g-5i 00:49:00 00:11:00 42.P1c-1d 00:49:00 00:11:00 43.B5i-2f 00:49:00 00:11:00 44.S7b-8c 00:49:00 00:29:00 45.R2h-3h 01:13:00 00:29:00 46.G6a-7b 01:13:00 00:40:00 47.P3f-3e 01:15:00 00:40:00 48.B3c-4d 01:15:00 00:40:00 49.P4g-4f 01:15:00 00:40:00 50.B4dx3e 01:15:00 00:48:00 51.B2fx3e 01:15:00 00:48:00 52.P3dx3e 01:15:00 00:48:00 53.P4fx4e 01:16:00 00:48:00 54.S4c-3d 01:16:00 00:58:00 55.B*4d 01:33:00 00:58:00 Black has attacked first, but without much effect. This bishop looks good, as it is blocking the rook and attacking the lance at the same time, but using the bishop here is not what black intended when he opened up the game. 56.L1a-1b? 01:33:00 01:30:00 Moriuchi had been playing quite quickly up until now. This is the first time he is really taking his time. It seems that he spent the 32 minutes on the difference between 56.L1b and 56.L1c. However, here 56.R1b was the right move. After 57.P2d Px2d P*2c Sx2c Bx3e P*3c black has no good moves, so having dropped the bishop is an important difference. Still, Moriuchi had a lot of confidence in his position here. 57.B4d-1a+ 01:37:00 01:30:00 58.P*4f 01:37:00 01:30:00 59.S5gx4f 01:42:00 01:30:00 60.B*4g 01:42:00 01:30:00 61.R3h-2h 01:42:00 01:30:00 62.B4gx5f+ 01:42:00 01:36:00 63.R2h-2f 01:42:00 01:36:00 64.+B5f-4g 01:42:00 01:50:00 65.+B1ax2a 02:14:00 01:50:00 66.P3e-3f! 02:14:00 01:50:00 Black is a knight up, but this is a strong move. Black can't allow 68.+Bx4f. 67.+B2a-3a 02:14:00 01:50:00 68.R4b-4c? 02:14:00 02:00:00 Too confident. Moriuchi completely overlooked Tanigawa's next move. Had he seen it, he would have played the correct 68.R6b. Then 69.P*3e S4c is good for white. Moriuchi didn't think that black could stop the rook from promoting, so it would be a waste to move the rook to 6b. 69.N*3h! 02:18:00 02:00:00 A wake-up call for white. 70.+Bx3h is answered by Rx3f with attack on silver and bishop. From now on the game becomes a semeai and in such positions the strength of the anaguma is an important advantage. 70.P3f-3g+ 02:18:00 02:19:00 71.N2ix3g 02:18:00 02:19:00 72.P*3f 02:18:00 02:19:00 73.P*3e 02:20:00 02:19:00 74.P3fx3g+ 02:20:00 02:19:00 75.P3ex3d 02:20:00 02:19:00 76.+P3g-3f 02:20:00 02:19:00 77.S*4d 02:22:00 02:19:00 78.R4cx4d 02:22:00 02:19:00 79.P4ex4d 02:22:00 02:19:00 80.+P3fx2f 02:22:00 02:19:00 81.P4d-4c+ 02:22:00 02:19:00 82.N7c-8e 02:22:00 02:19:00 83.+P4c-5c 02:22:00 02:19:00 84.G6c-7c 02:22:00 02:19:00 85.+P5cx5d 02:29:00 02:19:00 86.R*5a 02:29:00 02:22:00 87.+B3ax6d?! 02:34:00 02:22:00 Tanigawa style. Maruyama would undoubtedly have played 87.+B5c followed by P*5b and S5e, which is slow but gives white absolutely no hope of attack. Tanigawa stays true to his character and looks for the fastest way to win. 88.G7cx6d 02:34:00 02:24:00 89.+P5dx6d 02:34:00 02:24:00 90.R5a-5i+ 02:34:00 02:24:00 91.R*4b 02:34:00 02:24:00 92.K8b-9c 02:34:00 02:38:00 93.P9g-9f 02:41:00 02:38:00 94.B*3a 02:41:00 02:42:00 After 94.N*5b S5e (attack on the bishop) black wins quickly. 95.R4bx1b+ 02:43:00 02:42:00 Here the professionals in the press room thought that black had a quick win after 95.Rx7b+ 96.Sx7b 97.G*7c. If 98.Bx6d, then 99.G*9d leads to mate after Kx9d Px9e and K9b is answered by Gx7b. However, when this sequence was played in the post-mortem analysis, Moriuchi immediately played 98.N*9g!. Then 99.Gx7b Nx8i+ leads to mate and 99.Lx9g Nx9g+ Sx9g Bx6d Gx7b Px9f wins for white! 95.Rx1b+ is the strongest move here. 96.B3ax6d 02:43:00 02:42:00 97.L*6e 02:43:00 02:42:00 98.N*7g 02:43:00 02:47:00 99.L6ex6d 02:43:00 02:47:00 100.N7gx8i+ 02:43:00 02:56:00 101.G7ix8i 02:43:00 02:56:00 102.N*7g 02:43:00 02:57:00 103.S8hx7g 02:43:00 02:57:00 104.N8ex7g+ 02:43:00 02:57:00 105.G7hx7g 02:43:00 02:57:00 106.+B4g-5f 02:43:00 02:57:00 Here many thought that Tanigawa had given the game away. After both 107.N*7h and 107.G*7h, white wins with 108.S*6h (difficult, but the white king can escape up the board). 107.B*7h! 02:45:00 02:57:00 In combination with the next move this becomes an endgame that only Tanigawa can play. 108.S*6h 02:45:00 02:57:00 109.+R1bx7b! 02:47:00 02:57:00 Still Tanigawa is the only one who has seen the win. The professionals in the press room were very surprised by this. Even Moriuchi wasn't sure and had to ask after the games if 109.Sx7g= was really mate. It is after the difficult 110.N*8e Px8e +Rx8c Kx8c N*7e Px7e Bx5f +Rx5f S*7b etc. 110.S8cx7b 02:47:00 02:59:00 111.B7hx5f 02:47:00 02:59:00 112.S6hx7g= 02:47:00 02:59:00 113.G*9d 02:50:00 02:59:00 One can only watch in awe. This long and difficult mate just works. 114.K9c-8b 02:50:00 02:59:00 115.G*8c 02:50:00 02:59:00 116.S7bx8c 02:50:00 02:59:00 117.G9dx8c 02:50:00 02:59:00 118.K8bx8c 02:50:00 02:59:00 119.N*7e 02:50:00 02:59:00 120.K8c-9c 02:50:00 02:59:00 121.N*8e! 02:50:00 02:59:00 Resigns 02:50:00 02:59:00 Beautiful. It's mate after 122.Px8e S*9d Kx9d B*7b or 122.K9d Px9e Kx8e S*9f Kx7f B*4c etc. In the end even the silver on 4f (which Tanigawa saved with the knight drop on 3h) helps to mate the king. This makes the match all square at 2-2 and Tanigawa now seems the strong favorite to win the match. In other shogi news: ==================== * In the Oza challenger tournament Inoue reached the quarter finals with a win over Nakahara. Nakahara has won exactly one third of the Oza titles as he has 16 titles and this is the 49th edition of this tournament. On the other hand, Inoue hadn't qualified for the challenger final in 6 years. However, this difference didn't count on the day as Inoue controlled the game and won quite convincingly in 103 moves. Takahashi also managed to reach the quarter finals with a win against Kobayashi. This was an up and down game where Takahashi had the early lead, but Kobayashi managed to fight back to a winning endgame. Still, the position was very difficult and Kobayashi couldn't find the win. * In the Red Group of the Oi leagues, the winner has already been decided with one game left to play (actually, some players still have to play two games). Moriuchi showed young Yamazaki that he still has a lot to learn despite victories over Tanigawa and Nakamura. With this win Moriuchi secured victory of the Red group as his last remaining rival Naganuma lost against Morishita after missing a couple of chances to win. Moriuchi will play the winner of the White group for the right to challenge Habu. In the White group Yashiki has the best chances to play Moriuchi as he started with three wins. He will have been happy with the result of the game between Goda and Sato, as Goda won this game. Both players now have 2-2 scores and with one game to play only a theoretical chance to win the group. Yashiki's last remaining rival seems to be former Oi challenger Fukaura, who handed Kanezawa his fourth consecutive loss. Fukaura now is 3-1 and needs only one mistake by Yashiki to force a play-off. Of course, Fukaura needs to win his final game against Sato, which will be far from easy. * An important psychological victory for Tanigawa as he won the first encounter with Habu in the 2001-2002 season. This time they met in the semi-final of the first Ryu-O qualification group. The winner qualifies directly for the challenger finals, while the loser needs to win another game to get into this tournament. The game was identical to the second Meijin game for a long time, but Habu played the old 32.P5d instead of the popular 32.P7e. The game then followed the third game of last year's Meijin match for a while. Habu had prepared a new move, but that move turned out to be not so good. It looked like he got very close to winning in the endgame, but Tanigawa had read out all the dangerous variations and won. 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