From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 15 nov 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 917, November 14th 2001) This week in Shukan Shogi the 3rd game of the Ryu-O match between Fujii and Habu. Despite having the same opening each time, the games between these two are always very interesting and played at a very high level. Habu won this one, but he had to work very hard for it. Also, after the game Fujii seemed far from upset, talking and laughing with reporters until midnight. He didn't seem worried at all about losing his Ryu-O title. Here is game 3 with comments. Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger White: Fujii Takeshi, Ryu-O 14th Ryu-O sen, Game 3, November 7th and 8th 2001 1.P2g-2f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:05:00 3.P7g-7f 00:02:00 00:05:00 4.P4c-4d 00:02:00 00:05:00 5.S3i-4h 00:05:00 00:05:00 6.R8b-4b 00:05:00 00:07:00 7.K5i-6h 00:07:00 00:07:00 8.P9c-9d 00:07:00 00:08:00 9.P9g-9f 00:11:00 00:08:00 10.S7a-7b 00:11:00 00:24:00 11.K6h-7h 00:13:00 00:24:00 12.S3a-3b 00:13:00 00:26:00 13.P5g-5f 00:28:00 00:26:00 14.S3b-4c 00:28:00 00:34:00 15.G4i-5h 00:44:00 00:34:00 16.K5a-6b 00:44:00 00:39:00 17.P3g-3f 00:47:00 00:39:00 18.K6b-7a 00:47:00 00:48:00 19.S7i-6h 00:50:00 00:48:00 20.K7a-8b 00:50:00 00:50:00 21.S6h-5g 00:55:00 00:50:00 22.B2b-3c 00:55:00 01:45:00 23.P2f-2e 00:59:00 01:45:00 24.P6c-6d 00:59:00 01:47:00 25.G6i-6h 01:40:00 01:47:00 26.P5c-5d 01:40:00 02:40:00 27.P4g-4f 02:24:00 02:40:00 28.G4a-5b 02:24:00 02:46:00 29.P4f-4e 02:27:00 02:46:00 The moves up to this position show all the subtleties of modern play with and against the Fujii system. However, in the end both players ended up in a position that has been in the joseki books for decades. One wonders if Habu was really aiming for this position, as the general opinion is that the P4e-attack doesn't give the Furibisha side much trouble. This game is no reason to change this opinion. 30.G5b-6c 02:27:00 03:05:00 31.N2i-3g 03:07:00 03:05:00 32.P7c-7d 03:07:00 03:07:00 33.P2e-2d 03:10:00 03:07:00 34.P2cx2d 03:10:00 03:09:00 This might have been a surprise for Habu. According to the most recent analysis, 34.Bx2d is the best move for white. It is possible that Habu had prepared something against that. However, Fujii seems to have studied this position beyond what is being subscribed by others and plays 34.Px2d instead. Judging from this game, this is at least as good as Bx2d. 35.P4ex4d 03:44:00 03:09:00 36.S4cx4d 03:44:00 03:09:00 37.P*4e 03:44:00 03:09:00 38.S4dx4e 03:44:00 03:10:00 39.N3gx4e 04:26:00 03:10:00 40.B3cx8h+ 04:26:00 05:08:00 41.K7hx8h 04:57:00 05:08:00 42.R4bx4e 04:57:00 05:09:00 43.B*2c 04:59:00 05:09:00 44.R4e-2e? 04:59:00 05:14:00 A mistake caused by the fact that Fujii has underestimated a Habu move later on. Correct was 44.N*8d. If then 45.S*7g, white can play 46.R2e, leading to a similar variation as in the game, but then black has no way to attack the white position and really no way to win. On the other hand, if 45.G7g then after 46.N3c Bx3d+ P*3g! white has the strong threat of P3h+ Rx3h B*4i and black doesn't have good way to deal with this. After the game Fujii said that he was worried about 44.N*8d Bx3d+ Nx7f K7h R2e +Bx2e Px2e G6i B*8h R*9h, but according to Suzuki Daisuke, being forced to drop the rook in such an awkward place can't be good for black. 45.R2hx2e 05:07:00 05:14:00 46.P2dx2e 05:07:00 05:14:00 47.B2cx3d+ 05:07:00 05:14:00 48.N*8d 05:07:00 05:14:00 49.G6h-7g! 05:57:00 05:14:00 Fujii counted on 49.S*7g which is the most natural looking move, but Habu has correctly judged that without this silver there is no way to win this game. White can just play something like 50.N7c and attack where he wants. Instead, Habu plays the risky 49.G7g, which leads to a razor sharp endgame where Fujii still has the lead, but has a lot of opportunities to make a mistake. 50.P*4g 05:57:00 05:40:00 51.S4hx4g 06:39:00 05:40:00 52.N8a-7c 06:39:00 06:08:00 53.R*4a 07:04:00 06:08:00 54.N7c-6e 07:04:00 06:17:00 55.S5g-6f 07:07:00 06:17:00 56.N6ex7g+ 07:07:00 06:35:00 57.S6fx7g 07:07:00 06:35:00 58.G*5a 07:07:00 06:37:00 59.R4ax2a+ 07:08:00 06:37:00 60.P*4f 07:08:00 06:37:00 61.+B3d-3e! 07:29:00 06:37:00 Attack and defense and the only move. 61.Sx4g fails to R*4i and 61.S3h to R*3i, but Fujii had spent most of his time thinking about what would happen if Habu would play 61.N*8e. Then after 62.Px4g+ white wins after both 1) 63.S*7c Gx7c Nx7c+ Sx7c +Bx6a which isn't a mating threat so white can play Nx7f Sx7f +Px5h, or 2) 63.N*5c +Px5h Nx6a+ Gx6a +Bx6a after which R*7h Kx7h N*8f is mate. Habu's move is better than N*8e, but still not good enough. 62.P4fx4g+ 07:29:00 06:39:00 63.+R2ax5a 07:30:00 06:39:00 64.N8dx7f? 07:30:00 06:40:00 Of course 64.Gx5a S*7a is a simple mate, but this is also wrong. Fujii played this moves with a lot of confidence, but made two serious errors in judgment here .Correct was 64.Nx9f and after 65.Lx9f Gx5a S*7a K7c N*8e K8d the white king has escaped and can't be mated. Black only seems to have Gx4g then, but after R*5i +B5g Rx5g+ Gx5g R*5i S6h S*7g Nx7g B*9i K9h Rx5g+ Sx5g Bx7g+ white wins. 65.S7gx7f 07:32:00 06:40:00 66.B*3c 07:32:00 06:42:00 67.N*5e 07:34:00 06:42:00 68.B3cx5a 07:34:00 07:20:00 69.N5ex6c+ 07:34:00 07:20:00 70.S7bx6c 07:34:00 07:20:00 71.N*8e 07:34:00 07:20:00 And suddenly white has no defense against the black attack. Fujii made two important mistakes in his calculations. First, he thought that having a bishop on 5a would defend square 7c well enough to survive. Second, he thought that black had only one gold and one silver in hand in this position and was surprised to see that it was actually two golds and a silver. This is a very unusual mistake for a professional and can only be explained by Habu's psychic powers. 72.P8c-8d 07:34:00 07:20:00 73.N*7c 07:40:00 07:20:00 The winning move. 74.Bx7c fails to G*8a Kx8a Nx7c= K9b Nx6a+ which is a mating threat so black wins. 74.G6a-7b 07:40:00 07:35:00 75.G*8a 07:40:00 07:35:00 76.K8b-8c 07:40:00 07:35:00 77.G*8b 07:40:00 07:35:00 78.G7bx8b 07:40:00 07:35:00 79.G8ax8b 07:40:00 07:35:00 80.K8cx8b 07:40:00 07:35:00 81.S*7a 07:40:00 07:35:00 Resigns 07:40:00 07:35:00 A rather short game but again a very interesting one. Fujii made an unusual number of mistakes, but Habu needed all of them to win. Therefore, his opening can be judged a failure (again) and he will need to find something else again in the next game. Still, all the pressure will be on Fujii, who has to win game four. Going 3-1 down with three to play is an almost impossible task against Habu, even with the Fujii system. In other shogi news: ==================== * A grueling game in the A-class between Morishita and Senzaki. The first game ended in sennichite at 16:56, the replay ended in jishogi at 2:14 in the morning. After a 30 minutes break the second replay started which was finally won by Morishita at 6:08 in the morning. When the post-mortem analysis ended it was already light outside. 20 hours of shogi against the same opponent: I don't think Senzaki and Morishita want to see each other for a while. This was the first game of round 5 and Morishita got back to a positive score with 3 wins after starting with 2 losses. His place next year is now almost secure. On the other hand, things are looking quite bad for Senzaki, who is at the bottom of the table with a 1-4 score. * B1 Junisen, round 8: Shima is almost there after his eight consecutive win. He is followed by Goda with 7-1 and only Kubo seems to have a miniscule chance of promoting to the top class with 6-2. Abe lost against Takahashi and with 5-3 doesn't seem to be a promotion candidate anymore. My money is on Shima and Goda in this class, as Kubo already played Goda and Shima is two games ahead of Kubo with four games to play. * The Osho league seems to be between Kubo and Sato. Kubo won his third straight game against Yonenaga, who now drops back to 2-2. Sato is also without a loss, but only from two games. * Shimizu completed the come-back from 2-0 behind to defend her Ladies Oi title against Nakai with a win in the fifth and final game. * The story in the Ladies Open tournament was just the opposite, as Shimizu couldn't capitalize on a win in the first game and lost to Ladies Meijin Saita in three games. More surprising than the win was that Saita scored a complete victory from a position in which Shimizu is a specialist. It was the first time for Saita to win this tournament. 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