From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 12 oct 2001 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 912, October 10th 2001) My lectures have started (which I have to teach in Japanese), so not much time for anything else. The way it looks now, my reports might become a little irregular from now on. I hope I can still do the comments for the title match games, but comments on other games will probably be as short as they are in this report. First, here is game 3 of the Oza match between Kubo and Habu. A fine win for Kubo, who extends the match with at least one game: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Oza White: Kubo Toshiaki, Challenger 49th Oza-sen, Game 3, October 5th 2001 1.P2g-2f 00:00:00 00:00:00 In the Kio match, Habu also won the first two games against Kubo. Then, he experimented in the third game with the Ai-furibisha, but lost without much of a fight. This time he sticks to his game plan, despite the comfortable lead he holds in the match. This is probably because of the upcoming Ryu-O title match with Fujii. Getting this Oza match out of the way by winning in straight games would make his preparation for the re-match with Fujii much easier. Also, some extra practice with static rook against ranging rook might help. 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:01:00 3.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:01:00 4.P4c-4d 00:00:00 00:02:00 5.S3i-4h 00:01:00 00:02:00 6.R8b-4b 00:01:00 00:04:00 7.K5i-6h 00:02:00 00:04:00 8.P9c-9d 00:02:00 00:06:00 9.K6h-7h 00:03:00 00:06:00 10.S7a-7b 00:03:00 00:06:00 11.P5g-5f 00:05:00 00:06:00 12.S3a-3b 00:05:00 00:08:00 13.P2f-2e 00:08:00 00:08:00 14.B2b-3c 00:08:00 00:08:00 15.B8h-7g 00:08:00 00:08:00 16.S3b-4c 00:08:00 00:10:00 17.B7g-6h 00:08:00 00:10:00 18.R4b-2b 00:08:00 00:11:00 19.S4h-5g 00:08:00 00:11:00 20.K5a-6b 00:08:00 00:14:00 21.K7h-8h 00:14:00 00:14:00 22.K6b-7a 00:14:00 00:21:00 23.S5g-6f 00:20:00 00:21:00 24.P4d-4e 00:20:00 00:21:00 25.K8h-9h 00:23:00 00:21:00 26.G4a-5b 00:23:00 00:22:00 27.S7i-8h 00:26:00 00:22:00 28.P6c-6d 00:26:00 00:27:00 29.G4i-5i 00:30:00 00:27:00 30.S4c-5d 00:30:00 00:30:00 31.G6i-7h 00:41:00 00:30:00 32.K7a-8b 00:41:00 00:49:00 33.G5i-6i 00:46:00 00:49:00 34.P7c-7d 00:46:00 00:53:00 35.G6i-7i 00:47:00 00:53:00 36.P9d-9e 00:47:00 00:59:00 37.P1g-1f 01:24:00 00:59:00 38.P1c-1d 01:24:00 00:59:00 39.R2h-3h 01:55:00 00:59:00 Both players have built strong formations. Habu's castle is almost as strong as the anaguma. Having the king on 9h instead of 9i is a weakness, but not unusual in professional games. Still, it is a bit hard to find an attack for either player. 39.R3h is an attempt to make some noise on the third file, but this is easily countered. 40.R2b-3b 01:55:00 01:30:00 41.R3h-2h 02:10:00 01:30:00 42.R3b-2b 02:10:00 01:36:00 43.R2h-2f 02:10:00 01:36:00 44.B3c-4d 02:10:00 01:39:00 45.R2f-2g 02:21:00 01:39:00 46.S5d-6c 02:21:00 01:44:00 47.P3g-3f 02:24:00 01:44:00 48.P5c-5d 02:24:00 01:45:00 49.N2i-3g 02:26:00 01:45:00 50.P6d-6e 02:26:00 01:58:00 51.S6f-7g 02:30:00 01:58:00 52.P5d-5e 02:30:00 02:23:00 Habu has tested the waters a little with some rook maneuvering, but this didn't gain him much. Both players have a four general castle and Kubo decides it is time to open the game. White seems to have come out of the opening with a slight advantage, but this might be an illusion. There is still everything to play for here. 53.N3gx4e 02:58:00 02:23:00 The first real choice. Habu rejected the obvious 53.P2d, because he didn't like the position after 54.Px2d Rx2d Rx2d Bx2d R*2g R*4a Rx2d+ Rx4d+ B*2h and black now can't play Nx4e because then the promoted rook dies after P*4c. 54.P5ex5f 02:58:00 02:28:00 55.P2e-2d 02:58:00 02:28:00 56.P2cx2d 02:58:00 02:30:00 57.R2gx2d 02:58:00 02:30:00 58.R2bx2d 02:58:00 02:40:00 59.B6hx2d 02:58:00 02:40:00 60.B4d-5e 02:58:00 02:40:00 61.P*5d 03:18:00 02:40:00 62.S6cx5d 03:18:00 02:47:00 63.B2d-4f 03:18:00 02:47:00 64.B5ex4f 03:18:00 03:10:00 65.P4gx4f 03:18:00 03:10:00 66.B*6d 03:18:00 03:12:00 67.B*8f 03:39:00 03:12:00 68.B6dx8f 03:39:00 03:13:00 69.S7gx8f 03:39:00 03:13:00 70.B*5e 03:39:00 03:16:00 71.R*5c!? 04:08:00 03:16:00 The most important point in this game. This is an rather unexpected rook move and it seems unlikely that the players took it into consideration when they exchanged rooks. Kubo is a little lucky that this surprising move turns out to be alright for him. 72.G5b-6c 04:08:00 03:42:00 73.B*3b? 04:08:00 03:42:00 The key variation was 73.P*5b, but both players had seen that white can counter this with a surprising rook drop of his own: 74.R*2b!. Then, after 75.P5a+ G6a-6b B*3a R3b Rx6c+ Gx6c B5c+ P5g+ +P5b P*5a +Bx6c S5dx6c +P5c can be expected and "maybe this might end in sennichite" (Habu). "I spent a lot of time thinking about what to do after the promotion of the bishop on 5c, but I had no idea" (Kubo). Another variation is 75.Rx6c+ S5dx6c N5c+ Sx5b +Nx5b Gx5b G*5d Bx4f S*7a K9b (there is a fork on rook and king after Kx7a) B*4d R2h+ Bx1a+ and "it seems that the attack is bit thin, but..." (Habu). It is probably hard for white to defend this well in an actual game. In any case, Habu should have played 73.P*5b here. It seems that finding the surprising reply R*2b made this move look worse than it actually was. Habu tries to play it differently, but 73.B*3b is a blunder that quickly ends the game. 74.P*4c! 04:08:00 03:44:00 It seems Habu underestimated the strength of this simple defense. Suddenly, black has no good way to attack anymore. 75.R5cx5d+ 04:12:00 03:44:00 76.G6cx5d 04:12:00 03:45:00 77.B3bx4c+ 04:12:00 03:45:00 78.G5d-4d! 04:12:00 03:54:00 Another good defensive move by Kubo. Tempting is to take the knight on 4e with sente, but after Px4e black still has +Bx2a and/or +Bx6e (with attack on a bishop that is now undefended). Also, black can use a gold in hand to strengthen his attack. 79.+B4cx6e 04:15:00 03:54:00 No choice. Another point of having the gold on 4d, is that white can shut out the promoted bishop after 79.+Bx2a P*4c!. If then +B3a white simply plays P5g+ and wins in the attack. The black promoted bishop on 6e is better positioned, but black has no real attack and white can feast on the defending generals with the combined attack of tokin, bishop and two rooks. 80.B5ex4f 04:15:00 03:59:00 81.N4e-5c+ 04:15:00 03:59:00 82.P5f-5g+ 04:15:00 03:59:00 83.S*6b 04:15:00 03:59:00 84.R*4h 04:15:00 04:10:00 85.P*4g 04:19:00 04:10:00 86.B4fx1i+ 04:19:00 04:10:00 87.P*5e 04:25:00 04:10:00 88.R*3i 04:25:00 04:18:00 89.+B6e-6d 04:28:00 04:18:00 90.L*7c 04:28:00 04:19:00 91.P7f-7e 04:28:00 04:19:00 92.+P5gx6g 04:28:00 04:29:00 93.G7hx6g 04:28:00 04:29:00 94.R3ix7i+ 04:28:00 04:31:00 95.P*6h 04:28:00 04:31:00 96.R4h-4i+ 04:28:00 04:32:00 Resigns 04:29:00 04:32:00 The game is finished after 97.Sx7i +Rx7i and black has no defense and no mate. This game was over very quickly after Habu's mistake on the 73rd move. It must have been a great boost to Kubo's confidence to win this game so easily after Habu dominated in game 1 and 2. Maybe this is all the young challenger needs to get back in this match. The next game he can't afford to lose as well, but he will feel much better now than after game 2 and also has the advantage of playing with the black pieces in game 4. In other shogi news =================== * Kio challenger tournament: Kubo-Fujii 1-0. Kubo advances to the semi-final where he will meet Sato Yasumitsu. The other semi-final is between Goda and Moriuchi. * A class Junisen, round 4: Moriuchi (4-0) beats Sato (3-1). Morishita (2-2) beats Fujii (2-2). Moriuchi wins his 12th straight game to keep the lead, but Tanigawa can join him if he beats Kato later this month. * C1 Junisen, round 5 (only five games to make up for an uneven number of players): Horiguchi (4-1) beats Nozuki (3-2), Sugimoto (4-1) beats Iizuka (1-4). Both Horiguchi and Sugimoto are one game behind Kimura. * Osho league: Tanigawa beats Goda. Both are 1-1 now. It was Goda's 10th loss in a row against Tanigawa. * Shinjin-O final, Game 1: Kimura-Matsuo 0-1 (first player to win two wins the title). * Ladies Oi, Game 1: Shimizu-Nakai 0-1. 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