From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 5 jul 2002 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 949, July 3rd 2002) This week in Shukan Shogi the second game of the Kisei match between Goda and Sato. Not as exciting as the first game, but still quite an interesting game with Goda surprisingly dictating the pace with the white pieces. Sato had a couple of chances to make it interesting, but Goda won and now only needs one win to defend his Kisei title. Here is the game with comments: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger White: Goda Masataka, Kisei 73rd Kisei-sen, Game 2, June 25th 2002 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P8c-8d 00:00:00 00:01:00 3.P2g-2f 00:01:00 00:01:00 4.P8d-8e 00:01:00 00:01:00 5.B8h-7g 00:01:00 00:01:00 6.P3c-3d 00:01:00 00:01:00 7.S7i-8h 00:01:00 00:01:00 8.B2bx7g+ 00:01:00 00:02:00 9.S8hx7g 00:01:00 00:02:00 10.S3a-2b 00:01:00 00:02:00 11.S3i-3h 00:01:00 00:02:00 12.S7a-7b 00:01:00 00:02:00 13.P4g-4f 00:05:00 00:02:00 14.S2b-3c 00:05:00 00:02:00 15.S3h-4g 00:05:00 00:02:00 16.K5a-4b 00:05:00 00:03:00 17.P3g-3f 00:32:00 00:03:00 18.G6a-5b 00:32:00 00:45:00 19.P6g-6f 00:53:00 00:45:00 20.S7b-8c 00:53:00 01:14:00 No real surprises in the early opening stage of this game. Sato was expected to use the Kakugawari (Bishop Exchange) as he has a high winning percentage with it, while Goda likes to fight the Kakugawari with the Bogin (Climbing Silver). 21.P9g-9f 00:58:00 01:14:00 22.P9c-9d 00:58:00 01:15:00 23.R2h-6h 01:00:00 01:15:00 24.S8c-8d 01:00:00 01:15:00 25.G4i-3h 01:01:00 01:15:00 26.K4b-3b 01:01:00 01:24:00 27.N2i-3g 01:04:00 01:24:00 28.G4a-4b 01:04:00 01:25:00 29.K5i-4h 01:23:00 01:25:00 Against the Bogin attack, moving the king to the right side of the board is an often played plan. The Bogin aims at a breakthrough on the edge, sacrificing the silver for a lance. By moving the king to the right, this attack will not lead to immediate king danger and will give black the time to use the material advantage to counter. 30.P7c-7d 01:23:00 01:30:00 31.P6f-6e 01:31:00 01:30:00 32.S8d-7c 01:31:00 01:31:00 When the black king moves to the right, white often abandons his Bogin plans pulls the silver back to use it in a central position. This gives up a couple of moves, but black has no quick attack, so this is not so important in this position. 33.P1g-1f 01:31:00 01:31:00 34.P1c-1d 01:31:00 01:31:00 35.S4g-5f?! 01:56:00 01:31:00 The first important point of the game. By moving up this silver, Sato gives up the idea of castling on the right. Instead, he intends to move the king back to left with G7h-K5h-K6i-K7i, as white no longer has a strong attack with the climbing silver. This seems to take a lot of moves, but as white also has lost some moves with his silver manoeuvre, this more or less cancels out. 36.S7c-6b 01:56:00 02:08:00 37.G6i-7h 02:00:00 02:08:00 38.P5c-5d 02:00:00 02:13:00 39.K4h-5h 02:06:00 02:13:00 40.S3c-4d! 02:06:00 02:30:00 Aggressive play, but very important. White could just strengthen his castle with P4d-S5c-G4c(5b), but that would give black the time to complete the king walk to the left. White will then be stuck for moves, so Goda decides to play for an early opening of the position, while the black king is still on 5h. 41.P4f-4e 02:22:00 02:30:00 42.P5d-5e 02:22:00 02:30:00 43.S5f-6g 02:24:00 02:30:00 44.S4d-5c 02:24:00 02:32:00 45.R6h-6i 02:39:00 02:32:00 46.N8a-7c 02:39:00 03:02:00 47.R6i-2i 02:41:00 03:02:00 48.N7cx6e 02:41:00 03:09:00 49.S7g-6f 02:41:00 03:09:00 50.S5c-5d 02:41:00 03:09:00 51.P2f-2e 02:43:00 03:09:00 52.G4b-3c 02:43:00 03:09:00 This is the disadvantage of white's 40th move. Because the silver is no longer on 3c, white has to defend the pawn exchange on 2d by moving this gold to a bad square. Goda's judgment at the 40th move was that this couldn't be helped and that white still would have the better chances. He was probably right, but things are still far from easy. 53.G3h-4h 02:51:00 03:09:00 54.G5b-4b 02:51:00 03:13:00 55.P9f-9e! 03:31:00 03:13:00 Very resourceful attack. If black allows white to secure the position with 56.P6d, he will have no reasonable moves left. It was hard to find anything good for black in this position, but Sato's 55.P9e is the only way to put pressure on the white position. 56.P9dx9e 03:31:00 03:19:00 57.S6fx6e 03:31:00 03:19:00 58.S5dx6e 03:31:00 03:19:00 59.N8i-7g 03:31:00 03:19:00 60.S6e-5d 03:31:00 03:19:00 61.N*4f 03:31:00 03:19:00 62.S6b-5c 03:31:00 03:19:00 63.B*7c 03:31:00 03:19:00 64.R8b-8a 03:31:00 03:19:00 65.L9ix9e 03:31:00 03:19:00 66.L9ax9e 03:31:00 03:19:00 67.B7cx9e+ 03:31:00 03:19:00 The point of the edge attack. Black has made a promoted bishop and white needs to attack quickly to make sure that this promoted bishop is not creating all sorts of trouble in the white camp. 68.P4c-4d 03:31:00 03:21:00 69.+B9e-7c 03:33:00 03:21:00 Black now strongly threatens R9i followed by R9b+. 70.P8e-8f 03:33:00 03:33:00 Goda said that he had overlooked the rook switch, but that he still felt he was OK because of the P8f attack. In reality, the position is quite complicated. 71.P8gx8f 03:43:00 03:33:00 72.P4dx4e 03:43:00 03:33:00 73.N4fx5d 03:43:00 03:33:00 74.S5cx5d 03:43:00 03:33:00 75.P*4c? 03:45:00 03:33:00 Sato picks the wrong plan. He should have played 75.R9i P*9h Rx9h Rx8f P*8g P*9g Rx9g L*9f Px8f Lx9g+ and now black has reasonably good chances to survive after R*9b N*4f K6h S*8g Rx9g+ R*8i P*6i. It seemed that Goda thought that he could stop the rook with P*9f followed by Px9g+ instead of having to use the lance. After the game Sato regretted playing 75.P*4c, but black still has another chance to make it interesting. 76.G3cx4c 03:45:00 03:33:00 77.L*2h 03:47:00 03:33:00 78.R8ax8f 03:47:00 03:37:00 79.+B7cx7d? 03:54:00 03:37:00 Here Sato misses his final chance. The simple 79.P*8g would have still made things quite difficult for white. For example, 80.R9f P2d Px2d Lx2d P*2h Rx2h R9i+ P*6i S*3i and white seems to be attacking strongly, but after L2b+ K4a S*6b! (overlooked by Goda) K5b N6e Sx6e Nx4e black wins. Therefore, after L2b+ white has to play K3c Nx4e K4d +B6d L*5c and even though it seems that white might survive, it is not easy to play such a position under time pressure. Note that instead of L2b+, the variation L2c+ K4a S*6b fails to Sx2h+. After 79.+Bx7d the endgame becomes a display of Goda's attacking skills. Black never gets another chance to play P2d, so the lance on 2h becomes just a useless piece of wood. 80.S*8g 03:54:00 03:41:00 81.P*4d 03:58:00 03:41:00 82.G4cx4d 03:58:00 03:41:00 83.+B7d-7e 03:58:00 03:41:00 84.N*4f 03:58:00 03:45:00 85.K5h-6h 03:58:00 03:45:00 86.S8gx7h+ 03:58:00 03:45:00 87.S6gx7h 03:58:00 03:45:00 88.R8f-8h+ 03:58:00 03:45:00 89.S*8g 03:59:00 03:45:00 90.P*8f! 03:59:00 03:47:00 Good move. This forces the promoted bishop away from the square 6f, opening up this square for a lance drop. 91.+B7ex8f 03:59:00 03:47:00 92.B*4g 03:59:00 03:49:00 93.R2i-5i 03:59:00 03:49:00 94.L*6f 03:59:00 03:49:00 95.P*6g 03:59:00 03:49:00 96.G*6i 03:59:00 03:49:00 Resigns 03:59:00 03:49:00 Mate after 97.Rx6i Bx6i+ Kx6i Lx6g= K5i (Sx6g or a piece drop on 6h is answered by R*7i) R*6i Sx6i+ Lx6i+ etc. An important win for Goda with the white pieces as he is now two up with three to play. This game may not have been as exciting as the first one, but Goda showed that positive play pays off, as he was the one dictating the pace of game from early on. Sato will need to find something quick or this match will be over. In other shogi news ================ * This week there were only two other important games, as the final spots in the challenger tournament of the Ryu-O were decided. Goda and Sato played another big game against each other and this time it was Sato who controlled the game with white and won. Meijin Moriuchi had a lot of trouble with Hatakeyama Mamoru, who played very positively. Moriuchi had to use all of his abilities to keep the game close and wait for a chance. When this chance finally came, Moriuchi capitalized fully and never gave Hatakeyama an opportunity to turn the tables again. The following players will play for the right to challenge Habu: Morishita, Fujii, Sato, Moriuchi (from preliminary group 1), Abe, Sanada (group 2), Kimura, Nakata Hiroki (group 3), Nozuki (group 4), Matsuo (group 5) and Miyata (group 6). The challenger knock-out will start with the game between Matsuo and Miyata on July 11th. 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