From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 30 may 2002 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 943 and 944, May 22nd and 29th 2002) This week's Shukan Shogi report brings me up-to-date again. Unfortunately this coincides with the end of the Meijin match, so there will be no title match game until the start of the Kisei match between Goda and Sato on June 12th. It would have been nice to have both matches going on at the same time, but this year's Meijin match never really got interesting with Maruyama not being his normal self all match. Moriuchi's happiness at finally winning a title will not be less I'm sure, but for shogi fans this year's match was a disappointment. Here is game four with comments: Black: Maruyama Tadahisa, Meijin White: Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Challenger 60th Meijin-sen, Game 4, May 16th and 17th 2002 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:02:00 3.P2g-2f 00:01:00 00:02:00 4.P4c-4d 00:01:00 00:02:00 5.P2f-2e 00:01:00 00:02:00 6.B2b-3c 00:01:00 00:02:00 7.S3i-4h 00:01:00 00:02:00 8.P9c-9d 00:01:00 00:02:00 9.K5i-6h 00:01:00 00:02:00 10.S3a-3b 00:01:00 00:07:00 11.K6h-7h 00:01:00 00:07:00 12.R8b-4b 00:01:00 00:09:00 As expected, Moriuchi tries different things with white against Maruyama. In game 2 he fought Maruyama's specialty (Kakugawari) head-on and in the top ranking group of the Ryu-O tournament (played between two Meijin match games) he even used the Kondo-style Nakabisha quick attack. In this game he opts for the more conservative Shikenbisha, but despite not being a natural Furibisha player, he shows in this game that he has studied the opening deeply. 13.P5g-5f 00:01:00 00:09:00 14.S3b-4c 00:01:00 00:09:00 15.B8h-7g 00:02:00 00:09:00 16.P7c-7d!? 00:02:00 00:12:00 Looks a bit early to classic ranging rook players, but this is the way the Fujii system is played these days. Fujii himself called the natural 16.S7b a tepid move and preferred this early 16.P7d instead. If black decides to move into the anaguma quickly with 17.K8h, white can attack one move faster with 19.N7c followed by N8e. On the other hand, if black tests the waters with 17.G4i-5h like in the game, 18.S7b leads to a normal position. 17.G4i-5h 00:04:00 00:12:00 18.S7a-7b 00:04:00 00:14:00 19.B7g-8f 00:08:00 00:14:00 Also a move often seen in this type of position. Black doesn't allow white to play P6d early. The Fujii system also has the option of attacking by P6d-P6e, so taking this option away is important. 20.K5a-6b 00:08:00 00:33:00 21.P6g-6f 00:08:00 00:33:00 22.P4d-4e 00:08:00 00:58:00 23.S4h-5g 00:11:00 00:58:00 24.G4a-5b 00:11:00 00:59:00 25.K7h-8h 00:16:00 00:59:00 26.S4c-4d 00:16:00 01:12:00 27.G6i-7h 00:23:00 01:12:00 28.K6b-7a 00:23:00 01:42:00 29.G5h-6g 00:25:00 01:42:00 30.S4d-3e 00:25:00 01:50:00 31.B8f-6h 01:02:00 01:50:00 32.P6c-6d 01:02:00 01:51:00 33.P5f-5e 01:03:00 01:51:00 34.S3e-4d 01:03:00 02:37:00 35.S5g-5f 01:04:00 02:37:00 36.R4b-2b 01:04:00 02:37:00 37.P4g-4f 02:19:00 02:37:00 After a very professional like opening with pieces being moved out and back to take away options for the opponent, the middle game is finally starting. 38.R2b-4b 02:19:00 03:11:00 39.R2h-4h 02:29:00 03:11:00 40.P4ex4f 02:29:00 03:15:00 41.R4hx4f 02:29:00 03:15:00 42.K7a-8b? 02:29:00 03:38:00 Moriuchi regretted this move. Furibisha hasn't been a passive opening for years now and moves like completing a castle formation when there is an active way of playing the position have become suspect. Here Moriuchi said he should have taken the chance to play actively with 42.P5d. Then, if black plays 43.Px5d, white gets the advantage after 44.P*5e S4g S4e. The critical variation is 43.B8f Px5e Bx6d Px5f and even when black takes the lance with Bx9a+ it still looks like white has good attacking chances. This last variation also shows why 42.K8b is not good. In that case Bx6d is check, so white has no time to take the silver on 5f. 43.P9g-9f 02:42:00 03:38:00 44.G5b-6c 02:42:00 04:04:00 45.R4f-4h 03:02:00 04:04:00 46.P*4e 03:02:00 04:09:00 47.P2e-2d! 03:20:00 04:09:00 A standard attack, but extremely well timed. White is in trouble. 48.P2cx2d 03:20:00 04:14:00 49.P*2b 03:21:00 04:14:00 50.B3cx2b 03:21:00 05:05:00 51.R4h-2h 03:27:00 05:05:00 52.S4dx5e 03:27:00 05:46:00 53.B6hx2d? 04:57:00 05:46:00 In this position there were three obvious moves: 53.Sx5e, 53.Rx2d and 53.Bx2d. Best was 53.Sx5e, which doesn't look so strong after 54.Bx5e 55.Rx2d 56.P*2b as a move like 57.P*2c is pointless because white can ignore this move as it only leads to a rook exchange after Px2b+ Rx2b. However, black can also strongly play 57.Rx3d! Then P*3c R2d or B3c S*2d is good for black. Black's second best option was 53.Rx2d. After 54.Sx6f Gx6f Bx6f S*7g P*2c Rx2c+ R2b +Rx2b Bx2b R*2c G*3b R2h+ P*2c the black promoted rook works strongly in defence. Usually Maruyama loves this kind of position from where he can slowly cook his opponent. It is unclear why he finally decided to play 53.Bx2d which is the worst of the three and more or less costs him his Meijin title. 54.R4b-6b 04:57:00 05:48:00 55.S5fx5e 04:57:00 05:48:00 56.B2bx5e 04:57:00 05:48:00 57.S*5f 04:57:00 05:48:00 58.P*2g 04:57:00 06:09:00 59.R2h-4h 04:59:00 06:09:00 60.B5e-3c 04:59:00 06:36:00 61.B2dx3c+ 05:00:00 06:36:00 62.N2ax3c 05:00:00 06:36:00 63.P*4d 05:00:00 06:36:00 64.R6b-2b 05:00:00 06:50:00 65.P4d-4c+ 05:25:00 06:50:00 66.P2g-2h+ 05:25:00 06:50:00 67.+P4cx3c 05:25:00 06:50:00 68.+P2h-3h 05:25:00 06:53:00 69.R4hx4e 05:27:00 06:53:00 70.R2bx2i+ 05:27:00 07:03:00 71.R4e-4a+ 05:27:00 07:03:00 72.+R2ix1i 05:27:00 07:07:00 73.N*5e 05:43:00 07:07:00 Looks like an overplay, but 73.+P4c fails to 74.B*1d +Rx1a B6i+ G6g-6h (to defend against N*8f) N*8d S6g Nx9f Lx9f S*9i Kx9i +Bx7i and black is in serious trouble. 74.G6c-6b 05:43:00 07:21:00 75.+R4ax1a 05:45:00 07:21:00 76.B*2d 05:45:00 07:30:00 77.L*6c? 06:34:00 07:30:00 Strange decision. Forcing the attack like this is not Maruyama's style. Better was 77.+R2b which is good for black after 78.Bx7i+ Gx7i L*8d B*6h S*5d +P4c S*5h L*6c. Analysis showed that white still seems to have the upper hand after 78.N*8f, but as Maruyama admitted after the game, 77.+R2b was the only move to fight from this position. 78.N*8f! 06:34:00 07:34:00 Painful. 79.Px8f Bx7i+ Gx7i S*8g Kx8g +Rx7i easily wins for white. 79.P*5g 06:38:00 07:34:00 80.N8fx7h+ 06:38:00 07:37:00 81.S7ix7h 06:49:00 07:37:00 82.B2dx3c 06:49:00 08:10:00 83.+R1a-3a 07:25:00 08:10:00 84.S*7i 07:25:00 08:10:00 85.K8h-7g 07:26:00 08:10:00 86.B3cx5e! 07:26:00 08:20:00 The move that wins the Meijin title. 87.Sx5e Gx6c leaves black without any attacking hopes, so... 87.L6cx6b+ 07:27:00 08:20:00 88.N*6e 07:27:00 08:22:00 89.K7g-8f 07:27:00 08:22:00 90.L*8d 07:27:00 08:30:00 91.K8f-9g 07:29:00 08:30:00 92.G*8h 07:29:00 08:30:00 Resigns 07:40:00 08:30:00 Maruyama took 11 minutes to say goodbye to his title. White threatens mate with 94.Gx8g Sx8g S8h= Kx8h Lx8g+ etc. As there is also Gx7h after defending against this mating threat, resigning is only natural. Somehow it seems that the loss in game 3 has broken the Maruyama's fighting spirit. The opening was good, but when things got complicated he seemed to crumble. On the other hand, all credits to Moriuchi, who played at a high level. He needed a little luck, but a 4-0 score against a player he usually has a lot of trouble with is no coincidence. He'll be happy to erase the nasty nickname "Emperor without a crown": he is no longer the best shogi player who never won a major title. In other shogi news: ================ * Osho Sato Yasumitsu will get a shot at another title as he beat Maruyama in the final of the Kisei challenger tournament. An interesting new idea against Maruyama's Kakugawari opening (a castle of K2b-G3c-G4b-S5c) confused Maruyama enough to get a good position and Sato in his current form only needs a small lead to win. Goda will have a tough time to hold on to his title. * In the white group of the Oi league, Moriuchi made things very interesting by beating leader Sato Yasumitsu. Both players now have 3-1 scores and are followed by Fukaura, Awaji and Kanezawa, who each have won 2 out of 4. With one round to play, a lot is still possible, but it seems unlikely that both Moriuchi and Sato will lose against Kanezawa and Awaji. Therefore, either Moriuchi and Sato will win this group and probably meet Tanigawa who is leading the red group. All games of the final round in both groups will be played on June 7th. * Finally some good news for Maruyama, who beat Inoue to get the final spot in the quarterfinals of the Oza challenger tournament. He will now play Morishita for a place in the semis. Other games are Watanabe-Sato, Moriuchi-Goda and Fujii-Kubo. A very strong line-up with only Watanabe as a surprising quarterfinalist. How far will the 18-year old go? 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