From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 14 nov 2002 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 967 and 968, November 6th and 13th 2002) In this week's Shukan Shogi report, the second replay of the first game of the Ryu-O match between Habu and Abe. A good win for Habu in only 67 moves. Here is the game with comments: Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Ryu-O White: Abe Takashi, Challenger 15th Ryu-O sen, 2nd Replay Game 1, November 6th and 7th 2002 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:03:00 3.P2g-2f 00:02:00 00:03:00 4.P8c-8d 00:02:00 00:08:00 5.P2f-2e 00:07:00 00:08:00 6.P8d-8e 00:07:00 00:10:00 7.G6i-7h 00:11:00 00:10:00 8.G4a-3b 00:11:00 00:12:00 9.P2e-2d 00:17:00 00:12:00 10.P2cx2d 00:17:00 00:13:00 11.R2hx2d 00:17:00 00:13:00 12.P8e-8f 00:17:00 00:13:00 13.P8gx8f 00:24:00 00:13:00 14.R8bx8f 00:24:00 00:13:00 15.R2dx3d 00:32:00 00:13:00 16.B2b-3c 00:32:00 00:15:00 17.R3d-3f 00:44:00 00:15:00 18.S3a-2b 00:44:00 00:31:00 19.P*8g 01:05:00 00:31:00 20.R8f-8e 01:05:00 00:45:00 In the first game, Abe gave the Gokigen Nakabisha a try, but in this game he goes back to his opening of preference, the R8e-Yokofudori. He also played this in the second game of the Ryu-O challenger match, so this opening was not a real surprise. 21.R3f-2f 01:10:00 00:45:00 22.K5a-4a 01:10:00 00:50:00 23.K5i-5h 01:14:00 00:50:00 24.S7a-6b 01:14:00 02:17:00 25.P3g-3f 02:19:00 02:17:00 26.P5c-5d 02:19:00 02:50:00 27.B8hx3c+ 02:46:00 02:50:00 28.N2ax3c 02:46:00 02:50:00 29.N8i-7g 02:46:00 02:50:00 30.R8e-8d 02:46:00 03:07:00 31.P3f-3e 02:56:00 03:07:00 32.P5d-5e 02:56:00 03:10:00 33.G4i-3h 03:08:00 03:10:00 34.G6a-5a 03:08:00 03:22:00 35.S7i-6h 03:56:00 03:22:00 36.P*2e 03:56:00 03:54:00 37.R2f-4f! 04:37:00 03:54:00 After 36.P*2e, the position is exactly the same as in third game of the Ryu-O challenger match between Abe and Nakata (although the move order is different). In that game, Abe was black and played 37.R3f. This threatens P3d next, but after 38.S2c S4h P1d P7e P1e, black was in trouble. White threatens P1f Px1f P*1h Lx1h B*5d next and black has no option but to try an desperate attack with P7d (this was played in the Abe-Nakata game) or admit strategic defeat with P*2g. Because of this, Abe felt that white had a strong position, but he overlooked the move that Habu played here. After R4f, white can't develop the knight with P7d-N7c, because P7d fails to P3d. Therefore, white still has to play 38.S2c and because black no longer has to fear the bishop drop on 5d, there is no need to drop a pawn on 2g and black can continue to play this position at his own pace. 38.S2b-2c 04:37:00 04:57:00 39.P7f-7e! 04:38:00 04:57:00 Not only makes the knight development to P7d-N7c impossible, it also threatens to switch to rook to 8f. 39.P*2b also looks strong, but after 40.R4d Rx4d Px4d R*2a R*3a the position is far from clear. These subtle differences show the difficulty of this opening. After 39.P7e, black has the upper hand. 40.S2c-2d 04:38:00 05:35:00 41.P3e-3d 05:39:00 05:35:00 42.R8dx3d 05:39:00 05:46:00 43.R4f-8f 05:39:00 05:46:00 44.P5e-5f 05:39:00 06:26:00 Abe has no choice but to attack. 44.P*8d is answered by 45.P*3g and white has no good way to attack the solid, low black position. On the other hand, B*8c or B*8b next is can't be both defended. 45.R8fx8a+ 06:11:00 06:26:00 45.Rx5f looks like the safer move and after the game Habu said that he gave this move some serious thought. However, he felt it was kind of weak to let white determine his moves and after some deep calculations judged that white's attack was not strong enough. 46.N3c-4e 06:11:00 06:26:00 47.+R8ax9a! 06:20:00 06:26:00 Amazing. Habu just seems to ignore the white attack which looks very threatening. There is a thin line between winning and losing here. For example, after 47.Px5f black suddenly loses after 48.P*5g Sx5g B*4i Kx4i Nx5g+. Also, the strong looking defence 47.N*4i is bad after 48.B*2h!. 48.P5fx5g+ 06:20:00 07:38:00 49.S6hx5g 06:20:00 07:38:00 50.N4ex5g+ 06:20:00 07:38:00 One of the points of having white take the pawn on 5g is that after 50.B*4i Kx4i Nx5g+ black can play P*5h!, which stops the white attack. Also, black can now drop a pawn on 5b, which importantly strengthens his attack. The point of taking the lance on 9a is twofold. First, B*2h can be answered by L*3g. The second point will become clear below. 51.K5hx5g 06:20:00 07:38:00 52.P*5f 06:20:00 07:38:00 53.K5gx5f 06:21:00 07:38:00 The second reason why 47.+Rx9a was such a good move. If the rook would still be on 8a, Kx5f would fail to B*9b. During the game, Abe actually thought that he was getting back in the game again with the black king out in the open. Habu shows that this is an illusion. 54.P7c-7d 06:21:00 07:39:00 There is no good way to get to the black king. Abe first thought that 54.Rx3h+ was good, but after 55.Sx3h B*4h black has the strong defence P6f!. If white then attacks from the top with P*5e, the king escapes with K6g and if white attacks from the bottom with G*5g, the king escapes up the board with K6e. In the press room 54.B*6i was analyzed, but after 55.G6h P*5e K6f Bx8g+ B*6e! black wins after either +Bx6e Nx6e P6d N5c+ Sx6c N*6c or R6d P*5b S*5f Px5a+ K3a N*7f. 55.P*5b 07:03:00 07:39:00 56.B*7c 07:03:00 07:58:00 57.P5bx5a+ 07:03:00 07:58:00 58.K4a-3a 07:03:00 07:58:00 59.+R9a-8a 07:29:00 07:58:00 60.R3d-5d 07:29:00 07:58:00 61.K5f-6e 07:29:00 07:58:00 62.R5dx5a 07:29:00 07:59:00 63.+R8ax5a 07:30:00 07:59:00 64.S6bx5a 07:30:00 07:59:00 65.P*2c 07:33:00 07:59:00 66.S2d-3c 07:33:00 07:59:00 67.N*4e 07:38:00 07:59:00 Resigns 07:38:00 07:59:00 Nothing left to play for. 68.R*5e is pointless, as 69.Kx7d attacks the white bishop and 68.Bx1i+ is answered by 69.B*5c which defends the important square 6d. A strong victory by Habu, who outplayed his opponent. He was better in opening, middle game and endgame, but still he only gets one point for it. Abe will just need to forget about this and strike back with black in the second game. In other shogi news: ==================== * In the A class of the Junisen the remaining games of the fifth round were played. Habu defended his leading position with a win against Goda, but Tanigawa also won his game against Shima, so both are now 4-1. It seems that the challenger race will be between them, even though Sato (beating Morishita) and Fujii (beating Aono) at 3-2 also have a small chance to challenge Moriuchi next year. All the other players are fighting relegation. Morishita's position looks most precarious as he is the only player with only one win and a tough schedule. * In the challenger tournament of the Kio there are only four players left to challenge Habu. Most surprising semi-finalist is Tanaka Torahiko, who beat Iizuka. Another upset was the victory of Inoue against Fujii. Inoue will now play Goda and Tanaka will play Maruyama in the semi-finals. * Habu already seems to take control of the Osho league. A win against Morishita in his second game already put him in the top spot as all other players in the league have lost at least once. Habu can further strengthen his position if he beats Goda in the next game, as Goda is the only player with a 2-1 score. If Habu wins that game, it seems very likely that he will play a rematch with Sato. 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