From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 30 sep 2002 Subject: These weeks in Shukan Shogi (no. 960 and 961, I am again a little behind with the Shukan Shogi reports, so this is another double report. The Oza match between Habu and Sato started. An important match, as Sato could become the first player in ages to own more titles than Habu if he wins this match (Habu now has three, while Sato has two). In the first game Habu wanted nothing of it, as he scored a fine win with white. Here is the game with comments: Black: Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger White: Habu Yoshiharu, Oza 50th Oza-sen, Game 1, September 18th 2002 1.P7g-7f 00:01:00 00:00:00 2.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:01:00 3.S7i-6h 00:08:00 00:01:00 4.P3c-3d 00:08:00 00:11:00 5.P6g-6f 00:08:00 00:11:00 6.S7a-6b 00:08:00 00:12:00 7.P5g-5f 00:08:00 00:12:00 8.P5c-5d 00:08:00 00:14:00 9.S3i-4h 00:10:00 00:14:00 10.S3a-4b 00:10:00 00:18:00 11.G4i-5h 00:10:00 00:18:00 12.G4a-3b 00:10:00 00:19:00 13.G6i-7h 00:10:00 00:19:00 14.K5a-4a 00:10:00 00:20:00 15.K5i-6i 00:10:00 00:20:00 16.G6a-5b 00:10:00 00:21:00 17.S6h-7g 00:11:00 00:21:00 18.S4b-3c 00:11:00 00:22:00 19.B8h-7i 00:11:00 00:22:00 20.B2b-3a 00:11:00 00:22:00 21.P3g-3f 00:11:00 00:22:00 22.P4c-4d 00:11:00 00:22:00 23.G5h-6g 00:19:00 00:22:00 24.P7c-7d 00:19:00 00:23:00 25.S4h-3g 00:23:00 00:23:00 26.B3a-6d 00:23:00 00:23:00 27.B7i-6h 00:35:00 00:23:00 28.G5b-4c 00:35:00 00:25:00 29.K6i-7i 00:35:00 00:25:00 30.K4a-3a 00:35:00 00:26:00 31.K7i-8h 00:35:00 00:26:00 32.K3a-2b 00:35:00 00:28:00 This almost feels like an old-fashioned opening. The double Yagura has always been played by many professionals, but the peak of its popularity is already 10 years ago. Sato has always been an expert in the Yagura (and one of the few top players who is not afraid to play it with white), so it is interesting to see how Habu would play it against him. 33.S3g-4f 00:42:00 00:28:00 34.S6b-5c 00:42:00 00:36:00 35.N2i-3g 00:42:00 00:36:00 36.B6d-7c 00:42:00 00:37:00 37.P2g-2f 00:42:00 00:37:00 38.S3c-2d 00:42:00 00:40:00 39.P1g-1f 00:45:00 00:40:00 40.P1c-1d 00:45:00 00:42:00 41.R2h-3h 01:16:00 00:42:00 42.P9c-9d 01:16:00 00:58:00 43.P9g-9f 01:42:00 00:58:00 At least in this game we will not find out how Habu planned to fight Sato's Yagura, as Sato is the first one to leave the common variations. This edge push is not considered sound opening play. It gives white the opportunity to attack and the general opinion is that black should be the first to attack in closed positions or black has lost the opening battle. However, Sato is known for challenging common beliefs in the opening, and this is an example. To attack, white has to give black a lance in hand, which can be used for a counter attack. Things are actually very complicated, so it is far from certain that the common 43.L1h or 43.L1g is actually better than 43.P9f. 44.P8d-8e 01:42:00 01:26:00 45.L1i-1g 01:50:00 01:26:00 46.P9d-9e 01:50:00 01:48:00 47.P9fx9e 02:03:00 01:48:00 48.L9ax9e 02:03:00 01:48:00 49.P*9f 02:04:00 01:48:00 50.L9ex9f 02:04:00 01:48:00 51.L9ix9f 02:04:00 01:48:00 52.P*9e 02:04:00 01:48:00 53.L9fx9e 02:04:00 01:48:00 54.B7cx9e 02:04:00 01:48:00 55.P3f-3e 02:10:00 01:48:00 56.P3dx3e 02:10:00 01:50:00 57.N3g-2e 02:12:00 01:50:00 58.B9e-7c 02:12:00 02:50:00 59.P1f-1e 03:23:00 02:50:00 60.P1dx1e 03:23:00 02:52:00 61.P*1c 03:25:00 02:52:00 62.L*9a 03:25:00 03:47:00 Looks threatening, as black has no pawns in hand. 63.S4fx3e? 04:09:00 03:47:00 Black has two choices here: 64.Sx3e and 64.L*1b. After 44 minutes, Sato picks the wrong one. It was indeed a very difficult choice, as 64.L*1b looks like a very heavy way of attacking. However, after for example 65.R9b K7i R9i+ S8h or 65.P*9g Nx9g P*9f Lx1a+ Px9g+ K7i the black attack seems at least as strong as the white one. The problem of 63.Sx3e is that is not a move that goes well in combination with 61.P*1c. Such a small unbalance in attack can be quite important. 64.P*9g! 04:09:00 03:53:00 Nice footwork. This attack forces black to drop his final pawn, after which white turns to defence to kill the black attack. 65.P*9f 04:12:00 03:53:00 66.S2dx3e 04:12:00 04:03:00 67.R3hx3e 04:12:00 04:03:00 68.P*3d 04:12:00 04:03:00 69.R3e-3h 04:12:00 04:03:00 70.S*3g 04:12:00 04:04:00 71.R3h-1h?! 04:14:00 04:04:00 Incredible move. If an amateur would play this, it would be laughed at. Sato realises that he needs something special to win this game and he decides to sacrifice a full rook and use the time that Habu needs to take the rook to launch a desperate attack. During the game Sato thought that this was actually playable and that there were still winning chances for black, but it turns out that white can still bring black's attack to a full stop. 72.S3g-2h+ 04:14:00 04:07:00 73.P1c-1b+ 04:16:00 04:07:00 74.L1ax1b 04:16:00 04:09:00 75.L1gx1e 04:16:00 04:09:00 76.+S2hx1h 04:16:00 04:10:00 77.L1ex1b+ 04:16:00 04:10:00 78.K2bx1b! 04:16:00 04:11:00 This looks very dangerous as the king is now nearer to black's attacking forces, but this is the correct move. 79.P*3c?! 04:17:00 04:11:00 Habu needed to calculate very accurately that 79.S*1c Nx1c Bx1c+ K2a N*3c G3bx3c Nx3c+ Gx3c G*3a K1a P*1b Rx1b L*1d is still winning for white after S*9i K7i R*4i L*6i Rx1c Lx1c+ B*3e. Objectively, this would probably have been a better way to lose for black. After 79.P*3c, Habu has a nice move to end all of black's hopes... 80.K1b-2b! 04:17:00 04:14:00 Habu gives back a gold to bring his king to safety. 80.G4cx3c would be a terrible blunder after 81.S*1c. 81.P3cx3b+ 04:17:00 04:14:00 82.K2bx3b 04:17:00 04:14:00 Now the white king is completely safe (black has no pawns in hand) and Habu can concentrate on the quickest way to win. 83.N8ix9g 04:19:00 04:14:00 84.L9ax9f 04:19:00 04:15:00 85.P*9h 04:21:00 04:15:00 86.R*2i 04:21:00 04:19:00 87.G7h-7i 04:28:00 04:19:00 88.B7c-3g+ 04:28:00 04:37:00 89.S*1b 04:37:00 04:37:00 90.L9fx9g+ 04:37:00 04:39:00 91.P9hx9g 04:37:00 04:39:00 92.N*9e! 04:37:00 04:39:00 The fastest way to win. 93.G7i-7h 04:40:00 04:39:00 94.N9ex8g+ 04:40:00 04:45:00 95.G7hx8g 04:41:00 04:45:00 96.L*8f 04:41:00 04:45:00 97.S7gx8f 04:49:00 04:45:00 98.P8ex8f 04:49:00 04:45:00 99.B6hx8f 04:49:00 04:45:00 100.R2i-6i+ 04:49:00 04:51:00 101.G6g-7g 04:54:00 04:51:00 102.S*9i 04:54:00 04:53:00 103.K8h-9h 04:54:00 04:53:00 104.P*8h 04:54:00 04:53:00 105.P9g-9f 04:56:00 04:53:00 106.N8a-7c 04:56:00 04:53:00 Resigns 04:56:00 04:53:00 A simple mating threat (108.+R8i K9g N8e), but black has no good defence. On the other hand, there is no attack on the white king, so Sato resigned. After losing the Oi title 4-1, some questioned Habu's form and most considered the odds in this Oza match about even. In reply, Habu plays a flawless opening game, winning with white against Sato's favourite Yagura. In short title matches, the first game is often very important and now all pressure is on Sato to win game 2. Despite this, the post-mortem analysis was conducted in a very relaxed mood, showing that both players have plenty of experience with playing on the big stage. It is unlikely that Sato's play in the rest of the match will suffer from losing this opening game. In other shogi news: ================ * Abe is the challenger of Habu in the Ryu-O match this year. He won a close third game of the challenger match against Nakata to advance to the first title match appearance of his career. Maybe a little late for a player who once was considered at least as talented as Habu, but he finally gets an opportunity to prove himself at the big stage. The odds are heavily in favour of the Ryu-O title holder, but in the past the Ryu-O has been the stage for a breakthrough for a number of players. Shima, Habu, Sato and Fujii all won their first title in the Ryu-O. The match between Habu and Abe will start in Taiwan on October 23rd. * In B1, Senzaki stopped Kubo in round 5, which means there is no undefeated player in this class anymore. Senzaki now takes the lead with 4-1, followed by Kubo and Inoue. The list of promotion favourites is already quite short, as Suzuki and Fukaura both suffered their second loss. Considering their low ranking in the class, it already seems highly unlikely that they will be able to catch up. I think we will see Senzaki and Kubo on next year's A class. Still 6 more rounds to be played, though... * After four rounds in B2, a sole leader has emerged from the pack. Hatakeyama Nariyuki beat Kiriyama to become the only player with a perfect 4-0 score. Promotion favourite Nakagawa suffered a very painful loss against lowly ranked Nishikawa. So painful that neither player opened his mouth for a long time after the game was over. Both players were silent for 10 minutes (!) before the post-mortem analysis finally started. Despite this loss, Nakagawa is still on a promotion spot as he is the highest ranked player at 3-1. Other players with one loss are Kitahama, Izumi, Tamura, Hatakeyama Mamoru and Ono. I wonder if we will see the first twin brother promotion in the Junisen... * In C1 the fourth round was played. There were no direct games between the leaders, but still no less than five players who started with three wins lost in this round. Sugimoto (against Iizuka), Kitajima (against Katsumata), Nozuki (against Ogura), Kodama (against Yashiki) and Matsuo (against Sanada) all lost to leave only Horiguchi and Kobayashi with a perfect record after four games. This was especially tough for Kitajima, who had a lost position for a long time but was given a golden opportunity in the end to turn the game around. Kodama must have felt even worse, as he managed to get a winning position straight from his favourite kani-kani gin opening. "A won game is like a devil" as Yonenaga used to say and Kodama missed several opportunities to place the killing blow and in the end even managed to lose. There are now no less that 11 players with a 3-1 score, so the C1 class has become a very tight affair. * In C2 the fourth round was played. The number of undefeated players is now down to three: Iijima (beat Oshima), Kubota (beat Kinoshita) and Ueno (beat Sato). Painful losses for Anyoji (against Yagura) and Ina (against Maeda). Because of their bad Junisen position, it seems unlikely that they will be able to catch up. However, the Junisen ranking of the three leaders is also shaky as each had an abysmal Junisen season last year. Iijima is ranked the highest at number 31 (of 45). This means that they will probably need to win every game to promote. It somehow seems more likely that stable Junisen forces like Tamura, Chuza and Yamasaki (all 3-1) have at least the same chance to promote as Iijima, Kubota and Ueno. * The challenger tournament of the Kio is taking place as five of the eight quarter finalists are now known. Maruyama was joined by Inoue (who beat Kubo), Fujii (who beat Kimura), Goda (who beat Senzaki) and Iizuka (who beat Sugimoto). Iizuka is clearly the lowest ranked player (C1), but his place in the quarterfinals can hardly be called surprising anymore. He seems to like the Kio tournament very much and was also a quarterfinalist last year. * We have two new professionals. Fujikura Yuki and Yokoyama Hiroaki cleared the final hurdle of the Shoreikai by finishing one and two in the 3-dan league. Before the final two rounds on the last day, neither Fujikura nor Yokoyama had his chances in his own hands. It seemed more likely that Kataue would promote. If this would have been the case, it would be the first time a player from the prestigious Tokyo University would make it to the professional ranks. The entrance exam for Tokyo University is the severest one in Japan (and perhaps in the world), so it is almost impossible to combine this with studying shogi. As it turned out, Kataue lost one and won one, but this was not enough to promote. Fujikura and Yokoyama won both their final games and even though Yokoyama shared second place with three other players, his result in the previous 3-dan league was better than Kataue, Nishio and Horio. It is interesting that both Fujikura and Yokoyama are pupils of Sakurai Noboru (8-dan), who was of course very happy with this double promotion. More later, 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