From: Reijer Grimbergen FU IS SAGA-U AC JP> Date: 28 mar 2003 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 985 and 986, March 19th and 26th 2003) This week in Shukan Shogi the final game of the Kio match between Habu and Maruyama. A surprisingly easy victory for Maruyama to win his first Kio title after losing the first two games of this match. Here is the game with comments: [Black "Habu Yoshiharu, Kio"] [White "Maruyama Tadahisa, Challenger"] [Event "28th Kio-sen, Game 5"] [Date "March 20th 2003"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:00:00 3.P2g-2f 00:01:00 00:00:00 4.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:00:00 5.P2f-2e 00:03:00 00:00:00 6.P8d-8e 00:03:00 00:00:00 7.G6i-7h 00:03:00 00:00:00 8.G4a-3b 00:03:00 00:00:00 9.P2e-2d 00:06:00 00:00:00 10.P2cx2d 00:06:00 00:00:00 11.R2hx2d 00:07:00 00:00:00 12.P8e-8f 00:07:00 00:00:00 13.P8gx8f 00:08:00 00:00:00 14.R8bx8f 00:08:00 00:00:00 15.R2dx3d 00:09:00 00:00:00 16.B2b-3c 00:09:00 00:00:0017.R3d-3f 00:11:00 00:00:00 18.K5a-4a 00:11:00 00:01:00 19.K5i-5h 00:12:00 00:01:00 20.S3a-2b 00:12:00 00:10:00 21.G4i-3h 00:15:00 00:10:00 22.G6a-5a 00:15:00 00:12:00 23.P*8g 00:18:00 00:12:00 24.R8f-8e 00:18:00 00:14:00 The furigoma gave Habu the black pieces and it is no surprise that Maruyama chooses his favourite R8e-Yokofudori opening in this decisive game. This is the third time this variation is played in this match, with each player winning one game. Habu lost game three, so he has to come up with something new here. 25.B8hx3c+ 00:20:00 00:14:00 26.N2ax3c 00:20:00 00:18:00 27.N8i-7g 00:21:00 00:18:00 28.R8e-8d 00:21:00 00:21:00 29.P7f-7e 00:36:00 00:21:00 30.S7a-6b 00:36:00 00:25:00 31.P7e-7d 00:42:00 00:25:00 32.P4c-4d 00:42:00 00:34:00 33.R3f-8f?! 01:02:00 00:34:00 Habu tries a new idea that Kitajima introduced just two days earlier against Chuza. It is a very positive way of fighting the R8e Yokofudori. If the rook exchange is actually good for black, this would be an important blow for white. As it turns out, this game seems to show that in this position R8f is a dubious move. 34.R8dx8f 01:02:00 00:41:00 35.P8gx8f 01:02:00 00:41:00 36.P7cx7d! 01:02:00 00:53:00 Chuza played 36.P*2h Sx2h R*8i R*8c N4e Rx8a+ Rx9i+ B*8d and lost. Being able to quickly take the white knight on 8a was probably the reason black won the game. With this in mind, Maruyama decides to save the knight and wait with his attack. 37.R*8b 01:48:00 00:53:00 38.N8a-7c 01:48:00 01:58:00 39.B*8c 02:08:00 01:58:00 40.R*8d!! 02:08:00 02:54:00 The move that wins the Kio title. In the press room, only 40.B*9d was analysed, which leads to a difficult position after 41.Bx9d+ Px9d B*8c N4e, threatening B*9c next. 40.R*8d is much better, as it makes it very hard for black to move his major pieces. For example, 41.R8a+ B*9d B7b+ Rx8a +Bx8a R*8i gives white a very good position after picking up the lance on 9i. After the game, Habu said that he thought that R*8d was a possibility, but that he never thought it would hamper his pieces so much. 41.S7i-8h 02:43:00 02:54:00 Most likely a change of plan. Still, now the lance on 9i is defended, so black threatens R8a+ again. 42.R8dx8f 02:43:00 03:31:00 43.P*8g 03:14:00 03:31:00 44.R8f-8d 03:14:00 03:31:00 Cool play. Maruyama has seen another brilliant move. 45.R8b-8a+ 03:17:00 03:31:00 46.B*4e!! 03:17:00 03:37:00 Great move and already the game winner. This bishop seems to point to nowhere, but it actually is the perfect defence to black's attack. 47.P*7b 03:37:00 03:37:00 48.P6c-6d 03:37:00 03:37:00 The point. Black can't promote the pawn on 7a and if he takes too much time, white will win with an attack on the head of the knight with P7d-7e-7f. 49.P3g-3f 03:41:00 03:37:00 There is not much black can do. For example, 49.+Rx9a Rx8c P7a+ seems to be a way to fight, but after P*8a L*8f Rx8f Px8f Sx7a +Rx9c S6b +R9e P*2f black has no way to set up an attack. By sacrificing a pawn on the third file, Habu hopes that he will be able to counter with P*3d as soon as he gets a pawn in hand. 50.P7d-7e 03:41:00 03:38:00 51.N2i-3g 03:41:00 03:38:00 52.B4ex3f 03:41:00 03:48:00 53.+R8a-8b 03:41:00 03:48:00 54.P7e-7f! 03:41:00 03:52:00 It is tempting to play 54.P*8a here, but this gives Habu the pawn he needs and the time to play P*3d. 55.P7b-7a+ 03:41:00 03:52:00 56.P7fx7g+ 03:41:00 03:52:00 57.S8hx7g 03:42:00 03:52:00 58.P*8a 03:42:00 03:52:00 Only now. Black has no time for P*3d here. 59.+P7ax8a 03:44:00 03:52:00 60.P*7f 03:44:00 03:55:00 61.S7gx7f 03:45:00 03:55:00 62.P*7g 03:45:00 03:55:00 Resigns 03:45:00 03:55:00 Habu could have played on a little longer here, as the finish is not obvious yet. However, 62.Gx7g P*7e Sx7e Rx8c +Rx8c N6e G7f P*7g P*7i N*4f K6h Nx3h+ Sx3h G*4h is threatening mate with B*5i K6i Nx5g= and black has no defence. Instead of winning a record tying 13th consecutive Kio title, Habu loses three games in a row to give Maruyama his first title since he lost the Meijin title to Moriuchi almost a year ago. An unexpected outcome of this match, especially considering the relatively easy way Maruyama won this final game. Even Habu is (sometimes) human... In other shogi news: ================ * The final round of the B1 Junisen saw Inoue crumbling under the pressure of promoting back to the top class. He lost to Takahashi, who was himself fighting to avoid relegation. Instead of Inoue, Suzuki Daisuki will make his first appearance among shogi's elite, as he managed to beat already promoted Kubo. Some new blood in the A class, as both Kubo (27) and Suzuki (28) are still in their 20s. Former title holder Minami only won a single game this season and is relegated to B2. * In C2 there were no surprises in the final round as Watanabe, Kubota and Chuza won their final games to promote to C1. 18-year old Watanabe is the first teenager to promote from C2 since Kubo 8 years ago. Kubota is also a special case, as he suffered two relegation marks in the past couple of years and seemed destined for relegation to the free class instead of promotion to C1. R8e-Yokofudori inventor Chuza finally made it to C1 after being close for a number of years. * The challenger final matches for the Kisei tournament have been decided. The first round of the eight player knock-out will be Maruyama-Sugimoto, Moriuchi-Suzuki, Kimura-Kobayashi and Shima-Goda. Who will challenge Kisei Sato Yasumitsu? * In the red group of the Oi leagues, Habu and Moriuchi recovered from a false start by winning their second round games against Watanabe and Ogura respectively. Sanada has taken the lead in this group by winning his second game against Hirafuji. In the white group Sato Yasumitsu is already stating his claims on winning this group, as he won his second game against Ishikawa. * The 3-dan league also finished and we have two new 4-dan professionals who will enter C2 next year. For a long time it looked like 16-year old Hirose or 15-year old Sato would promote in their first year in this league. However, in the end experience prevailed as 22-year old Shimamoto Ryou and 23-old Nishio Akira promoted to 4-dan. Very tough on Murayama (18), who lost his final 3 games where only one win would have been enough for promotion. -- 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