From: Reijer Grimbergen fu is saga-u ac jp> Date: 21 nov 2003 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1020, November 19th 2003) This week in Shukan Shogi the third game of the Ryu-O match between Habu and Moriuchi. Another fine performance by Moriuchi makes it 3-0 for him and this match looks to be almost over. Here is the game with comments: [Black "Habu Yoshiharu, Ryu-O"] [White "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Challenger"] [Event "16th Ryu-O sen, Game 3"] [Date "November 12th and 13rd 2003"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P8c-8d 00:00:00 00:02:00 3.S7i-6h 00:02:00 00:02:00 4.P3c-3d 00:02:00 00:02:00 5.S6h-7g 00:04:00 00:02:00 The Yagura opening. "As planned" according to Habu. For a long time, this game will follow last year's epic 4th game Ryu-O battle between Abe and Habu. Black won this game after 257 moves, the longest game ever played in the Ryu-O tournament. 6.S7a-6b 00:04:00 00:02:00 7.P5g-5f 00:06:00 00:02:00 8.P5c-5d 00:06:00 00:02:00 9.S3i-4h 00:09:00 00:02:00 10.S3a-4b 00:09:00 00:03:00 11.G6i-7h 00:12:00 00:03:00 12.G4a-3b 00:12:00 00:03:00 13.K5i-6i 00:17:00 00:03:00 14.K5a-4a 00:17:00 00:04:00 15.G4i-5h 00:22:00 00:04:00 16.G6a-5b 00:22:00 00:09:00 17.P6g-6f 00:27:00 00:09:00 18.S4b-3c 00:27:00 00:09:00 19.B8h-7i 00:31:00 00:09:00 20.B2b-3a 00:31:00 00:09:00 21.P3g-3f 00:39:00 00:09:00 22.P4c-4d 00:39:00 00:14:00 23.G5h-6g 00:46:00 00:14:00 24.P7c-7d 00:46:00 00:14:00 25.B7i-6h 00:47:00 00:14:00 26.P9c-9d 00:47:00 00:33:00 27.K6i-7i 00:52:00 00:33:00 28.P9d-9e 00:52:00 00:34:00 29.S4h-3g 01:18:00 00:34:00 30.L9a-9c 01:18:00 00:38:00 31.S3g-4f 01:24:00 00:38:00 32.R8b-9b 01:24:00 00:42:00 33.P5f-5e 01:30:00 00:42:00 34.P5dx5e 01:30:00 00:43:00 35.S4fx5e 01:30:00 00:43:00 36.G5b-4c 01:30:00 00:46:00 37.R2h-5h 02:38:00 00:46:00 38.P9e-9f 02:38:00 00:53:00 39.S5e-5d 02:57:00 00:53:00 Up until now, the game is identical to the game between Abe and Habu. In that game, Abe played 39.Px9f, but 39.S5d was considered to be a better move. Moriuchi must have analyzed this position thoroughly. 40.G4cx5d 02:57:00 01:34:00 41.R5hx5d 02:57:00 01:34:00 42.S6b-5c 02:57:00 01:34:00 43.R5dx7d 03:15:00 01:34:00 44.S*7c 03:15:00 01:36:00 45.G*8c 03:16:00 01:36:00 46.S7cx7d 03:16:00 01:40:00 47.G8cx9b 03:16:00 01:40:00 48.P9fx9g+ 03:16:00 01:40:00 49.N8ix9g 03:25:00 01:40:00 50.P*5a! 03:25:00 02:36:00 The move that Moriuchi found during his analysis a year ago. It is not completely clear how good it is, but Moriuchi now gets two important advantages. He catches Habu by surprise and he has only used a small part of his available thinking time. 51.P*5b 04:58:00 02:36:00 A difficult decision. Habu did not like this move very much, but also had no confidence in 51.Gx8a or 51.P*9f. Further analysis of this position has to show if white already has an advantage here. 52.R*4i 04:58:00 04:04:00 53.K7i-8h 04:59:00 04:04:00 54.S5c-6b 04:59:00 04:04:00 55.G9bx9c 05:13:00 04:04:00 56.N8ax9c 05:13:00 04:30:00 57.L*5i 05:13:00 04:30:00 58.B3a-6d! 05:13:00 04:32:00 Well played. The main concern of the white position are the pieces on the 3rd file, which block to path of the king to safety on 2b. Moriuchi opts for riding the black attack to get his king safe. 59.P5bx5a+?! 05:40:00 04:32:00 Probably better was 59.R*9b. Then after 60.S7a P5a+ K3a R5b+ P*5h +P4a K2b +Rx5h black has the better position. This is just one example, but it seems that 59.R*9b holds more promises for black than 59.Px5a+. 60.K4a-3a 05:40:00 04:37:00 61.+P5a-5b!? 05:44:00 04:37:00 Most people in the press room expected 61.+P4a to move in on the white king (if white takes this promoted pawn, R*6a is devastating). Habu doubts the strength of his attack and decides to clear the left side of the board to create chances for entering king. 62.K3a-2b 05:44:00 05:28:00 63.R*7b 05:47:00 05:28:00 64.S6b-7c 05:47:00 05:35:00 65.+P5b-5c 05:48:00 05:35:00 66.B6dx5c 05:48:00 05:38:00 67.R7bx7c+ 05:48:00 05:38:00 68.P*5h 05:48:00 05:38:00 69.+R7cx7d 05:50:00 05:38:00 70.P5hx5i+ 05:50:00 05:43:00 71.+R7dx6c 06:15:00 05:43:00 72.+P5i-5h 06:15:00 05:50:00 73.B6h-7i 06:15:00 05:50:00 74.B5cx9g+!? 06:15:00 06:40:00 A move that shows a lot of confidence. Kiriyama and Abe thought that white had to be patient here and play 74.B*4b instead. Then after 75.P*5c Rx2i+ white has the strong N*5e next. Moriuchi took 50 minutes to decide that he could win with a quick attack. 75.L9ix9g 06:20:00 06:40:00 76.N9c-8e 06:20:00 06:42:00 77.B*5d 07:29:00 06:42:00 78.L*4c 07:29:00 07:02:00 79.P8g-8f 07:29:00 07:02:00 In the press room 79.S*4a was analyzed, which seemed good for black. For example, 80.G4b P8f N*9e Px8e G*8g Gx8g Rx7i+ Kx7i Nx8g+ and now black has mate starting with R*3b. Therefore, it seems that playing S*4a before P8f makes an important difference. However, in the post-mortem analysis the following variation was found: 79.S*4a Nx9g+ Kx9g P*9f Kx9f L*9d P*9e G*8e K9g Lx9e K8h G4b and now black seems to have nothing else then +R7b, which white can easily defend with N*3b. 80.R4ix7i+! 07:29:00 07:16:00 A fine finish. This needed good judgment, as the attack is not easy. 81.G7hx7i 07:31:00 07:16:00 82.B*9i 07:31:00 07:18:00 83.K8h-7h 07:43:00 07:18:00 No choice. 83.Kx9i fails to the simple 84.Nx9g+ S*9h (P*9h N*8g) L*9f Sx9g Lx9g+ which leaves the black king without defense. It looks like black can escape up the board after 83.K8g, but then 84.Nx7g+ Gx7g S*9h K9f P*9d S*9e G*8e! Px8e Bx7g+ is hisshi. 84.N*5e 07:43:00 07:30:00 85.S*6h 07:43:00 07:30:00 86.+P5hx6h 07:43:00 07:40:00 87.G6gx6h 07:44:00 07:40:00 88.N8ex7g+ 07:44:00 07:45:00 89.G6hx7g 07:44:00 07:45:00 90.B9ix7g+ 07:44:00 07:45:00 91.K7hx7g 07:44:00 07:45:00 92.G*6g 07:44:00 07:45:00 93.K7g-8g 07:44:00 07:45:00 94.G*7g 07:44:00 07:45:00 Resigns 07:44:00 07:45:00 Hisshi after 95.K9f S*9d. So far this match is a complete reversal of the Meijin match. Moriuchi is hitting Habu where he wants and his first Ryu-O title is on the way. The only question is: will Moriuchi be the first player to whitewash Habu 4-0? In other shogi news: ==================== * In the Kio challenger tournament, the semi-finals were played. Tanigawa beat the surprising Urano and Sato beat Fukaura to reach the final. However, the Kio tournament has a second chance from the semi-finals, which means that Urano and Fukaura still have a chance to become Kio challenger. * In the A class, Shima scored a vital win in his fifth round game against Suzuki. Losing this game would have made him the only player with five losses and would mean almost certain relegation to B1. As it is, he still has some chances to save himself, although things are still not looking very bright. * In C1 the 6th round was played and Yashiki beat co-leader Nakata Isao to extend his perfect record to six wins. Because Toyokawa lost to Kubota (winless until now), Yashiki is now the only player with 6-0. He is followed by Toyokawa, Nakata Isao, Kobayashi Hiroshi, Ishikawa, Nozuki and Watanabe. * In the Osho league, Goda kept his hopes of challenging Habu alive by beating Morishita. Goda joins Moriuchi at 2-1, one game behind leader Tanigawa. 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 --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: shogi-l shogi net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a2i6Ys.a7fLMV.c2hvZ2kt Or send an email to: shogi-unsubscribe topica com TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html --^----------------------------------------------------------------