From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 13 aug 2004 Subject: A long time ago in Shukan Shogi (no. 1049, June 16th 2004) Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Shop online for Discount Auto Parts: Mirrors Headlights Tail=20 Lights Bumpers Fenders Window Regulators Spoilers Altezza Lights=20 and a Full Line of Auto Body Parts. www.partstrain.com http://click.topica.com/= caacxyga2i6YsbnuqMaa/Parts Train ------------------------------------------------------------------- For those of you wondering whether I am still alive, well I am, but=20 barely. The past months have been very, very busy but yesterday I=20 finally finished a huge chunk of work that had kept me away from Shukan=20 Shogi reports for a long time. This summer still promises to be busy,=20 but I also hope to have the time to slowly get the backlog of title=20 match games out of the way. My last Shukan Shogi report was badly timed, because it was just before=20 the end of the Meijin match between Habu and Moriuchi. Moriuchi won the=20 sixth game to take the Meijin title from Habu. Not a very interesting=20 game, as it was a complete blow-out by Moriuchi, but from a historical=20 point of view definitely worth playing over. Here is the game with comments= : [Black "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Challenger"] [White "Habu Yoshiharu, Meijin"] [Event "62nd Meijin-sen, Game 6"] [Date "June 10th and 11th 2004"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P8c-8d 00:00:00 00:03:00 3.S7i-6h 00:00:00 00:03:00 4.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:03:00 5.P6g-6f 00:00:00 00:03:00 6.S7a-6b 00:00:00 00:04:00 7.P5g-5f 00:00:00 00:04:00 8.P5c-5d 00:00:00 00:09:00 9.S3i-4h 00:02:00 00:09:00 10.S3a-4b 00:02:00 00:12:00 11.G4i-5h 00:03:00 00:12:00 12.G4a-3b 00:03:00 00:22:00 13.G6i-7h 00:03:00 00:22:00 14.K5a-4a 00:03:00 00:31:00 15.K5i-6i 00:03:00 00:31:00 16.P7c-7d 00:03:00 00:35:00 17.G5h-6g 00:13:00 00:35:00 18.G6a-5b 00:13:00 00:46:00 19.S6h-7g 00:14:00 00:46:00 20.S4b-3c 00:14:00 00:50:00 21.B8h-7i 00:14:00 00:50:00 22.B2b-3a 00:14:00 00:50:00 The yagura opening is a favorite of both players, so it is no surprise=20 that this opening was chosen for this important game. Especially=20 Moriuchi has a winning percentage of more than 80% with the black pieces= =20 in this opening. Not enough to make Habu hesitate, because he himself=20 has a winning percentage of more than 70% with the white pieces. 23.P3g-3f 00:14:00 00:50:00 24.P4c-4d 00:14:00 00:52:00 25.S4h-3g 00:18:00 00:52:00 26.B3a-6d 00:18:00 00:58:00 27.B7i-6h 00:24:00 00:58:00 28.G5b-4c 00:24:00 01:11:00 29.K6i-7i 00:28:00 01:11:00 30.K4a-3a 00:28:00 01:17:00 31.K7i-8h 00:28:00 01:17:00 32.K3a-2b 00:28:00 01:23:00 33.P1g-1f 00:28:00 01:23:00 34.P8d-8e 00:28:00 02:13:00 35.P2g-2f 00:34:00 02:13:00 36.P9c-9d 00:34:00 02:45:00 37.R2h-3h 00:53:00 02:45:00 38.S6b-5c 00:53:00 02:55:00 39.P1f-1e 00:54:00 02:55:00 The attack with S4f-N3g is more often played, but Moriuchi plays the=20 edge pawn first. 40.S3c-2d 00:54:00 03:07:00 41.S3g-4f 01:15:00 03:07:00 42.P4d-4e 01:15:00 03:25:00 43.S4f-3g 01:16:00 03:25:00 44.S5c-4d 01:16:00 03:26:00 45.R3h-4h 01:16:00 03:26:00 46.N2a-3c 01:16:00 03:27:00 Habu is using all his pieces in defense. White has to defend the pawn on= =20 4e, or black will break through easily. This position has been played=20 for more than 20 years and the surprising thing is that in this position= =20 and positions that closely resemble it (for example, no pushed pawns on=20 the 9th file or the lance on 1g instead of 1h) black has won only 5 out=20 of 21 games! In the yagura in general, black is winning about 54%, so a=20 winning percentage of more than 75% by white is quite amazing. This game= =20 shows that data is not to be trusted... 47.P9g-9f 01:17:00 03:27:00 48.B6d-7c 01:17:00 03:41:00 49.P4g-4f 02:05:00 03:41:00 So far, the position was identical to the 4th game of the Osho match=20 between Tanigawa and Habu played on February 14th 1995. This was the=20 first match in which Habu got the chance to hold all seven major titles.= =20 In that game Tanigawa played 49.P2e to kill the silver after 50.Sx2e=20 P*2f. The game continued Sx3f P1d Px1d Lx1d Sx3g=3D R1h P*1g P*1b which is= =20 a mating threat. Still, the black attack is a little thin and the white=20 chances of making an entering king are quite good. Habu got the=20 advantage, almost threw it away in the endgame, but a final mistake by=20 Tanigawa proved decisive. Despite this victory, Tanigawa won the match=20 in seven games and Habu had to wait another year before he could=20 complete his history making sweep of the seven major titles. Moriuchi is= =20 clearly not convinced of the power of 49.P2e and plays 49.P4f instead,=20 which also was the sealed move. 49.P4f has been played three times in=20 positions with the lance on 1g and in each case white won. Seeing what=20 comes next, one wonders how this was possible... 50.P4ex4f 02:05:00 04:16:00 51.S3gx4f 02:09:00 04:16:00 52.P*4e 02:09:00 04:16:00 53.S4f-3g 02:09:00 04:16:00 54.R8b-5b 02:09:00 04:19:00 55.P*4f 02:39:00 04:19:00 56.P4ex4f 02:39:00 04:25:00 57.B6hx4f 02:53:00 04:25:00 58.B7cx4f 02:53:00 04:29:00 59.S3gx4f 03:22:00 04:29:00 60.P*4g!? 03:22:00 04:37:00 Already strong measures are required to keep the white position=20 together. The simple 60.P*4e S3g P5e is met with B*8c Px5f P*5h and=20 white can not defend against the bishop promotion. The promoted bishop=20 is too powerful to allow in this position. 61.R4h-2h 04:12:00 04:37:00 There also does not seem to be anything wrong with 61.Rx4g. In the press= =20 room almost all variations that were tried here lead to a better=20 position for black. 62.B*4h 04:12:00 05:16:00 63.B*5g! 05:03:00 05:16:00 Impressive. Moriuchi is not contend with a good position, he wants an=20 overwhelming position. The simple 63.N3g is also good for black after=20 64.B3i+ R1h. For example, P4h+ P*4e S5c P2e and if white exchanges=20 knights, black has a devastating knight drop on 4d. 64.B4hx5g+ 05:03:00 06:19:00 65.G6gx5g 05:03:00 06:19:00 66.B*4h 05:03:00 06:19:00 67.N2i-3g 05:06:00 06:19:00 68.B4h-3i+ 05:06:00 06:24:00 69.R2h-1h 05:16:00 06:24:00 70.R5b-8b 05:16:00 06:40:00 Now we see why 63.B*5g was even better than 63.N3g. Here 70.P4h+ is=20 pointless, because with the black gold on 5g, white does not have the=20 threat of +P4g later. Habu decides to take the knight fork on 4d (and a=20 silver drop on 4a) out of the position by moving the rook to 8h. The=20 high price he pays is to lose the precious pawn on 4g, and with that=20 pawn most of his attacking hopes. 71.G5gx4g 05:25:00 06:40:00 72.+B3i-2i 05:25:00 06:42:00 73.R1h-4h 05:50:00 06:42:00 74.+B2ix1i 05:50:00 06:51:00 White has won a lance, but he can do nothing with it and the promoted=20 bishop on 1i is out of play. The huge attacking base on 4d is worth much= =20 more. 75.P*4e 05:51:00 06:51:00 76.S4d-5c 05:51:00 06:51:00 77.P3f-3e 06:12:00 06:51:00 78.P3dx3e 06:12:00 07:00:00 79.B*7a! 06:15:00 07:00:00 Played after only 3 minutes, but the deciding blow. Without the rook on=20 the 8th file, white has no attack, so black can do as he pleases. 80.R8b-7b 06:15:00 07:01:00 81.B7ax5c+ 06:15:00 07:01:00 82.G4cx5c 06:15:00 07:01:00 83.P*3d 06:15:00 07:01:00 84.P*4c 06:15:00 07:21:00 85.P3dx3c+ 06:33:00 07:21:00 86.S2dx3c 06:33:00 07:32:00 87.N3g-2e! 06:35:00 07:32:00 The natural move, but very strong. 88.S3d fails to 89.Sx3e! Sx3e N*3d=20 K3a P*3c and white has no defense. 88.R7b-8b 06:35:00 08:00:00 In the press room the desperate attack 88.P7e Px7e P8f Px8f P*8e was=20 expected, but that is also far from enough. It is quite possible that=20 Habu has already given up on the game and the match here and that he is=20 only concerned about having his pieces in an awkward position in the=20 position he resigns. To make the rook look better, he moves it to 8b. 89.S4fx3e 07:12:00 08:00:00 90.P*3d 07:12:00 08:03:00 91.N2ex3c+ 07:15:00 08:03:00 92.G3bx3c 07:15:00 08:05:00 93.N*2e 07:17:00 08:05:00 94.P3dx3e 07:17:00 08:05:00 95.S*3a 07:17:00 08:05:00 Resigns 07:17:00 08:05:00 Not immediately mate, but after 96.K3b Nx3c+ Kx3c S*4b Rx4b P*3d or=20 96.Kx3a Nx3c+ K4a P4d Px4d S*8c R6b P*4c the black attack is simple and=20 decisive, while white has no hope of a counterattack. With this complete= =20 victory, Moriuchi wins the match 4-2 and becomes triple crown holder for= =20 the first time in his career. On the other hand, Habu is back to only=20 one crown (the Oza) for the first time in almost twelve years. Moriuchi=20 is the new player to beat in the shogi world. --=20 Reijer Grimbergen Department of Informatics, Yamagata University Jonan 4-3-16, Yonezawa, 992-8510 Japan Tel: +81-(0)238-26-3740 FAX: +81-(0)238-26-3299 http://gamelab.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/ Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Need cash fast? Get a $500 CASH ADVANCE overnight! 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