From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 27 aug 2004 Subject: This month in Shukan Shogi (no. 1057-1059, August 11th, 18th and Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Save up to 80% on Inkjet & Toner Supplies. 100% Satisfaction=20 Guarantee. Free Shipping on orders over $49. www.inksoutlet.com http://click.topica.com/= caacAsfa2i6YsbnuqMaa/Inksoutlet ------------------------------------------------------------------- In the past three weeks, only one title match game has been played, so=20 this report brings me up-to-date. The title match game was the third=20 game of the Oi match between Tanigawa and Habu. Habu had a second=20 blow-out in a row, punishing somewhat careless play by Tanigawa at the=20 end of the first day. It must feel good to be ahead in a title match,=20 because the last time Habu was ahead in a match was in the Oza against=20 Watanabe last year. Here is the game with comments: [Black "Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger"] [White "Tanigawa Koji, Oi"] [Event "45th Oi-sen, Game 3"] [Date "August 4th and 5th 2004"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:02:00 3.P2g-2f 00:02:00 00:02:00 4.G4a-3b 00:02:00 00:09:00 An invitation to play the Kakugawari with one tempo loss. Tanigawa=20 intended to play this opening if black would play 5.P2e. After this,=20 6.Bx8h+ Sx8h S2b leads to the Kakugawari where white keeps back the rook= =20 pawn. 5.G6i-7h 00:07:00 00:09:00 6.P5c-5d 00:07:00 00:43:00 Upon seeing 5.G7h, Tanigawa changed his mind. He is going for a=20 Nakabisha opening instead. With the gold on 7h, black can not move=20 easily into the boat castle with K6h and K7h, and Tanigawa felt that the= =20 black options were already limited enough to switch to another opening=20 than he originally intended. 7.P2f-2e 00:19:00 00:43:00 8.P5d-5e 00:19:00 00:47:00 9.P2e-2d 00:24:00 00:47:00 10.P2cx2d 00:24:00 00:48:00 11.R2hx2d 00:24:00 00:48:00 12.R8b-5b 00:24:00 00:49:00 13.K5i-6i 00:42:00 00:49:00 14.K5a-6b 00:42:00 01:02:00 15.S3i-4h 00:51:00 01:02:00 16.K6b-7b 00:51:00 01:06:00 17.S7i-6h 00:55:00 01:06:00 18.K7b-8b 00:55:00 01:43:00 19.R2d-2h 01:05:00 01:43:00 20.P*2c 01:05:00 01:48:00 21.P4g-4f 01:44:00 01:48:00 22.P3d-3e 01:44:00 02:00:00 23.S4h-4g 01:57:00 02:00:00 24.R5b-5d 01:57:00 02:13:00 25.P6g-6f 02:16:00 02:13:00 26.S7a-7b 02:16:00 02:29:00 27.K6i-7i 02:19:00 02:29:00 28.R5d-2d 02:19:00 02:40:00 29.P*2e 02:31:00 02:40:00 30.R2d-3d 02:31:00 02:40:00 31.P9g-9f 02:47:00 02:40:00 32.P9c-9d 02:47:00 02:49:00 33.B8h-7g 02:56:00 02:49:00 34.S3a-4b 02:56:00 03:05:00 35.K7i-8h 03:04:00 03:05:00 36.S4b-5c? 03:04:00 03:21:00 A mistake. Correct was 36.P1d, after which the game continues in quiet=20 fashion after 37.G5h S5c S6g S5d. 37.R2h-3h! 03:27:00 03:21:00 This attack does not work if white had played 36.P1d, because then=20 38.B1c is possible. The game is suddenly picking up pace and white is=20 already stretched a little. 38.P1c-1d 03:27:00 03:47:00 39.P3g-3f 03:53:00 03:47:00 The sealed move. 40.P3ex3f? 03:53:00 03:59:00 Here Habu was worried about 40.B1c. For example, 41.Px3e Rx3e S3f R3c=20 P*3e S4d N3g G4b N4e R3b and even though black has developed the knight=20 to 4e, this position is unclear. Habu did not have much confidence in=20 the black position in this variation. Goda commented that Tanigawa=20 usually has a perfect balance between intuition and calculation, but=20 that he relied a bit too much on intuition in this phase of the game. On= =20 the other hand, Habu is often calculating a lot of moves, even strange=20 looking ones and in this game this turns out to be the better strategy. 41.S4gx3f 03:54:00 03:59:00 42.B2b-1c 03:54:00 04:01:00 43.P*3e 04:11:00 04:01:00 44.R3d-7d 04:11:00 04:03:00 45.S6h-6g 04:14:00 04:03:00 46.P*3d 04:14:00 04:11:00 47.G4i-4h 04:52:00 04:11:00 48.P3dx3e 04:52:00 04:45:00 49.S3fx3e 05:02:00 04:45:00 50.P*3d 05:02:00 04:45:00 51.B7g-8f 05:06:00 04:45:00 52.B1cx3e?! 05:06:00 05:08:00 This move was also criticized by Goda, who suggested 52.S6b instead.=20 Interesting is that both players thought about different moves after=20 52.S6b. Tanigawa looked at the straightforward 53.Sx3e, while Habu=20 preferred the more indirect 53.S2f. Different styles of play showing. 53.R3hx3e 05:06:00 05:08:00 54.P3dx3e 05:06:00 05:08:00 55.B8fx5c+ 05:06:00 05:08:00 56.R*2h? 05:06:00 05:08:00 The losing move, but of the people following this game, only Habu=20 figured out why this move is a vital mistake. Tanigawa deeply regretted=20 this rook drop and after the game pointed out that 56.P5f was the only=20 move here. After 57.Px5f white can play 58.R2h (the reason will become=20 clear soon), but after 57.S*5b S*6b Sx6a+ Sx6a B*5b S*7b Bx6a+ Sx6a S*5b= =20 Sx5c Sx6a=3D black still has the upper hand: R*2h S*7a K9c S7b+ is winning= =20 and R*7a G*7b Rx7b Sx7b+ Kx7b R*5b is also good for black. White has no=20 good defense with only major pieces to drop. 57.S*6b! 05:55:00 05:08:00 58.G6ax6b 05:55:00 05:29:00 59.+B5cx6b 05:55:00 05:29:00 60.S*7a 05:55:00 05:29:00 61.+B6bx7a 05:56:00 05:29:00 62.K8bx7a 05:56:00 05:29:00 63.G*3i! 05:56:00 05:29:00 The point. Habu has weakened the defense around the white king and now=20 aims at getting a rook in hand. 64.R2h-2f+ 05:56:00 05:43:00 65.G4h-3g 05:56:00 05:43:00 66.+R2fx2e 05:56:00 05:45:00 67.B*4g 05:56:00 05:45:00 The difference. If white would have played 56.P5f instead of 56.R*2h,=20 this bishop fork would not have been possible. 68.P3e-3f 05:56:00 05:45:00 69.G3gx3f 05:56:00 05:45:00 70.+R2ex3f 05:56:00 06:32:00 71.B4gx3f 05:56:00 06:32:00 72.R7d-3d 05:56:00 06:32:00 73.R*4a 06:14:00 06:32:00 74.S*6a 06:14:00 06:35:00 75.P*3g 06:15:00 06:35:00 76.P5e-5f 06:15:00 06:57:00 77.P5gx5f 06:17:00 06:57:00 78.G3b-3a 06:17:00 06:57:00 79.R4ax4c+ 06:17:00 06:57:00 80.R3d-3c 06:17:00 06:57:00 81.+R4c-4d 06:23:00 06:57:00 82.B*2b 06:23:00 07:03:00 83.B3f-2e 06:31:00 07:03:00 84.R3cx3g+ 06:31:00 07:19:00 85.N2ix3g 06:38:00 07:19:00 86.B2bx4d 06:38:00 07:19:00 87.B2e-4c+ 06:38:00 07:19:00 Resigns 06:38:00 07:20:00 Only 16:50 in the afternoon, but Tanigawa has nothing but to resign.=20 There is no good square for the attacked bishop on 4d. 87.B2f fails to=20 R*3f G*3e +B4d, 87.B3e to R*3d and 87.B6b to S*5c. Another complete=20 victory for Habu, who suddenly is in control of this match. Quite a=20 different pattern from the previous two Oi matches between these=20 players, when Tanigawa started by winning the first three games. Game 4=20 is now very important. Can Habu take a 3-1 lead or can Tanigawa change=20 the flow of the match by tying it at 2-2? And here is a wrap-up of what is going on in the other tournaments: =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D * Moriuchi gets another chance to take 4 crowns, as he defeated Watanabe= =20 in the challenger final of the Oza match to challenge Oza Habu. Watanabe= =20 was close to challenging Habu for the second year in a row, but he could= =20 not shut Moriuchi out. It could have been a great week for Watanabe=20 because only 4 days before the game against Moriuchi he became a father.= =20 No data available, but I wonder if he is the youngest shogi professional= =20 to become a father (Watanabe is 22). The Oza match starts at September 2nd.= * He may have failed in the Oza, but Watanabe also has a chance for=20 bigger bucks, as he reached the challenger final of the Ryu-O tournament= =20 by beating Yashiki. The Ryu-O tournament is full of upsets this year and= =20 Watanabe's opponent is not Habu, but Morishita, who beat Habu in the=20 semi-finals. Habu had been in the Ryu-O title match for five years in a=20 row, but Moriuchi will face a new challenger this year. The=20 best-of-three challenger final will start on August 30th. * The Junisen season is well under way and in the A class all players=20 have played two games. Leaders with two wins are Tanigawa and Suzuki,=20 who beat Habu. The A class promises to be a tight affair, with all other= =20 players except Sato and Takahashi on 1-1. Sato will very likely recover,= =20 but Takahashi must already fear that his remarkable come-back to the top= =20 class is only for a year. * For a long time, B1 was considered the easiest Junisen class, a warm=20 bath where veteran players could stay as long as they liked. However, B1= =20 has been filling up with top players dropping out of the A class and=20 strong youngsters coming up from B1. The predictions before the season=20 started where that four losses (out of twelve games) might be enough to=20 promote and that five wins were necessary to stay in the class. After=20 the 4th round, these projections prove pretty accurate, with no=20 undefeated player left. Moreover, rookies Horiguchi (1-3) and Namekata=20 (1-2) have a really tough time adjusting and will probably not promote=20 this year, despite their talent. In the lead are Kitahama, Abe, Senzaki=20 and Nakagawa at 3-1, closely followed by Aono at 2-1. The only player=20 without a win so far is Shima (0-4), definitely not a start one expects=20 from him. * B2 also looks to be a close race, because after three rounds most of=20 the promotion favorites (Kimura, the Hatakeyama brothers, Yashiki,=20 Nozuki) already dropped one or more games. Only Izumi, Sugimoto and Tosa= =20 have three wins. Sugimoto looks strong so far, but he still has to play=20 Nozuki and Kimura, so everything is still possible. * In C1 the third round was played this week, so I will report on this=20 class when I get the next Shukan Shogi. * In C2 also three rounds have been played. Veteran Murooka is leading=20 the pack with 3-0, and he is joined in the lead by Iijima, Kondo, Ueno,=20 Shoshi and rookie Sato Kazutoshi. Kawakami is also unbeaten, but has=20 played only 2 games. A drama is starting to develop at the bottom of the= =20 class. Third year professional Kumasaka has started with three losses=20 and already has two relegation markers. If he does not turn around=20 things quickly, he will set an unbeatable record of dropping from C2 in=20 the theoretical minimum number of three years after his professional debut.= * In the Kio challenger tournament, Habu and Sato Yasumitsu are the=20 first players to reach the quarterfinals. Habu beat Takahashi, while=20 Sato beat Tanaka Torahiko. Sato will play the winner of the game between= =20 Chuza and Fujii, while Habu will face either Inoue or Maruyama. With this, the huge pile of Shukan Shogi is gone (it feels a little=20 empty without them :-) ). I am sure I will get behind again, as=20 September and October are looking very tough, but at least I am back on=20 track for a little while. Reijer --=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: ------------------------------------------------------------------- RE-GROW YOUR HAIR STARTING NOW.....Click here for more info! http://click.topica.com/= caacxyda2i6YsbnuqMaf/Medical Hair Restoration ------------------------------------------------------------------- --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: = shogi-l shogi net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a2i6Ys.= bnuqMa.= c2hvZ2kt Or send an email to: shogi-unsubscribe topica com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=3DTEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------