From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 11 may 2004 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1042, April 28th 2004) =========================================================== Let University of Phoenix make 2004 your year. Evening, weekend or FlexNet® classes – over 130 locations. Look into our programs and get the degree that gets you going! http://click.topica.com/caaccMPa2i6YsbnuqMaa/ UOP =========================================================== In this Shukan Shogi report the second game of the Asahi Open match between Fukaura and Habu. Fukaura showed that he is prepared to defend his title until the bitter end. A fine win puts him next to Habu and the outcome of this match is still very much unclear. Here is the game with comments: [Black "Fukaura Koichi, Asahi"] [White "Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger"] [Event "22nd Asahi Open, Game 2"] [Date "April 20th 2004"] 1.P2g-2f 00:01:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:01:00 00:02:00 3.P7g-7f 00:01:00 00:02:00 4.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:02:00 5.P2f-2e 00:01:00 00:02:00 6.P8d-8e 00:01:00 00:02:00 7.G6i-7h 00:01:00 00:02:00 8.G4a-3b 00:01:00 00:03:00 9.P2e-2d 00:01:00 00:03:00 10.P2cx2d 00:01:00 00:03:00 11.R2hx2d 00:01:00 00:03:00 12.P8e-8f 00:01:00 00:03:00 13.P8gx8f 00:01:00 00:03:00 14.R8bx8f 00:01:00 00:04:00 15.R2dx3d 00:01:00 00:04:00 16.B2b-3c 00:01:00 00:04:00 17.R3d-3f 00:01:00 00:04:00 18.K5a-4a 00:01:00 00:04:00 19.P*8g 00:01:00 00:04:00 20.R8f-8e 00:01:00 00:04:00 21.R3f-2f 00:01:00 00:04:00 22.S3a-2b 00:01:00 00:04:00 23.K5i-5h 00:01:00 00:04:00 24.S7a-6b 00:01:00 00:05:00 25.P3g-3f 00:01:00 00:05:00 26.G6a-5a 00:01:00 00:06:00 27.S3i-3h 00:01:00 00:06:00 28.P7c-7d 00:01:00 00:07:00 29.P3f-3e 00:02:00 00:07:00 30.R8ex3e 00:02:00 00:23:00 For the second time in this match the R8e Yokofudori. Up until this move, black used only 2 minutes and white only 7 minutes. Not surprising, as this position is one of the most often seen positions in professional shogi these days. Here white has the alternative 30.N7c, which sets the board on fire. Fukaura and Habu played that way in their Oi league game in February. In that game play continued 30.N7c Bx3c+ Nx3c P3d N4e P3c+ Nx5g+ Kx5g B*3e K5h Bx2f +Px3b Kx3b B*6f B4d Bx4d Px4d S6h and a difficult fight ended in a Fukaura victory. 31.B8hx3c+ 00:02:00 00:23:00 32.N2ax3c 00:02:00 00:23:00 33.B*4f 00:02:00 00:23:00 34.P*2e 00:02:00 00:23:00 35.R2f-1f 00:02:00 00:23:00 36.R3e-3d 00:02:00 00:23:00 37.P*3e 00:02:00 00:23:00 38.R3d-4d 00:02:00 00:23:00 39.B4fx9a+ 00:02:00 00:23:00 40.N8a-7c 00:02:00 00:23:00 41.P7f-7e 00:02:00 00:23:00 42.P*8h 00:02:00 00:24:00 43.S7ix8h 00:04:00 00:24:00 44.B*2h 00:04:00 00:24:00 45.N8i-7g 00:07:00 00:24:00 46.B2hx1i+ 00:07:00 00:24:00 47.N2i-3g 00:07:00 00:24:00 48.+B1i-1h 00:07:00 00:27:00 49.L*4f! 00:16:00 00:27:00 So far the game was identical to the game between Watanabe and Habu, played earlier that month in the Kisei tournament. Watanabe played 49.Px7d and lost the game after Rx7d +B9b R5d L*5f. Fukaura said after the game that Px7d did not feel right and that he thought L*4f was better. This game seems to prove him right, as black seems to get a lasting advantage. Improvements for white need to be found earlier than this position. 50.L*4e 00:16:00 00:44:00 The alternative is 50.R2d, but after 51.Px7d Rx7d +B9b R2d P*3d Rx3d +B5f and P*3d next, the knight on 3c can not be saved. 51.P7ex7d 00:27:00 00:44:00 52.R4dx7d 00:27:00 00:46:00 53.+B9a-9b 00:28:00 00:46:00 54.R7d-4d 00:28:00 01:05:00 55.P*7d 00:40:00 01:05:00 56.L4ex4f 00:40:00 01:06:00 57.P7dx7c+ 00:54:00 01:06:00 58.S6bx7c 00:54:00 01:07:00 59.R1fx4f 00:54:00 01:07:00 60.R4dx4f 00:54:00 01:29:00 61.P4gx4f 00:56:00 01:29:00 62.+B1h-3f 00:56:00 01:30:00 63.+B9b-4g 01:00:00 01:30:00 64.+B3fx4g 01:00:00 01:56:00 65.S3hx4g 01:00:00 01:56:00 66.B*2g 01:00:00 01:56:00 67.N*2d 01:21:00 01:56:00 68.G3b-3a 01:21:00 02:03:00 69.N7g-6e! 01:52:00 02:03:00 The position looks rather complicated, but black has won a knight and such a material advantage is often decisive in a close endgame. 69.N6e is a good move that opens an escape route for the king and this knight also supports the attack. In the press room, 69.P*2c was also analyzed, because 70.Sx2c seems to fail to 71.B*5e with attack on silver and knight, but after 72.P*3f S3h R*1h L*1i R2h+ P*2i Bx3h+ Px2h +Bx4i K6i S2d Bx7c+ S*6b white seems to have the stronger attack. 70.P*3f 01:52:00 02:25:00 71.S4g-3h 02:02:00 02:25:00 72.R*1h?? 02:02:00 02:28:00 A blunder that almost immediately ends the game. After 72.Bx3h+ Gx3h Px3g+ there is still something to play for. 73.B*2i! 02:11:00 02:28:00 Like most people in the press room, Habu must have underestimated the strength of this move. It is a defense-only move and dropping a bishop in such a hopeless position is not a move one wants to play. Furthermore, it seems like it can easily be met with 74.Bx3h+, because 75.Bx1h +Bx4i Kx4i S*4g wins for white. However, the real strength of 73.B*2i lies in 74.Bx3h+ Gx3h R1i+ G3i!. This defense stops the white attack completely. 74.R1h-2h+ 02:11:00 02:37:00 75.N6ex7c+ 02:11:00 02:37:00 Attacking the king on both sides. White has no defense. 76.P3fx3g+ 02:11:00 02:37:00 77.R*7b 02:14:00 02:37:00 78.G5a-6a 02:14:00 02:47:00 79.S*3b 02:17:00 02:47:00 80.K4a-5a 02:17:00 02:47:00 81.L*5b 02:17:00 02:47:00 Resigns 02:17:00 02:47:00 Mate after 82.Gx5b Rx5b+ Kx5b G*6b K4b Sx3a= or 82.K4b Sx3a= Sx3a L5a+ Kx5a G*6b K4a Gx6a and no defense. A fine win by Fukaura, tying the match at 1-1. This game shows that Fukaura has lost nothing of his confidence after the loss in the opening game. In other shogi news: ==================== * Kimura reached the challenger final of the Kisei tournament by beating Kubo. He and Moriuchi will now play for the right to challenge Kisei Sato. * In the white group of the Oi league, all three games of the third round were played. Yamasaki took the lead with a win against Maruyama. He is the only undefeated player and is only followed by Yashiki, who beat Moriuchi to get to 2-1. All other players in the white group have 1-2 scores. Yamasaki can already clinch the group victory with one game left to play if he can beat Yashiki in the next round. * In the Oza challenger tournament, Watanabe beat Kawakami to keep his hopes of a rematch with Habu. This was more trouble than expected, as he let an overwhelming position slip through his fingers and needed a late mistake by his opponent to win the game. * In the Ryu-O tournament, Morishita (group 1) and Sugimoto (group 2) qualified for the challenger tournament. Morishita beat Yashiki, who will now have to try his luck in the second chance round. In this second chance round, former Ryu-O title holders Habu and Fujii played to keep their hopes alive of another Ryu-O title. Habu won that game, but the path to challenging Moriuchi is still very long. -- 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/ =========================================================== Graduate in less than 13 months with AIU’s Online virtual campus. Classrooms and student service as close as your computer. 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