From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 13 may 2004 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1043, May 5th 2004) =========================================================== Empower your Team with Remote Access. GoToMyPC Pro provides your organization with instant remote access to email,files, applications and network resources in real time. FREE TRIAL: http://click.topica.com/caaccMSa2i6YsbnuqMaa/ ExpertCity =========================================================== In this Shukan Shogi report the second game of the Meijin match between Habu and Moriuchi and the third game of the Asahi Open match between Fukaura and Habu. Mixed results for Habu as he lost the Meijin game to go 2-0 down and won the Asahi Open game to take a 2-1 lead and get within one win of taking the title from Fukaura. Here are the games with comments: [Black "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Challenger"] [White "Habu Yoshiharu, Meijin"] [Event "62nd Meijin-sen, Game 2"] [Date "April 26th and 27th 2004"] 1.P7g-7f 00:01:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:01:00 00:03:00 3.P2g-2f 00:01:00 00:03:00 4.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:04:00 5.P2f-2e 00:01:00 00:04:00 6.P8d-8e 00:01:00 00:06:00 7.G6i-7h 00:01:00 00:06:00 8.G4a-3b 00:01:00 00:07:00 9.P2e-2d 00:01:00 00:07:00 10.P2cx2d 00:01:00 00:08:00 11.R2hx2d 00:01:00 00:08:00 12.P8e-8f 00:01:00 00:10:00 13.P8gx8f 00:01:00 00:10:00 14.R8bx8f 00:01:00 00:10:00 15.R2dx3d 00:01:00 00:10:00 16.B2b-3c 00:01:00 00:11:00 17.R3d-3f 00:01:00 00:11:00 18.K5a-4a 00:01:00 00:12:00 19.P*8g 00:03:00 00:12:00 20.R8f-8e 00:03:00 00:13:00 21.R3f-2f 00:03:00 00:13:00 22.S3a-2b 00:03:00 00:14:00 23.K5i-5h 00:03:00 00:14:00 24.S7a-6b 00:03:00 00:26:00 25.P3g-3f 00:03:00 00:26:00 26.G6a-5a 00:03:00 00:29:00 27.S3i-3h 00:03:00 00:29:00 28.P7c-7d 00:03:00 00:30:00 29.P3f-3e 00:05:00 00:30:00 30.R8ex3e 00:05:00 00:53:00 Again this position from the R8e Yokofudori. This is the 32nd professional game played with it and both Habu and Moriuchi have plenty of experience with it playing both the black and the white side of it. Moriuchi has played it 4 times (1 win and 3 losses), while Habu played it 9 times (7 wins and 2 losses, but the 2 losses followed 7 consecutive wins). Actually, Habu had this position only a week earlier (on the 20th) in the 2nd game of the Asahi Open match against Fukaura and Moriuchi had it three days afterwards (on the 23rd) in his Oi league game against Yashiki. Both times Habu and Moriuchi had black and both times they lost the game... 31.B8hx3c+ 00:06:00 00:53:00 32.N2ax3c 00:06:00 00:54:00 33.B*4f 00:08:00 00:54:00 34.P*2e 00:08:00 01:00:00 35.R2f-1f 00:09:00 01:00:00 36.R3e-3d 00:09:00 01:05:00 37.P*3e 00:10:00 01:05:00 38.R3d-4d 00:10:00 01:10:00 39.B4fx9a+ 00:37:00 01:10:00 40.N8a-7c 00:37:00 01:12:00 41.P7f-7e 00:37:00 01:12:00 42.P*8h 00:37:00 01:19:00 43.S7ix8h 01:11:00 01:19:00 44.B*2h 01:11:00 01:22:00 45.N8i-7g 01:12:00 01:22:00 46.B2hx1i+ 01:12:00 01:25:00 47.N2i-3g 01:12:00 01:25:00 48.N3c-4e 01:12:00 01:58:00 Habu tried 48.+B1h against Fukaura, but Fukaura's new move 49.L*4f proved too much for the black position after 50.L*4e Px7d Rx7d +B9b R4d P*7d. 48.N4e is the move that was played in the B1 Junisen game between Abe and Takahashi. Quite a dramatic game as both players still had chances to promote at the time. Habu and Moriuchi follow it for a while. 49.L*4f 02:06:00 01:58:00 50.N4ex3g= 02:06:00 02:29:00 51.L4fx4d 02:08:00 02:29:00 52.N3gx4i+ 02:08:00 02:29:00 53.S3hx4i 02:39:00 02:29:00 54.G*2f 02:39:00 02:41:00 55.N*2d 03:53:00 02:41:00 56.G2fx1f 03:53:00 02:44:00 57.P1gx1f 03:54:00 02:44:00 58.R*1h 03:54:00 02:47:00 59.K5h-6i 04:15:00 02:47:00 The sealed move. It is quite unusual to have so many moves on the first day of a title match game. Furthermore, it is also quite unusual that Habu has such a time advantage after the first day (4 hours and 15 minutes for Moriuchi against only 2 hours and 47 minutes for Habu). Habu is not known for his deep preparation of the opening, but the commentators expected that he might have something up his sleeve here. 60.N*7f 04:15:00 02:49:00 61.P7ex7d! 04:53:00 02:49:00 But Moriuchi comes up with a new move first. The game between Abe and Takahashi continued with 61.P*2h Rx2h+ R*2a P*3a +Bx7c (threatening mate) Sx7c Nx3b+ K5b (only move because Kx3b Rx2b+ leads to mate) and then Abe played G*3h, a mistake he deeply regretted after the game: "G*4h is winning". It is not completely clear if this is true or a comment clouded by disappointment, but the fact is that Habu had prepared L*3a instead of P*3a so that white can play Kx3b after Nx3b+ without being mated. 61.Px7d looks slow and it is hard to imagine that black can afford this with his king under so much pressure, but it just works. Actually, it seems that the fact that Px7d is winning for black was already known among a small group of professionals who had studied the position deeply. Unfortunately, Habu was not among them. 62.N7fx8h+ 04:53:00 06:35:00 Three hours and 46 minutes are unable to find a hole in the analysis. In the press room 62.S2c was analyzed, because white has a mate if he can get lance and knight in hand after Rx7h+ Kx7h Nx8h+ K6i L*6h etc. However, 62.S2c fails to 63.R*2a P*3a Lx4c= K5b P*2h which is the perfect block. If white takes this pawn with the promoted bishop, there is no attack against the black king anymore. If white takes the pawn with the rook, black wins after Px7c+. The game is over, already decided at home by Moriuchi. 63.G7hx8h 04:57:00 06:35:00 64.S*6h 04:57:00 06:49:00 The big point of the position is that 64.Rx8h+ seems to be easily winning for white, but there is a difficult mate after this: 65.Nx3b+ Kx3b N*2d K4a Lx4c= K5b G*4b K6a Gx5a Sx5a G*7b K5b (or Kx7b R*8b K6a G*7a) G*4b Sx4b Lx4b+ Kx4b R*4b etc. 65.K6i-7h 04:57:00 06:49:00 66.S6hx7g+ 04:57:00 06:49:00 67.K7hx7g 04:57:00 06:49:00 68.+B1i-5e 04:57:00 06:49:00 Habu thought that maybe 68.N8e 69.K7f 70.+Bx9a was better, but Moriuchi pointed out that even then there is a long and difficult mate: 71.Nx3b+ Kx3b N*2d K4a R*2a K5b G*4b K6a Gx5a K7b G*7c Sx7c Rx2b+ N*6b S*6a K8c Px7c+ +Bx7c S*7b K9d S*8c (interesting position with the silver staircase) +Bx8c Sx8c= Kx8c S7b= Kx7b (now the staircase is completely gone) B*6a etc. 69.P6g-6f 05:58:00 06:49:00 Here Moriuchi felt comfortable that the black attack could be stopped and he would win. 70.N7c-6e 05:58:00 08:01:00 71.K7g-7f 06:34:00 08:01:00 72.+B5ex9a 06:34:00 08:02:00 73.N2dx3b+ 06:34:00 08:02:00 Again there is a mate against the white king. Moriuchi takes 18 minutes to double check all the variations. 74.K4ax3b 06:34:00 08:02:00 75.N*2d 06:52:00 08:02:00 76.K3b-4a 06:52:00 08:02:00 77.L4dx4c= 06:53:00 08:02:00 78.K4a-5b 06:53:00 08:03:00 79.G*4b 06:53:00 08:03:00 80.K5b-6a 06:53:00 08:05:00 81.G4bx5a 06:53:00 08:05:00 82.S6bx5a 06:53:00 08:07:00 83.G*7b 06:54:00 08:07:00 84.K6ax7b 06:54:00 08:07:00 85.S*7c 06:54:00 08:07:00 86.+B9ax7c 06:54:00 08:07:00 87.P7dx7c+ 06:54:00 08:07:00 88.K7bx7c 06:54:00 08:07:00 89.P*7d 06:54:00 08:07:00 90.K7cx7d 06:54:00 08:07:00 91.R*7a 06:58:00 08:07:00 Resigns 06:58:00 08:07:00 Mate after 92.P*7c G*7e K8c R8a+ and B*7b or 92.K6d R7e+ K5d +Rx6e K4c N*5e K4d G*3d K4e B*5d Px5d +R5f. In this game Habu was not beaten by a superior opponent, but by a superior preparation. This will not be too damaging to his confidence, but the fact remains that he is 2-0 down and desperately needs to win game 3 to get back in this match. [Black "Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger"] [White "Fukaura Koichi, Asahi"] [Event "Asahi Open Tournament, Game 3"] [Date "April 30th 2004"] 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 00:02:00 00:00:00 6.P8d-8e 00:02:00 00:00:00 7.G6i-7h 00:03:00 00:00:00 8.G4a-3b 00:03:00 00:00:00 9.P2e-2d 00:04:00 00:00:00 10.P2cx2d 00:04:00 00:00:00 11.R2hx2d 00:04:00 00:00:00 12.P8e-8f 00:04:00 00:00:00 13.P8gx8f 00:04:00 00:00:00 14.R8bx8f 00:04:00 00:00:00 15.R2dx3d 00:05:00 00:00:00 16.B2b-3c 00:05:00 00:00:00 17.R3d-3f 00:06:00 00:00:00 18.S3a-2b 00:06:00 00:00:00 19.P*8g 00:07:00 00:00:00 20.R8f-8e 00:07:00 00:00:00 21.R3f-2f 00:08:00 00:00:00 22.K5a-4a 00:08:00 00:00:00 23.K5i-5h 00:13:00 00:00:00 24.S7a-6b 00:13:00 00:01:00 25.P3g-3f 00:15:00 00:01:00 26.G6a-5a 00:15:00 00:01:00 27.S3i-3h 00:17:00 00:01:00 28.P7c-7d 00:17:00 00:01:00 29.P3f-3e 00:18:00 00:01:00 30.R8ex3e 00:18:00 00:05:00 31.B8hx3c+ 00:19:00 00:05:00 32.N2ax3c 00:19:00 00:05:00 33.B*4f 00:19:00 00:05:00 34.P*2e 00:19:00 00:05:00 35.R2f-1f 00:20:00 00:05:00 36.R3e-3d 00:20:00 00:05:00 37.P*3e 00:20:00 00:05:00 38.R3d-6d 00:20:00 00:05:00 So far, the game is identical to the previous game of this match and the second game of the Meijin match between Habu and Moriuchi, played only three days earlier. In those games white (Habu in both cases) played 38.R4d, which is the move most often played. There are also games with 38.R5d, but 38.R6d has been played only one time before in an Osho tournament game between Matsuo and Kimura on April 16th. It is clear that Fukaura knew this game and prepared this position at home, using only 5 minutes for his moves up until this position. The idea behind 38.R6d is to get a more quiet position by not allowing black to take the lance on 9a. If white succeeds in slowing down the pace of the game and gets the time to develop his knights and attack the head of the king, he will get the upper hand. At first glance, it seems that black can get the advantage by promoting the rook after 39.Bx6d Px6d R*8b, but after N7c the promoted rook is not enough to get any decent attack against the Nakahara castle. White, on the other hand, has a devastating attack with the two knights (N6e and N4e will put enormous pressure on the black king) and there is also the threat of B*5e, attacking both lances. 39.N2i-3g 00:22:00 00:05:00 40.P*3f 00:22:00 00:08:00 41.R1fx3f 00:22:00 00:08:00 42.B*5d 00:22:00 00:08:00 43.R3f-1f 00:23:00 00:08:00 44.P*3f 00:23:00 00:08:00 45.P3e-3d 00:23:00 00:08:00 46.P3fx3g+ 00:23:00 00:12:00 47.P3dx3c+ 00:23:00 00:12:00 48.G3bx3c 00:23:00 00:13:00 49.B4fx3g 00:23:00 00:13:00 50.N*2f 00:23:00 00:14:00 51.P*3d 00:24:00 00:14:00 52.G3c-3b 00:24:00 00:15:00 Of course 52.Gx3d would be a big mistake after N*4f. This position is still identical to the Matsu-Kimura game. Actually, Kimura was covering the game for the Asahi newspaper and was present at the game site. His comment: "White is aiming at Nx3h+ followed by S*2g. Still, dropping the knight on 2f feels heavy and S*2g is not that fast. The question is whether black can find some good moves at this point". 53.B3g-5e!? 00:25:00 00:15:00 Played after only one minute, so this must have been Habu's prepared move. The Matsuo-Kimura game continued 53.N*2d G3a P*2c Sx2c P3c+ Sx2d P*3b Sx3c Px3a+ Kx3a and white won. 53.B5e must have been a surprise for Fukaura, but it is not very likely that we will see this move again. Black is aiming at P*2c next, because S3a or Sx2c are answered by P3c+, while Gx2c P*2d is also very good for black. Still, if white plays correctly, 53.B5e might not be that good. 54.P4c-4d 00:25:00 00:48:00 Tesuji. Blocks the black bishop diagonal and opens the white bishop diagonal to make the bishop work in defense. 55.B5ex4d!? 00:42:00 00:48:00 A hard pawn to take. The indirect attack of the white rook on this bishop looks very dangerous. However, this daring move invites Fukaura's mistake. 56.N2fx3h+? 00:42:00 01:27:00 Based on a miscalculation. Correct was 56.B6e and after 57.B5e Rx3d P*3e Rx3e B9a+ Nx3h+ white is almost a silver up while the Nakahara castle is still intact. White probably has the upper hand in that position. 57.G4ix3h 00:45:00 01:27:00 58.B5d-2g+ 00:45:00 01:27:00 59.B4dx2b+ 00:58:00 01:27:00 60.+B2gx3h 00:58:00 01:59:00 Fukaura's miscalculation was that he thought he could play 60.Rx3d here. Here he realized that after 61.+Bx3b Rx3b Gx2g there is no good rook promotion: R3h+ is answered by N*4h and R3i+ by G*5i, and in both cases black has a very good position. Still, 60.+Bx3h is not much better. 61.R1f-4f! 01:12:00 01:59:00 The deciding move. White loses the promoted bishop on 3h and with it all hope of winning. 62.G*4b 01:12:00 01:59:00 63.+B2bx3b 01:26:00 01:59:00 64.K4ax3b 01:26:00 01:59:00 65.S*3c 01:26:00 01:59:00 66.G4bx3c 01:26:00 02:11:00 67.P3dx3c+ 01:26:00 02:11:00 68.K3bx3c 01:26:00 02:11:00 69.R4f-3f 01:28:00 02:11:00 70.S*3d 01:28:00 02:12:00 71.N*4e 01:33:00 02:12:00 72.K3c-4b 01:33:00 02:16:00 73.R3fx3h 01:33:00 02:16:00 74.P*3b 01:33:00 02:16:00 75.B*1e 01:45:00 02:16:00 76.K4b-4c 01:45:00 02:20:00 77.N*5e 01:52:00 02:20:00 78.K4c-5b 01:52:00 02:20:00 79.G*4c 01:52:00 02:20:00 80.S3dx4c 01:52:00 02:23:00 81.N5ex4c+ 01:52:00 02:23:00 82.K5bx4c 01:52:00 02:23:00 83.R3hx3b+ 01:52:00 02:23:00 84.K4cx3b 01:52:00 02:23:00 85.B1e-3c+ 01:52:00 02:23:00 Resigns 01:52:00 02:23:00 Simple mate after 86.K2a G*2b or 86.K4a S*3b K5b +B4c. Another game that was fought out as much at home in the study room as on the board. This match has now seen three R8e Yokofudori games, with black winning all three. What will Habu play with the white pieces in game 4? An important point, because if Habu wins that game the match will be over. In other shogi news: ==================== * In the Ryu-O tournament 58-year old Mori Keiji qualified for the challenger tournament for the first time with a stunning victory against Fukaura in the semifinals of the 3rd qualification group. A hard loss for Fukaura, who surprisingly is not doing very well in the Ryu-O tournament. He did qualify twice for the finals, but that was in 1992 and 1994... * In the Oza challenger tournament Maruyama beat Sugimoto to reach the final eight. He will play the winner of the game between Sato Yasumitsu and Horiguchi Kazushiza next. Reijer -- 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/ =========================================================== Domains as low as $4.95! Limited Time! 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