From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 19 nov 2004 Subject: This month in Shukan Shogi (no. 1068-1071, October 27th, November Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Win a Lexus RX330! Class and beauty rolled up in an SUV! Drive=20 your family this winter in style. Make it yours! Click below and=20 sign up now! http://click.topica.com/= caacR6Oa2i6YsbnuqMaa/Vente ------------------------------------------------------------------- In this Shukan Shogi report the first two games of the Ryu-O match=20 between Moriuchi and Watanabe. The opening game, which was played in=20 Seoul, went to the young prodigy, but Moriuchi equalized in game two. It= =20 seems like we have a very interesting match to look forward to. Here are= =20 the games with comments. [Black "Watanabe Akira, Challenger"] [White "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Ryu-O"] [Event "17th Ryu-O sen, Game 1"] [Date "October 19th and 20th 2004"] 1.P7g-7f 00:01:00 00:00:00 2.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:02:00 3.S7i-6h 00:03:00 00:02:00 4.P3c-3d 00:03:00 00:03:00 5.P6g-6f 00:04:00 00:03:00 6.S7a-6b 00:04:00 00:03:00 7.P5g-5f 00:04:00 00:03:00 8.P5c-5d 00:04:00 00:04:00 9.S3i-4h 00:05:00 00:04:00 10.S3a-4b 00:05:00 00:04:00 11.G4i-5h 00:05:00 00:04:00 12.G4a-3b 00:05:00 00:09:00 13.G6i-7h 00:07:00 00:09:00 14.K5a-4a 00:07:00 00:16:00 15.K5i-6i 00:10:00 00:16:00 16.P7c-7d 00:10:00 00:16:00 17.S6h-7g 00:19:00 00:16:00 18.P6c-6d 00:19:00 00:24:00 19.P2g-2f 00:25:00 00:24:00 20.N8a-7c 00:25:00 00:26:00 21.G5h-6g 00:30:00 00:26:00 22.P8d-8e 00:30:00 00:34:00 23.P2f-2e 00:43:00 00:34:00 24.G6a-5b 00:43:00 00:35:00 25.P3g-3f 00:51:00 00:35:00 26.S4b-5c 00:51:00 01:06:00 Watanabe is a specialist in the Yagura, so it was no surprise he picked=20 this opening for this important game. The question was what Moriuchi=20 would do with the white pieces. The Quick Attack Yagura was a complete=20 surprise. It is generally considered an opening that is difficult to win= =20 for white. Attacking positively with white is appealing, especially at=20 the amateur level, but among professionals the weakness of the white=20 king is considered the major factor in this opening. If black defends=20 properly, the counter attack will be devastating. Of course, Moriuchi=20 did not choose this opening for nothing. 27.B8h-7i 01:43:00 01:06:00 28.P6d-6e 01:43:00 01:40:00 29.P6fx6e 01:44:00 01:40:00 30.P8e-8f 01:44:00 01:40:00 31.P8gx8f 01:44:00 01:40:00 32.N7cx6e 01:44:00 01:40:00 33.S7g-6f 01:44:00 01:40:00 34.R8bx8f 01:44:00 01:41:00 35.P*8g 01:44:00 01:41:00 36.R8f-8a 01:44:00 01:41:00 37.P2e-2d 01:45:00 01:41:00 38.P2cx2d 01:45:00 01:41:00 39.B7ix2d 01:45:00 01:41:00 40.P*2f!? 01:45:00 02:18:00 The move Moriuchi wanted to try. In this position 40.P*2c is a known=20 move, but after 41.B4f, white can no longer attack strongly and the=20 weaknesses around the white king are a big problem. After 40.P*2f, white= =20 threatens Bx6f followed by S*2g, so black has to do something. 41.S4h-5i! 02:29:00 02:18:00 The best move. 41.Rx2f is not good because of 42.B4d R2e N3c Rx6e P*6d=20 R9e P9d R9f P8e R8f P*8e and the black rook dies. Also, 41.N3g does not=20 really defend, because white can still play 42.Bx6f Gx6f S*2g R2i S3h+=20 with attack on rook and silver. 42.P7d-7e 02:29:00 02:29:00 43.B2d-4f 03:32:00 02:29:00 44.B2bx6f!? 03:32:00 03:42:00 Looks like an overplay, but Moriuchi might not have much choice. As=20 Fukaura pointed out, the timing of this move is interesting. It was=20 still played on the first day and usually that is not something you want= =20 to do in a two-day match. With 44.Bx6f white shows that he is going all=20 out from now on and Watanabe will have had all the time to mentally=20 prepare himself for the battle ahead. It is even possible that Moriuchi=20 tried to test his young challenger a little. Playing a two-day game for=20 the first time in his career must be difficult. Moriuchi, on the other=20 hand, seems to play his best shogi in two-day games. 45.G6gx6f 03:35:00 03:42:00 46.S*5g 03:35:00 03:46:00 47.G6fx6e 03:52:00 03:46:00 The sealed move. Whatever the reason, it is quite rare to have such an=20 advanced position after the first day. 48.S5gx4f+ 03:52:00 03:49:00 49.P4gx4f 03:54:00 03:49:00 50.B*4g 03:54:00 03:51:00 51.S5i-5h 03:55:00 03:51:00 52.B4gx5f+ 03:55:00 03:55:00 53.P*6f 04:15:00 03:55:00 54.P*6d 04:15:00 05:04:00 55.G6ex7e 04:24:00 05:04:00 56.P*7d 04:24:00 05:08:00 57.R2hx2f 04:27:00 05:08:00 58.P*2b 04:27:00 05:12:00 59.P*2c! 04:49:00 05:12:00 This needed accurate judgment well in advance, as this is not the proper= =20 way to play this position. Shogi doctrine says that if the opponent has=20 blocked his escape route to one side, one should attack at the other=20 side. However, Watanabe said after the game that there were no proper=20 attacking moves on the left and that he felt that a breakthrough on the=20 second file would also be sufficient. 60.P2bx2c 04:49:00 05:41:00 61.N*1e 04:51:00 05:41:00 62.+B5fx4f 04:51:00 05:48:00 Unfortunately for Moriuchi, he has no choice but to release the gold on=20 7e. 62.P3e seems the right move to defend 2c and keep the gold on 7e,=20 but then 63.S*5g is good for black after 64.+Bx7h Kx7h Px7e Nx2c+. 63.G7ex7d 05:06:00 05:48:00 64.+B4f-2d 05:06:00 05:50:00 65.R2fx2d 05:19:00 05:50:00 66.P2cx2d 05:19:00 05:50:00 67.P*2b 05:19:00 05:50:00 68.P*7g 05:19:00 06:01:00 69.N8ix7g 05:19:00 06:01:00 70.R*8i 05:19:00 06:03:00 71.B*7i 05:21:00 06:03:00 72.G3bx2b 05:21:00 06:15:00 73.S*2c 05:22:00 06:15:00 74.G2b-3c 05:22:00 06:15:00 75.P*2b 05:23:00 06:15:00 76.P1c-1d 05:23:00 06:40:00 77.P2bx2a+ 05:34:00 06:40:00 78.P1dx1e 05:34:00 06:40:00 79.S2cx3d+! 05:34:00 06:40:00 The deciding move. The obvious 79.S2b=3D is unclear after 80.G3b. 80.G3cx3d 05:34:00 07:17:00 Again no choice. 80.G3b fails to 81.N*7c R7a P*2c and the two tokins on=20 the right are too strong. 81.B*2c 05:35:00 07:17:00 82.K4a-5a 05:35:00 07:17:00 83.B2cx3d+ 05:35:00 07:17:00 But this is also winning for black. This promoted bishop works in attack= =20 and defense. White can struggle a little, but there is no way to win. 84.R8a-7a 05:35:00 07:19:00 85.G7d-8c 05:49:00 07:19:00 86.R8ix9i+ 05:49:00 07:34:00 87.G*7b 05:58:00 07:34:00 88.S*4h 05:58:00 07:34:00 89.P*4i 06:09:00 07:34:00 Resigns 06:09:00 07:35:00 After 90.Rx7b Gx7b G*5i K6h the white attack is stopped, while 90.N*5g=20 Sx5g Sx5g+ fails to +Bx2d with a fork on king and silver. A dream start=20 for Watanabe in his first Ryu-O match. The key might have been that hee=20 never seemed to feel any pressure. For example, he was watching baseball= =20 in the press room on the first day when Moriuchi was thinking about his=20 move. Moriuchi has been warned, this inexperienced challenger is not a=20 push-over. [Black "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Ryu-O"] [White "Watanabe Akira, Challenger"] [Event "17th Ryu-O sen, Game 2"] [Date "November 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 00:00:00 00:02:00 4.P8c-8d 00:00:00 00:03:00 5.P2f-2e 00:00:00 00:03:00 6.P8d-8e 00:00:00 00:04:00 7.G6i-7h 00:00:00 00:04:00 8.G4a-3b 00:00:00 00:04:00 9.P2e-2d 00:00:00 00:04:00 10.P2cx2d 00:00:00 00:04:00 11.R2hx2d 00:00:00 00:04:00 12.P8e-8f 00:00:00 00:05:00 13.P8gx8f 00:00:00 00:05:00 14.R8bx8f 00:00:00 00:05:00 15.R2dx3d 00:00:00 00:05:00 16.B2b-3c 00:00:00 00:05:00 17.R3d-3f 00:00:00 00:05:00 18.S3a-2b 00:00:00 00:06:00 19.P*8g 00:04:00 00:06:00 20.R8f-8e 00:04:00 00:08:00 Like in the first game, Watanabe's choice of opening is no surprise. He=20 plays what he knows and let Moriuchi think of a way to counter that. 21.R3f-2f 00:04:00 00:08:00 22.K5a-4a 00:04:00 00:09:00 23.K5i-6h 00:06:00 00:09:00 24.P7c-7d 00:06:00 00:14:00 25.P3g-3f 00:07:00 00:14:00 26.S7a-6b 00:07:00 00:17:00 27.S3i-3h 00:14:00 00:17:00 28.N8a-7c 00:14:00 00:18:00 29.N2i-3g 00:16:00 00:18:00 30.G6a-5a 00:16:00 00:19:00 31.P4g-4f 00:22:00 00:19:00 32.P5c-5d?! 00:22:00 01:00:00 But this is a surprise. Even though it is the classic attack of the R8e=20 Yokofudori, white is not playing this pawn push in the center anymore.=20 It is considered to risky and this game seems to indicate that this=20 conclusion is correct. Why Watanabe picked this strategy only he knows. 33.B8hx3c+ 00:53:00 01:00:00 34.N2ax3c 00:53:00 01:00:00 35.P6g-6f 00:53:00 01:00:00 36.B*4d 00:53:00 01:05:00 37.R2f-2i 01:13:00 01:05:00 38.P6c-6d 01:13:00 01:07:00 39.G4i-5h! 02:41:00 01:07:00 Three years ago, Tanigawa and Habu played the same position in a Ryu-O=20 tournament qualification game. There Tanigawa played 39.B*4g and won. It= =20 might be that Watanabe prepared something here, although after the game=20 he admitted that he already had doubts about the white position here.=20 Anyway, Moriuchi thought about B*4g, said he did not like the feeling of= =20 it and decided to vary play. 40.P6d-6e 02:41:00 02:26:00 40.Bx6f is not good because of 41.N7g R8b G5b-6g and black is very=20 strong in the center, making it almost impossible to attack for white. 41.P4f-4e 02:43:00 02:26:00 42.N3cx4e 02:43:00 02:59:00 Sacrifices a knight to avoid the end of the attack. 42.Bx6f again fails=20 to N7g and G5h-6g. Here it is even worse than before, because white has=20 not pushed the pawn to 6e to take the pawn on 6f with the bishop. 43.N3gx4e 04:39:00 02:59:00 44.P6ex6f 04:39:00 03:04:00 45.R2i-4i! 04:39:00 03:04:00 Suzuki (8-dan) commented that almost every professional would play=20 45.B*5f here. This defends the knight, attacks the pawn on 7d and also=20 helps in attack after P*2c Sx2c N*1e next. Even P*4b then becomes a=20 strong possibility. Moriuchi just calmly defends the knight with the=20 rook. This invites the white attack, but Moriuchi is very confident that= =20 it will not be string enough. 46.P*2g 04:39:00 04:30:00 47.B*3g 04:56:00 04:30:00 48.P6f-6g+ 04:56:00 05:19:00 49.G5hx6g 05:00:00 05:19:00 50.B4dx9i+ 05:00:00 05:23:00 51.N8i-7g 05:37:00 05:23:00 52.P*6f 05:37:00 05:26:00 53.G6gx6f 05:40:00 05:26:00 54.L*6e 05:40:00 05:27:00 55.P*6g! 05:45:00 05:27:00 Again good defense. 55.Nx8e is risky because of 56.+Bx6f 57.P*6g=20 58.+Bx7f and the idle bishop comes strongly into play. For example,=20 59.Nx7c+ P*6f! is very hard to defend against (Px6f is mate after G*5h).= =20 By dropping the pawn on 6g here, Moriuchi keeps the promoted bishop in=20 its bad spot. 56.L6ex6f 05:45:00 05:27:00 57.N7gx8e 05:46:00 05:27:00 58.N7cx8e 05:46:00 05:27:00 59.S7i-8h 06:17:00 05:27:00 60.+B9ix8h 06:17:00 05:30:00 61.G7hx8h 06:17:00 05:30:00 62.N*5e 06:17:00 05:30:00 Watanabe's final attempt. 63.Px6f G*6g K5i Gx5g or 63.N*5i Lx6g+ Nx6g=20 P*6f Nx5e G*6g is good for white, but... 63.B3gx5e! 06:25:00 05:30:00 Game over. Black takes both of white's attacking pieces and then finally= =20 turns to attack himself. An attack that is impossible to defend against. 64.P5dx5e 06:25:00 05:30:00 65.P6gx6f 06:39:00 05:30:00 66.P2g-2h+ 06:39:00 05:31:00 67.L*5d 07:01:00 05:31:00 68.+P2hx3h 07:01:00 05:32:00 69.L5dx5a+ 07:11:00 05:32:00 70.K4ax5a 07:11:00 05:32:00 71.B*9e 07:12:00 05:32:00 Important. If black plays 71.N*5d here, things become complicated again=20 after 72.B*9e. 72.+P3hx4i 07:12:00 05:42:00 73.R*7a 07:15:00 05:42:00 Resigns 07:15:00 05:43:00 After dropping any piece on 6a, it is mate after 75.Bx6b+ Kx6b S*7c K5b=20 (K6c G*5c) Rx6a+ K4b G*5b. A total victory for Moriuchi, who showed=20 perfect defense in this game. Watanabe will be unhappy about being blown= =20 away, but it is easier to recover from a total defeat than from losing a= =20 close game. Game three is going to be very important for him, playing black= . In other shogi news: =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D * In the A Junisen, the fifth round is under way. Habu suffered an=20 important setback by losing to Tanigawa. Both players are now 3-2.=20 Somewhat surprisingly, Fujii is leading the challenger race. After a=20 loss in the first round, he has won four games in a row. His latest=20 victim was Suzuki, who has now followed two wins with three losses and=20 suddenly has to be careful not to drop to B1. Kubo and Fukaura will=20 later play to join Fujii in the lead. Sato played himself into safer=20 territory with a win against Miura and now also has two wins from five=20 games. Miura, however, still only has one win from five games and looks=20 the most likely candidate to go down with Takahashi. * In B1 already the 8th round was played and slowly the promotion=20 favorites are starting to move forward. Only Morishita and Abe have two=20 losses after eight rounds. Especially Abe's win against promotion rival=20 Goda was huge. Goda still looks in position to take advantage of a=20 mistake by the leaders, as does Senzaki. Nakagawa also has three losses=20 and the two tickets to the A class will most likely be divided among=20 those five players. * In C1, Yamasaki won a big game against Watanabe to stay undefeated=20 after six rounds. Miyata lost an important game against veteran Tanaka=20 Kaishu, and now Tsukada is the player on a promotion spot. After these=20 three there are a whole bunch of players with two losses, but Watanabe=20 is not one of them, so his promotion dream is over. * In the C2 Junisen class, the sixth round was played (because of the=20 uneven number of players, most have only played five games, though). Two= =20 of the three leaders won, and Muraoka and Iijima now both have five wins= =20 from five games, joining Kondo, who stayed at 5-0, being the odd player=20 out this round. Tamura is the only other player with 5 wins, but he=20 already played 6 games. Leader Kawakami fell back to 4-1 after losing to= =20 Yagura, who is also 4-1. They are joined by Hirafuji, Ueno, Hashimoto,=20 Nishio and rookie Sato Kazutoshi. Quite a number of surprises among the=20 leaders, so it is very hard to make any predictions about who will=20 promote to C1 next year. * Moriuchi is the first player to advance to the final of the challenger= =20 tournament of the Kio by beating Fukaura. Because of the special format=20 of the Kio, Fukaura still gets another chance to challenge Tanigawa, but= =20 the road is suddenly much longer. The other semi-final will be played=20 between Habu and Fujii. * In the Osho league, things are getting complicated. Leader Habu lost=20 against Sato to drop back to 2-1, but Sato lost to Kubo to stay even at=20 2-2. Kubo lost in turn to Goda to also stay even with 2-2. Only Goda=20 took full advantage of Habu's loss by beating Akutsu and Kubo to join=20 Habu and Maruyama (who did not play) at 2-1. It seems that these three=20 players will decide the challenger of Moriuchi. * Yamasaki won the Shinjin-O tournament for young professionals for the=20 second time in his career. He needed to work much harder for it than the= =20 first time, because he dropped the first game against Sato Shinya and=20 had to come from behind in game 2. He managed to do that and take the=20 decisive third game to win the title. --=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: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you serious about buying a NEW car or truck soon?=20 Research before stepping on the car lot and save THOUSANDS! 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