From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 01 oct 2004 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1063-1064, September 22nd and 29th Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Save money and get healthy http://click.topica.com/= caacHMMa2i6YsbnuqMaa/PermissionData ------------------------------------------------------------------- In this Shukan Shogi report the second game of the Oza match between=20 Habu and Moriuchi. Challenger Moriuchi lost because of a major=20 oversight, which basically ended the game without much of a fight. Here=20 is the game with comments: [Black "Habu Yoshiharu, Oza"] [White "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Challenger"] [Event "52nd Oza-sen, Game 2"] [Date "September 14th 2004"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:00:00 3.P2g-2f 00:02:00 00:00:00 4.P5c-5d 00:02:00 00:00:00 5.K5i-6h 00:05:00 00:00:00 6.P5d-5e 00:05:00 00:05:00 7.S3i-4h 00:06:00 00:05:00 8.R8b-5b 00:06:00 00:05:00 The Gokigen Nakabisha. A very popular opening, so no real surprise. 9.K6h-7h 00:06:00 00:05:00 10.K5a-6b 00:06:00 00:06:00 11.P4g-4f 00:08:00 00:06:00 12.K6b-7b 00:08:00 00:08:00 13.S4h-4g 00:08:00 00:08:00 14.K7b-8b 00:08:00 00:08:00 15.S7i-6h 00:10:00 00:08:00 16.S7a-7b 00:10:00 00:12:00 17.G4i-5h 00:14:00 00:12:00 18.P6c-6d 00:14:00 00:20:00 19.P2f-2e 00:42:00 00:20:00 20.B2b-3c 00:42:00 00:20:00 21.S4g-3f 00:42:00 00:20:00 Moving this silver up in this way is one of the latest strategies. Black= =20 wants to attack the weak point 3d. 22.P5e-5f 00:42:00 00:26:00 23.B8hx3c+ 00:45:00 00:26:00 24.N2ax3c 00:45:00 00:26:00 25.P5gx5f 00:45:00 00:26:00 26.R5bx5f 00:45:00 00:26:00 27.P2e-2d 00:46:00 00:26:00 28.P2cx2d 00:46:00 00:43:00 In the press room often wild variations are being analyzed, just because= =20 these are more interesting. Murayama (4-dan) proposed 29.Rx7f here.=20 Then, if 30.S7g Rx4f P*4g R5f Px2c+ P*2g Rx2g B*4i R2h P*2g, black is in= =20 trouble: Sx2g fails to N4e and if black plays R1h, the white pawn on 2g=20 becomes a thorn in his side. However, if after R4f, black plays S4g=20 instead of P*4g, it seems that black has the upper hand. 29.R2hx2d 00:49:00 00:43:00 30.P*2b 00:49:00 00:43:00 31.S3f-4g 01:10:00 00:43:00 32.R5f-5a 01:10:00 00:45:00 33.P3g-3f 01:14:00 00:45:00 34.G4a-3b 01:14:00 01:01:00 35.N2i-3g 01:24:00 01:01:00 36.P*5f 01:24:00 01:35:00 37.P3f-3e 01:48:00 01:35:00 38.B*4d 01:48:00 02:43:00 39.B*7g 02:03:00 02:43:00 40.B4dx7g+ 02:03:00 02:52:00 41.N8ix7g 02:03:00 02:52:00 42.B*8d 02:03:00 02:57:00 43.B*7i! 02:20:00 02:57:00 The move that was also proposed by Morishita, probably one of the best=20 defenders in the game. However, the other professionals preferred=20 43.B*6f. However, then 44.Bx6f Px6f Px3e P*3d P3f Sx3f B*3i and the pawn= =20 on 6f becomes a liability. Morishita reasoned as follows: If everything=20 else on the board is even, dropping a bishop on 7i would be out of the=20 question, but here black has no pawns in front of the rook, two pawns in= =20 hand and a good attack on the head of the knight on 3c. There is no need= =20 for black to become greedy here by wanting to use the bishop in a=20 perfect way as well. 44.B8d-3i+? 02:20:00 03:15:00 A big mistake caused by completely overlooking a move. White has to play= =20 44.P2c here, but even then 45.R2f R5d P*5e Rx5e Px3d R3e R3f Rx3f Sx3f=20 R*3i Px3c+ Gx3c R*4a S3b Rx1a+ is good for black. It seems that white is= =20 already in trouble after the strong bishop drop on 7i. 45.P3ex3d 02:30:00 03:15:00 46.R5a-5d 02:30:00 03:15:00 47.P*5e 02:30:00 03:15:00 48.R5d-4d 02:30:00 03:15:00 49.P*2e! 02:31:00 03:15:00 The move Moriuchi overlooked. He probably only considered 49.P1f here,=20 which looks promising after 50.P2c Px3c+ Rx2d P*2e R1d P1e. However, if=20 white just replies 50.P6e to 49.P1f, the position is unclear. After=20 49.P*2e, white loses a full knight without compensation. "With one move,= =20 the game is over" (Moriuchi). 50.P2b-2c 02:31:00 03:54:00 51.P3dx3c+ 02:43:00 03:54:00 52.P2cx2d 02:43:00 04:00:00 53.P4f-4e 02:44:00 04:00:00 54.G3bx3c 02:44:00 04:01:00 55.P4ex4d 02:44:00 04:01:00 56.P*3f 02:44:00 04:03:00 57.S4gx3f 02:57:00 04:03:00 58.R*3h 02:57:00 04:16:00 59.R*3e 03:18:00 04:16:00 60.S3a-2b 03:18:00 04:37:00 61.S3f-4g 03:25:00 04:37:00 A nice combination to save the knight. White gets no chance to get back=20 in the game. 62.R3h-2h+ 03:25:00 04:37:00 63.N3g-4e 03:25:00 04:37:00 64.G3cx4d 03:25:00 04:41:00 65.R3e-3b+ 03:25:00 04:41:00 66.G4dx4e 03:25:00 04:41:00 67.+R3bx2b 03:25:00 04:41:00 68.+R2hx1i 03:25:00 04:44:00 69.N*5c 03:32:00 04:44:00 70.G6a-7a 03:32:00 04:45:00 71.S*6c 03:32:00 04:45:00 72.N*5g 03:32:00 04:57:00 73.S6cx7b=3D 03:52:00 04:57:00 74.G7ax7b 03:52:00 04:57:00 75.S*6c 03:52:00 04:57:00 76.L*7a 03:52:00 04:57:00 77.S6cx7b=3D 03:55:00 04:57:00 78.L7ax7b 03:55:00 04:57:00 79.G*6b 03:55:00 04:57:00 80.P8c-8d 03:55:00 04:59:00 81.G6bx7b 03:57:00 04:59:00 82.K8b-8c 03:57:00 04:59:00 83.S6hx5g 03:57:00 04:59:00 84.P5fx5g+ 03:57:00 04:59:00 85.G7b-8b 03:57:00 04:59:00 86.K8c-7d 03:57:00 04:59:00 87.+R2b-6b 03:57:00 04:59:00 Resigns 03:57:00 04:59:00 No defence against the double mating threat N*6f and N*8f and also no=20 effective checks. An unusual loss for Moriuchi, who does not miss much=20 and is famous for giving his opponents the feeling that they are playing= =20 against a wall. After losing the Kisei match in straight games against=20 Sato, he is in danger of doing the same in the Oza. On the other hand,=20 Habu is now on the brink of claiming his 13th consecutive Oza title. Can= =20 Moriuchi use the long three-week break until game 3 to recover? In other shogi news: =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D * In the A class, Sato won his third round game against Suzuki to bring=20 down the last unbeaten player. It was Sato=92s first win, but the A class= =20 being as tight as it is, he is still likely to play a role in the=20 challenger race. Leaders are Tanigawa, Suzuki, Fujii, Kubo and Fukaura=20 (who beat Maruyama) with 2-1. The winner of the game between Habu and=20 Miura will join this group. Only Takahashi is winless after three rounds= =20 and his demotion to B1 seems already more or less certain. * Even tighter than the A class is B1. Morishita beat Nakagawa, the only= =20 player who had lost only one game so far. After round 6, there are now 8= =20 players with two losses: Morishita, Abe, Senzaki and Nakagawa at 4-2 and= =20 Aono, Goda, Inoue and Tanaka at 3-2. The woes of the rookies continue as= =20 both Namekata and Horiguchi lost. They are now 1-4 and 1-5 respectively=20 and need to turn it around very quickly to avoid dropping back to B2. * In B2, the fourth round had some surprises with leaders Izumi and=20 Sugimoto losing to Tomioka and Mori. This leaves veteran Tosa as the=20 only player with four wins from four games. He is followed by Izumi,=20 Kimura, Minami, Naito, Sugimoto, Yashiki and Nozuki. This group has=20 almost all of the promotion favorites, so it will be a question of who=20 will make no further mistakes. Tosa can already fall back in this group=20 in the next round when he meets Yashiki. * In C1, the fourth round was played and Tsukada, Miyata and Yamasaki=20 kept their perfect record. They are followed by Watanabe, Iizuka,=20 I.Nakata, H.Nakata, Matsuo, Kodama and Okazaki. Miyata and Yamasaki are=20 extremely talented players, capable of promoting in their first year in=20 C1, but they have to play each other in round 8. Yamasaki also faces=20 Watanabe in round 6. Tsukada seems to have a lighter schedule, with only= =20 rival Matsuo to deal with in round 9. He seems to be in perfect position= =20 already to make a come-back to B2. * In the Kio challenger tournament, the last two quarterfinalists have=20 been decided. Not surprisingly, Fujii beat Chuza and Moriuchi beat=20 Nishio to advance to the last eight. The quarterfinal match-ups are=20 Fukaura-Anyoji, Moriuchi-Urano, Sato-Fujii and Habu-Maruyama. * Habu crowned what starts to look like a big come-back with a victory=20 in the Ginga television tournament. He beat Tanigawa in the final to win= =20 this tournament for the fifth time. Habu has always denied that he is in= =20 a slump, but his 74% winning percentage season so far must give him a=20 boost after dropping three major titles in a row against Moriuchi. * We have two new 4-dan professionals. 23-year old Muranaka Shuji and=20 26-year old Sakaguchi both scored 14 wins and 4 losses in the 3-dan=20 league, already securing promotion two rounds before the end. 16-year=20 old Sato ended in third place for the second time in a row, thus earning= =20 the right to a 4-dan title, entering the free class. Unlike Ina, who=20 took this opportunity, Sato decided to wave his right and try again to=20 enter the C2 Junisen class in the normal way. --=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: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Is Unemployment on the rise? Answer and Win! http://click.topica.com/= caacHNha2i6YsbnuqMaf/PermissionData ------------------------------------------------------------------- --^---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 --^----------------------------------------------------------------