From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 27 jul 2005 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1102, June 29th 2005, part 1) Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Is your computer freezing up or slowing down? Repair corrupt files and harmful errors - protect your PC Take a 2-minute PC health check-up at no charge! http://click.topica.com/= caadMRTa2i6YsbnuqMaa/PC PowerScan ------------------------------------------------------------------- Hard to keep with all these matches going the distance these days, but=20 here is the final game of the Meijin match between Moriuchi and Habu. As= =20 most people already know, Moriuchi won this game to defend his Meijin=20 title. The way he did it was very impressive. Habu may have counted on=20 the extra pressure getting to Moriuchi, but nothing like that showed in=20 the game. Here is the game with comments: [Black "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Meijin"] [White "Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger"] [Event "63rd Meijin-sen, Game 7"] [Date "June 23rd and 24th 2005"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P8c-8d 00:00:00 00:02:00 3.S7i-6h 00:00:00 00:02:00 4.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:03:00 5.P6g-6f 00:00:00 00:03:00 6.S7a-6b 00:00:00 00:05:00 7.P5g-5f 00:00:00 00:05:00 8.P5c-5d 00:00:00 00:07:00 9.S3i-4h 00:03:00 00:07:00 10.S3a-4b 00:03:00 00:10:00 11.G4i-5h 00:04:00 00:10:00 12.G4a-3b 00:04:00 00:14:00 13.G6i-7h 00:09:00 00:14:00 14.K5a-4a 00:09:00 00:18:00 15.K5i-6i 00:11:00 00:18:00 16.G6a-5b 00:11:00 00:22:00 17.S6h-7g 00:13:00 00:22:00 18.S4b-3c 00:13:00 00:24:00 19.B8h-7i 00:13:00 00:24:00 20.B2b-3a 00:13:00 00:26:00 21.P3g-3f 00:14:00 00:26:00 22.P4c-4d 00:14:00 00:27:00 23.G5h-6g 00:15:00 00:27:00 24.P7c-7d 00:15:00 00:31:00 25.B7i-6h 00:16:00 00:31:00 26.G5b-4c 00:16:00 01:13:00 27.K6i-7i 00:17:00 01:13:00 28.B3a-6d 00:17:00 01:17:00 29.S4h-3g 00:40:00 01:17:00 30.K4a-3a 00:40:00 01:20:00 31.K7i-8h 00:41:00 01:20:00 32.K3a-2b 00:41:00 01:21:00 An orthodox Yagura opening in this decisive game. Black has the higher=20 winning percentage, so it seemed likely that Habu had prepared something. 33.P1g-1f 00:42:00 01:21:00 34.P8d-8e 00:42:00 01:53:00 35.P2g-2f 00:58:00 01:53:00 36.P9c-9d 00:58:00 01:54:00 37.R2h-3h 01:33:00 01:54:00 38.S6b-5c 01:33:00 02:42:00 39.P1f-1e 01:34:00 02:42:00 40.P9d-9e 01:34:00 02:42:00 41.N2i-1g 01:45:00 02:42:00 42.S3c-2d 01:45:00 02:48:00 43.N1g-2e 01:45:00 02:48:00 44.N8a-7c 01:45:00 02:49:00 45.L1i-1h 02:30:00 02:49:00 46.S5c-4b 02:30:00 03:17:00 47.S3g-4f 02:41:00 03:17:00 48.P4d-4e 02:41:00 04:29:00 The sealed move. This is still a known position. 49.S4fx4e 02:59:00 04:29:00 50.S2dx2e 02:59:00 04:29:00 51.P2fx2e 03:04:00 04:29:00 52.N*5c 03:04:00 04:29:00 53.S4ex3d 03:10:00 04:29:00 54.G4cx3d 03:10:00 04:30:00 55.P7f-7e 03:12:00 04:30:00 56.B6dx7e 03:12:00 05:34:00 57.B6h-4f 03:32:00 05:34:00 58.S*6d 03:32:00 05:36:00 This is a new move, but not really an improvement. Habu himself also=20 characterized it as very painful to play. With this move, white drops a=20 precious silver in a defensive position, blocks the escape route of the=20 bishop and also makes the natural attack P6d followed by P6e impossible.= =20 It remains unclear what he had prepared, but here he realized that his=20 opening strategy had failed. The obvious way to play here would be=20 58.B6d, but after Bx6d Px6d P3e G4d P2d Px2d P*2e white is in trouble=20 (Px2e P*2d followed by B*4a and S*2c is very quick and impossible to=20 defend). Still, despite the drawbacks of S*6d, white is a knight up and=20 even though the pieces are all blocking each other, white can still hope= =20 to win if he can free them and use them in attack. 59.P*7b! 04:07:00 05:36:00 Strong move. Dropping a pawn so far from the king seems too slow, but=20 white has no proper attack here. This pawn can not be taken: 60.Rx7b=20 S*8c R7a P*7b R8a Sx7d+ is good for black. Also, defending against the=20 pawn promotion with 60.R8a is bad after S*6b which threatens both P7a+=20 and Sx7c+. Because P7a+ is next, white has to move quickly. However,=20 another point of P*7b is that even if black has no time to promote this=20 pawn, the sideways working of the rook is now blocked and attacking the=20 white king becomes much easier. 60.G3d-4e 04:07:00 05:44:00 61.B4f-1i 04:45:00 05:44:00 62.S4b-3c 04:45:00 05:45:00 63.P3f-3e 04:53:00 05:45:00 64.P*3f 04:53:00 05:50:00 65.S*5b 05:03:00 05:50:00 66.G4ex3e 05:03:00 05:58:00 67.S5bx6c+ 05:13:00 05:58:00 68.P5d-5e 05:13:00 06:00:00 69.G6g-7f! 06:12:00 06:00:00 Another good move by the Meijin. Black has just taken the pawn on 6c,=20 which means that white has the extra attacking plan of P*6e now.=20 Moriuchi defends against this and at the same time puts pressure on the=20 white bishop. Black now threatens to bring the bishop on 1i into play=20 with +Sx6d Bx6d Bx5e. Also, at the right time, Gx7e Sx7e Bx5e is a=20 possibility. Again, white is forced into action. 70.P8e-8f 06:12:00 06:59:00 71.P8gx8f 06:47:00 06:59:00 72.N7c-6e 06:47:00 07:15:00 Sacrificing the knight for a desperate attack. White has no choice.=20 72.N4e is answered by 73.Gx7e Sx7e +Sx7c and B*6e next is a bishop that=20 works great in attack and defense. No way that white's P3g+ will be in=20 time. Black may have the better position, but white manages to set up an= =20 attack and the game is still reasonably close. 73.P6fx6e 06:56:00 07:15:00 74.N5cx6e 06:56:00 07:15:00 75.P*3d 07:35:00 07:15:00 76.G3ex3d 07:35:00 07:23:00 77.N*2f 07:37:00 07:23:00 78.N6ex7g+? 07:37:00 07:47:00 A mistake that puts Habu's hopes to become the 18th Lifetime Meijin on=20 hold for at least another year. White should have played immediately=20 78.G4e here. Then 79.+Sx6d (black wants to drop this knight on 3d) Nx7g+= =20 Gx7g B6d N*3d is very similar to the actual game, but the important=20 difference is that the bishop on 6d is not under attack, so white can=20 now play K3a. 79.G7hx7g 07:37:00 07:47:00 80.G3d-4e 07:37:00 08:24:00 After G4d or G3e, black takes the bishop and drops it on 7a. 81.N*3d 07:46:00 08:24:00 The difference. 82.K3a now fails to Gx7e. 82.S3cx3d 07:46:00 08:27:00 83.N2fx3d 07:46:00 08:27:00 84.K2b-3c 07:46:00 08:27:00 85.S*4f 07:54:00 08:27:00 86.G4e-4d 07:54:00 08:34:00 87.+S6cx6d 08:15:00 08:34:00 88.B7ex6d 08:15:00 08:34:00 89.S4fx5e 08:16:00 08:34:00 90.G4dx5e 08:16:00 08:34:00 91.B1ix5e 08:16:00 08:34:00 92.B6dx5e 08:16:00 08:35:00 93.P5fx5e 08:16:00 08:35:00 94.N*6d 08:16:00 08:35:00 95.B*5c 08:34:00 08:35:00 96.N6dx7f 08:34:00 08:37:00 97.G7gx7f 08:34:00 08:37:00 98.G*4e 08:34:00 08:38:00 99.N*5g! 08:43:00 08:38:00 The decisive move. White has no defense. 100.B*6g 08:43:00 08:38:00 This allows mate. Moriuchi probably saw it instantly, but he takes 6=20 minutes for his next move to check every variation multiple times. 101.N5gx4e 08:49:00 08:38:00 102.B6gx4e+ 08:49:00 08:38:00 103.S*4d 08:51:00 08:38:00 104.+B4ex4d 08:51:00 08:38:00 105.B5cx4d+ 08:51:00 08:38:00 106.K3cx4d 08:51:00 08:38:00 107.G*5d 08:52:00 08:38:00 108.K4dx3d 08:52:00 08:38:00 109.P*3e 08:53:00 08:38:00 Resigns 08:53:00 08:38:00 Mate after 110.Kx3e G*4f Kx2e Gx3f etc., or 110.Kx2e R2h Any*2f B*3d=20 etc. A straight victory by Moriuchi, who seemed to be the better player=20 in this match. Habu had to go very deep to take this match to seven=20 games, but in the end he came up short. Moriuchi defends a major title=20 for the first time in his career, which also should give him a lot of=20 confidence for the future. --=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: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ben & Jerry=92s=AE or H=E4agen-Dazs=AE? Take our Nationwide Ice Cream Survey today! 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