From: lkaiwan gmail com> Date: 23 jul 2006 Subject: My Kifu in WOSC Hi, Very enjoyable to play great shogi games with many players in the WOSC in Colmar. The tournament gave me a wonderful chance to see how people from different places and with different backgrounds play shogi. Unfortunately I got an accident and delayed my return and posting for nearly a week. I shall try to post my experience in playing and learning shogi and some impression about the tournament, the players and the games in separately posts, wishfully in the forseeable future. The first topic is, I think, the one which many of you may be most interested in, my tournament kifu: Event: The 8th World Open Shogi Championship Date: 6-9 July 2006 Venue: Colmar, France Round 1 - Hidden aggressive fight despite material advantage Though the game may appears largely on my side initially, white had some chance to fight hardly in the centre of the board that could endangered me. Black: Leung, Kai Wan White: Osmont, Fabien 1.P-7f P-8d 2.S-6h P-8e 3.S-7g P-3d 4.G-7h G6a-5b 5.P-2f S-3b 6.P-5f P-5d 7.S-4h P-4d 8.K-6i K-4b 9.P-9f P-9d 10.B-9g K-3c 11.B-7i B-3a 12.P-2e K-2b 13.P-2d Px2d 14.Bx2d P*2c 15.B-6h G-4c 16.G-5h S-3c 17.P-3f B-6d 18.S-3g G-3b 19.P-6f B-4b 20.G5h-6g S-6b 21.K-7i S-5c 22.P-3e Px3e 23.Bx3e P*3d 24.B-6h S-6d 25.S-3f P-5e 26.P-6e Sx6e 27.Px5e B-6d 28.R-5h P*5f 29.P*6f Bx5e 30.P-4f S-5d 31.Gx5f R-5b 32.Gx5e Sx5e 33.B*6a P*5g 34.Rx5g S-5f 35.R-5i G*4h 36.Bx5b+ Gx5i 37.Bx5i R*3i 38.R*5h Rx3f+ 39.Rx5f +R-4g 40.R-5e +Rx4f 41.P*5f P*5h 42.B-3g +R-4i 43.K-8h P-5i+ 44.+Bx4c Gx4c 45.R-5b+ S*4b 46.+R-4a P-1d 47.S*3b K-1c 48.+Rx2a K-2d 49.+Rx2c 1:0 Round 2 - Yagura game decided by diagonal control by bishop The control of 9a-1i diagonal is frequently decisive in a Yagura game, especially 3g & 7c where the knight may go. Here is an example. Black: Roesch, Wilfried White: Leung, Kai Wan 1.P-7f P-8d 2.P-2f P-8e 3.B-7g P-3d 4.P-6f S-3b 5.S-8h P-5d 6.P-5f B-3a 7.G4i-5h S-3c 8.K-6h S-6b 9.K-7i G-3b 10.B-6h P-8f 11.Px8f Bx8f 12.P*8g B-4b 13.G-7h K-4a 14.S-7g G-5b 15.P-3f P-4d 16.B-4f G5b-4c 17.G5h-6g K-3a 18.K-8h K-2b 19.S-4h S-5c 20.P-2e P-4e 21.B-3g P-1d 22.P-1f S5c-4d 23.B-2f P-7d 24.S-5g B-6d 25.B-3g Bx3g+ 26.Nx3g P-3e 27.R-2f Px3f 28.Rx3f B*2h 29.P-4f P*3e 30.Rx3e Sx3e 31.B*7a R-7b 32.Bx3e+ Bx3g+ 33.S*8c R-4b 34.+B-7a N-7c 35.Sx7d= Px4f 36.Sx7c+ P-4g+ 37.S5g-6h +Bx7c 0:1 Round 3 - Fight to seize initiative Though the positions of both sides appeared identical in the opening, be prepared to initiate a fight always helps to control the game - as illustrated by advancing the silver and pawn in this game. Once the battle starts, try not to defend nor escape but fought back more forcefully than your opponent had done. In xiangqi (Chinese chess), the initiative to fight is always a crucial consideration. Black: Petry, Martin White: Leung, Kai Wan 1.P-2f P-3d 2.P-2e S-4b 3.G4i-5h S-3c 4.P-7f G-3b 5.S-6h P-8d 6.G-7h S-6b 7.K-6i K-4a 8.S-7g G-5b 9.B-7i P-5d 10.P-5f P-4d 11.P-6f G5b-4c 12.G5h-6g B-3a 13.S-4h P-7d 14.P-3f P-1d 15.P-1f S-7c 16.P-3e Px3e 17.Bx3e P-7e 18.Px7e Bx7e 19.B-4f B-6d 20.K-7i K-3a 21.K-8h K-2b 22.S-3g S-7d 23.P*7f P-8e 24.L-1g P-8f 25.Sx8f Bx4f 26.Px4f P*3h 27.P-7e S-8e 28.Sx8e Rx8e 29.B*7d Rx7e 30.Bx6c+ P-3i+ 31.S*6d +Px2i 32.Sx7e +Px2h 33.+Bx8a R*3h 34.N*3e G4c-4b 35.+Bx9a P*7g 36.G6gx7g P*7f 37.Gx7f B*6g 38.G7f-7g N*7f 39.K-7i Bx7h+ 40.Gx7h G*6h 0:1 Round 4 - Take risk if needed This might be the most important game for me in the whole event. As I lost to Ray in the blitz, losing this game again might destroy my confidence to perform well in the tournament. After an opening loss for me, the game was so close that the table inverted a few times. And I could not predict who would win the game until the very last couple of moves. Playing the most aggressive and risky move may or may not be the best move, but sometimes this is the move that gives you the highest chance. Black: Leung, Kai Wan White: Kaufman, Raymond 1.P-2f P-3d 2.S-4h P-3e 3.P-2e B-3c 4.K-6h R-2b 5.P-7f P-4d 6.K-7h S-3b 7.P-9f P-9d 8.P-4f S-4c 9.S-4g K-6b 10.P-1f P-1d 11.G4i-5h K-7b 12.P-3f Px3f 13.Sx3f G4a-5b 14.N-3g R-3b 15.R-3h B-2b 16.P*3e P*3d 17.Px3d Sx3d 18.P*3c Bx3c 19.P-2d Px2d 20.G5h-6h G5b-6b 21.P-4e Px4e 22.Bx3c+ Rx3c 23.B*6f P*3e 24.Sx4e B*2g 25.R-4h Sx4e 26.Nx4e P*4g 27.Rx4g B-3f+ 28.Nx3c+ +Bx4g 29.+N-4c R*2i 30.S*5h +B-6e 31.R*4b P*4a 32.Rx4a+ +Bx6f 33.Px6f B*2c 34.B*5f Rx6i+ 35.Sx6i Bx4a 36.+N-4b R*3i 37.+Nx4a S*5i 38.G-5h Rx1i+ 39.B*3g +R-3i 40.Bx5i L*5d 41.B-2c+ Lx5g+ 42.Gx5g +Rx5i 43.G-5h +R-4i 44.R*2b B*2e 45.P*4g P*4f 46.+Bx2d Bx4g+ 47.L*5i +B-5f 48.S*6g P-4g+ 49.Sx5f +Px5h 50.Lx5h G*5i 51.S6i-6h Gx5h 52.P*5i Gx6h 53.Sx6h L*5d 54.+N-5a Gx5a 55.+Bx5a G*6a 56.+Bx6a Kx6a 57.B*3d P*4c 58.G*5a K-7b 59.G*6a B*3c 60.Gx7a 61.G*6a K-8b 62.Rx6b+ 1:0 Round 5 - 4-kyu's opening Mr. Kikuta was the strongest amateur opponent I had ever played with in an official shogi tournament. Before the game started, I expected it would be a good chance to learn but not much to fight. The first lesson from this game was that my opening standard was far below 4 dan. During the review, I jokingly said that my opening was 4-kyu only. Might the humble opening gave me a chance to fight, I needed to play the most aggressive but risky moves. Had Mr. Kikuta strengthened his position, I would become hopeless. Though my position might appear to have some chance in the mid-game, my opponent was proved to be too tough. Black: Leung, Kai Wan White: Kikuta, Yuji 1.P-2f P-3d 2.S-4h P-8d 3.P-2e P-8e 4.G-7h B-3c 5.P-7f S-2b 6.Bx3c+ Sx3c 7.S-8h P-8f 8.Px8f Rx8f 9.P-2d Px2d 10.P*2b Sx2b 11.B*7g R-8b 12.Rx2d P*2c 13.R-2h G-3b 14.P-3f P*8f 15.P*8g Px8g+ 16.Sx8g P*8f 17.Sx8f B*6d 18.S-3g Bx8f 19.P*8g Bx7g+ 20.Nx7g S-7b 21.P-6f P-6d 22.R-6h S-6c 23.P-6e Px6e 24.Nx6e S-6d 25.B*8f P*6g 26.Rx6g B*8i 27.Nx5c= Sx5c 28.Rx6a+ Kx6a 29.Bx5c+ P*5b 30.S*6b Rx6b 31.+Bx6b Kx6b 32.R*6i S*6g 33.Rx6g K-5a 34.R-6c+ S*6b 35.+R-6i Bx7h+ 36.+Rx7h N*6f 37.+R-7g B*4d 38.+R-6g R*8i 39.P*6i Rx9i+ 40.G*5d B-3c 41.B*7g G*5h 42.Gx5h Nx5h+ 43.Kx5h Bx7g+ 44.+Rx6b Kx6b 45.S*6c K-5a 46.Sx5b+ Kx5b 47.S*5c K-4a 48.G*6h R*3h 49.N*4h B*6g 0:1 Round 6 - Defensive shogi and sabaki waiting Aggressive fight and mating race are frequently regarded as norms in shogi. But for me, these are not always necessary. The mid-game started with a loophole in my camp and two bishop drops. B*4g might be better for Takahashi but B*6i almost made me collapsed. My bishop drop was learnt from the kifu by an ancient meijin. At the time of this game, I was not sure if that worked there. But there seemed to be a chance to capture the promoted bishop. Then the game followed by strong attack by Mr.Takahashi and I simply defended and waited for exchanges to improve efficiency of my pieces (sabaki). As my castle was not as strong as Mr. Takahashi's, fierce mutual attack would only make me lose earlier. So, preparing for a long game became my favourite strategy. If I could stay alive, any exchange could make my counter-attack more powerful. Otherwise, without sufficient pieces in hand, perhaps I could not stop the king entering into my camp. Black: Leung, Kai Wan White: Takahashi, Kimio 1.P-7f P-8d 2.S-6h P-3d 3.S-7g S-6b 4.P-2f S-4b 5.G-7h P-5d 6.P-5f G6a-5b 7.S-4h S-3c 8.K-6i P-4d 9.B-7i G-3b 10.G-5h K-4a 11.P-6f B-3a 12.G5h-6g P-7d 13.P-3f B-6d 14.B-4f S-7c 15.S-5g G5b-4c 16.K-7i K-3a 17.K-8h P-8e 18.P-6e Bx4f 19.Px4f B*6i 20.B*1h P-8f 21.Sx8f B-4g+ 22.G6g-6h P-5e 23.G-5h +Bx5h 24.Rx5h G*4g 25.R-5i Px5f 26.Sx5f R-5b 27.P*5d P*5h 28.R-6i G-5g 29.S-5e Gx5d 30.Sx5d Rx5d 31.P-3e R-5f 32.Px3d S-4b 33.Bx6c+ P*6h 34.R-3i S*6g 35.G-7g P-6i+ 36.B*4a S-6h= 37.P-9f R-5a 38.G*5b Rx4a 39.Gx4a K-2b 40.G-7h +P-7i 41.Gx7i Sx7i= 42.Rx7i B*5e 43.S-7g G*4c 44.R*5b Bx4f 45.R-4i Bx1i+ 46.Rx5g+ +B-2h 47.+Rx5h L*4e 48.Rx4e +Bx2i 49.R-5e P*5d 50.R-5g +Bx6e 51.+Bx8a P-7e 52.R-6g P*6f 53.Sx6f +Bx7f 54.S-7g +Bx6g 55.+Rx6g R*3h 56.G*7h N*5e 57.+R-6f S-7d 58.P*6h R-5h+ 59.N*3e P*6e 60.+R-8f Gx3d 61.+R-8b K-3c 62.+Bx5d Gx3e 63.+Bx3b K-3d 64.+Bx2c Kx2c 65.+Rx4b K-3d 66.P*3f K-4e 67.S*3g G-4f 68.G*4h +Rx4h 69.Sx4h P-7f 70.R*3e K-5d 71.+R-5b P*5c 72.B*4c K-6d 73.Sx7f B*6c 74.Sx6e K-7c 75.S*6d K-8d 76.L*8f 1:0 Round 7 - Board control & minimal fighting Relative to chess & shogi, xiangqi board is much less densely populated with only 32 pieces on 90 grid points and 5 pawns each out of 9 files. In xiangqi, a player can move a rook to an open file in only 3 moves (in chess move counting style). Hence, moving a xiangqi piece is less restrained by other pieces and positional control by major pieces, especially the rook, can be very effective. On the other hand, without many great pieces to fight, sometimes it takes a long time to turn a position from even to winning. And fighting may have to be avoided to save pieces for checkmate. In xiangqi, we can't promote a pawn to a queen. In this game, perhaps my only good move was the rook drop to control the centre of the board. I might be too tired and barely managed the position after captured the bishop. In shogi, we almost never need to worry whether a good position will turn to a full point or only a half. A win is a win anyway. If you made a move, your opponent made a move, and your move was more useful than your opponent's, then the game continued in your favour. If a better position can be retained to the end without too much complications, though maybe quite boring, it eventually can become a victory. Black: Leung, Kai Wan White: Drechsler, Jochen 1.P-7f P-3d 2.P-2f P-8d 3.G-7h G-3b 4.P-2e P-8e 5.P-2d Px2d 6.Rx2d P-8f 7.Px8f Rx8f 8.R-2f P*2c 9.R-5f S-6b 10.P-9f K-5b 11.N-7g G-7b 12.K-4h Rx8h+ 13.Sx8h B*2g 14.R*8e P*8b 15.P-3f Bx7g+ 16.Sx7g N*4d 17.R-4f Bx3f+ 18.R-6f +B-5d 19.G-3h P-6d 20.K-5h +B-6c 21.R-8i S-4b 22.S-8f P-7d 23.P-7e S-7c 24.R-2f Px7e 25.Sx7e P*7d 26.S-8d Sx8d 27.Rx8d P-9d 28.R-8i P-9e 29.Px9e +B-5d 30.P*7c Nx7c 31.P*7f P*9h 32.Lx9h P-7e 33.L-9f S*8e 34.Px7e +B-9h 35.R-4i S-7f 36.P-7d S-8g= 37.Gx8g +Bx8g 38.Px7c+ Gx7c 39.R-8i G*8h 40.R-4i G-7h 41.P*7d G-7b 42.B*8a G-7a 43.B-4e+ +B-7g 44.P-7c+ P-5d 45.+Bx5d G-6h 46.K-4h K-4a 47.+B-6c P*5b 48.+B-4e +Bx6g 49.+Bx6g Gx6g 50.G-3g B*3e 51.R-7f Bx5g+ 52.K-3h P*7e 53.R-8f G-5h 54.R4i-8i N-5f 55.+P-6b G-4h 56.Sx4h Nx4h+ 57.K-2g +Nx4g 58.+Px5b K-3a 59.+Px4b Gx4b 60.Gx4g +Bx4g 61.G*3g +B-6e 62.S*3f +B-5d 63.S*4e +B-5c 64.P*5d +B-6b 65.P*2b Kx2b 66.B*5e S*4d 67.Sx4d Px4d 68.P*4e S*4c 69.N*4f G*3c 70.Bx6d P*5c 71.R-5i Px5d 72.Nx5d Sx5d 73.Bx4b+ G-3b 74.+B-6d S-6c 75.+B-5e P*5d 76.+Bx4d +Bx4d 77.Px4d P*4b 78.R-6i P*6h 79.Rx6h P*6b 80.P*2d Px2d 81.P*2c K-3a 82.G*2b Gx2b 83.Px2b+ Kx2b 84.P*2c K-3b 85.S*5c G*5b 86.N*4e Kx2c 87.B*4a N*3b 88.Sx5b+ Sx5b 89.Bx5b+ S*2b 90.+Bx4b B*7g 91.P-4c+ Bx6h+ 92.+Bx3b K-1b 93.G*2c 1:0 Round 8 - Strategic loss followed by tactical attack Mr. van Oosten appeared quite different for me than other European players I have encountered, not only in strength, but also in a very strategic playing style. In the first half of the game, I was totally outperformed in terms of position control and lost a knight. My compensation was a stronger castle against an idle silver in front of a pawn. Had Mr. van Oosten retreated the silver and adopted a right king strategy, I would become much more troubled. Having lost both the main board and a knight, I put all stake onto the edge and tried my best to break through. Black: van Oosten, Arend White: Leung, Kai Wan 1.P-2f P-3d 2.P-7f G-3b 3.P-2e B-3c 4.S-4h S-2b 5.Bx3c+ Sx3c 6.G-7h P-8d 7.S-8h S-7b 8.S-7g K-4b 9.P-3f P-6d 10.S-3g P-1d 11.P-1f K-3a 12.K-6h S-6c 13.S-2f K-2b 14.G-5h G-5b 15.K-7i G5b-4b 16.G5h-6h P-7d 17.P-6f S-5d 18.P-3e Px3e 19.Sx3e P*3d 20.S-4f P-4d 21.P-5f N-7c 22.P-5e S-4c 23.B*5f N-8e 24.Bx7d S-5b 25.S-8h B*3i 26.R-3h Bx6f+ 27.G7h-6g +B-6e 28.Bx6e Px6e 29.P-8f B*2g 30.R-3i B-6c+ 31.Px8e Px8e 32.P*8c R-6b 33.B*5a R-7b 34.B-8d+ +B-7d 35.+B-5g S-4c 36.S-7g +Bx8c 37.K-7h P-9d 38.P-9f +B-7d 39.+B-5f R-8b 40.P*8g +B-6d 41.R-3h L-9c 42.R-3i R-9b 43.+B-5g P-9e 44.Px9e P*9f 45.Lx9f P*9g 46.K-8h +B-7d 47.P-7e +B-8d 48.Nx9g Lx9e 49.Lx9e Rx9e 50.P*9f Rx9f 51.L*9i R-9d 52.G-7f P*9h 53.Lx9h P*9f 54.Nx8e L*9e 55.S-8f P-9g+ 56.Lx9g Lx9g+ 57.Sx9g L*9e 58.P*9h Lx9g+ 59.Px9g P*9f 60.G-8f Px9g+ 61.K-7g +P-9f 62.G-7f S*6f 63.Gx6f Px6f 64.+Bx6f +Bx8e 65.P*3e Px3e 66.P*3d S4cx3d 67.N*2f +Px8g 68.Kx8g P*8f 69.K-7h R-9h+ 70.P*8h P-8g+ 71.K-6i +R-8i 72.L*7i 0:1 Round 9 - Decisive difference in kings' positions Another mid-game started from a loophole on my side with Mr. Cheymol's silver and bishop drops. But the difference in the two kings' positions decided the outcome of the game. Despite material loss from the exchanges, a bishop in hand was more useful than a blocked rook for me. And having 2 bishops & 1 silver in hand created a good chance to counter-attack the rook and the not-too-far-away king. Would Mr. Cheymol took my rook later, after solidified his king's position, or in some different way, the outcome of the game might be different. Black: Cheymol, Eric White: Leung, Kai Wan 1.P-7f P-3d 2.Bx2b+ Sx2b 3.S-8h S-3c 4.S-7g G-3b 5.G-7h P-8d 6.S-4h S-7b 7.P-4f P-6d 8.S-4g S-6c 9.S-5f S-5d 10.K-6h P-7d 11.G-5h K-4b 12.S-4e Sx4e 13.Px4e K-3a 14.R-4h G-5b 15.S*7a R-9b 16.B*8c G5b-4b 17.Bx9b+ Lx9b 18.S-6b+ B*6e 19.R*7a K-2b 20.Rx8a+ Bx2i+ 21.+Rx9b B*3i 22.R-4i +B-3h 23.Rx3i +Bx3i 24.K-7i R*4i 25.K-8h S*6i 26.G5h-6h N*8e 27.G-7i Nx7g+ 28.Nx7g S*7h 29.G6hx7h Sx7h+ 30.Kx7h +Bx5g 31.L*6h P-7e 32.+R-7b Px7f 33.+Rx7f G*7e 34.S*5h Rx7i+ 35.Kx7i Gx7f 36.Sx5g R*5i 37.N*6i Gx7g 38.R*9h P*7h 39.Rx7h N*7f 40.S*8i G*5h 0:1 It was very nice to end my tournament in a 9-move brinkmate. While replaying and reviewing all the kifu, I am very surprised to see the changes in my playing style, from aggressive to very aggressive and risky, to defensive and steady-seeking, and aggressive again - bearing in the mind that the 4th to 7th games were played on the same day, and the last two on the next morning. My playing style might appeared very strange for most players, even for myself when I compared my own style with many Japanese players in Hong Kong. Occasional very defensive play to seek strategic control & board stability and prepare to seize initiative to fight decisively are quite common in xiangqi, but maybe not as common as in shogi or chess. Probably I am not good enough to comment on the latter two games. I have been wondering if there are any differences between pure shogi players vs shogi players with chess / xiangqi background. I shall try to write a few more about the topic in a few days, or weeks. The kifu was entered with a Japanese programme called "kifu for windows". At present, I have no idea how to convert the files into other machine readable format. Any advices are welcome. The blitz kifu will be uploaded within a week, I hope. Last but not least, deeply thankful to FESA, the Alsace Shogi Association & other parties for organizing this great event. Also sorry for any inconveniences caused. Best regards, Kai Wan Leung Hong Kong, China --^---------------------------------------------------------------- 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=TEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------