From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 16 jun 2006 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1151, June 14th 2006) Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- FREE Zoobooks Elephants ISSUE and tiger POSTER! Is your child reading? Zoobooks is guaranteed to improve=20 your child=92s reading skills. Click below to sign up now! http://click.topica.com/= caaeTvWa2i6YsbnuqMaa/ Zoobooks ------------------------------------------------------------------- In this Shukan Shogi report the first game of the Kisei match between=20 Sato and Suzuki. It was the first time in seven years that Suzuki made=20 an appearance at the big stage of a title match (he lost 4-1 against=20 Fujii in the 1999 Ryu-O match), but he will not have many good memories=20 about this one. He seemed to be out of his depth against Sato. Here is=20 the game with comments: [Black "Suzuki Daisuke, Challenger"] [White "Sato Yasumitsu, Kisei"] [Event "77th Kisei-sen, Game 1"] [Date "June 5th 2006"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:01:00 3.P7f-7e 00:01:00 00:01:00 4.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:03:00 5.R2h-7h 00:03:00 00:03:00 It is very rare for a player to say before the match what opening=20 strategy he would play, but Suzuki had boldly announced that he would=20 play the Ishida with black and the Gokigen Nakabisha with white. True to= =20 his word, this game is an Isihida-style Sankenbisha. 6.P8d-8e 00:03:00 00:04:00 7.P7e-7d 00:10:00 00:04:00 8.P7cx7d 00:10:00 00:06:00 9.R7hx7d 00:10:00 00:06:00 10.B2bx8h+ 00:10:00 00:07:00 11.S7ix8h 00:10:00 00:07:00 12.B*6e 00:10:00 00:07:00 13.B*5f 00:10:00 00:07:00 14.B6e-5d!? 00:10:00 00:14:00 In this position it was thought that white had the choice between=20 14.Bx7d and 14.Bx5f, but Sato plays a third option. The idea is that the= =20 bishop on 5d is attacking 8g, so the white silver on 8h cannot move.=20 Therefore, the bishop on 5d is better than the bishop on 5f. 15.S3i-3h 01:10:00 00:14:00 Suzuki thought for an hour about this move and with reason. The proverb=20 says: "In the opening, a bishop is worth more than a rook", so the=20 obvious move here is 15.Rx5d, making a promoted bishop after 16.Px5d=20 17.B*5c. However, there is a problem here after 18.S3b B7e+ R*2e +B6f=20 P5e B7d G6b! and after S3h G7c B6e G6d B7f P*7e the black bishop has no=20 place to go. It is clear that Sato's 14.B5d was based on the move G6b.=20 Black cannot exchange the rook for the bishop, but Suzuki and the=20 professionals in the press room still thought that black was better=20 because of the ability to make a strong mino castle. 16.G4a-3b 01:10:00 00:22:00 17.K5i-4h 01:19:00 00:22:00 18.S7a-6b 01:19:00 00:27:00 19.P6g-6f 01:26:00 00:27:00 20.S3a-4b 01:26:00 00:45:00 21.K4h-3i 01:28:00 00:45:00 22.P6c-6d 01:28:00 00:56:00 23.K3i-2h 01:29:00 00:56:00 24.S6b-6c 01:29:00 00:59:00 25.R7d-7h 01:31:00 00:59:00 26.S4b-3c 01:31:00 01:08:00 27.G6i-5h 01:40:00 01:08:00 28.S3c-4d 01:40:00 01:44:00 29.P4g-4f 01:43:00 01:44:00 30.P8e-8f 01:43:00 02:01:00 31.P8gx8f 01:50:00 02:01:00 32.R8bx8f 01:50:00 02:01:00 33.R7h-6h? 02:10:00 02:01:00 A change of plan. Suzuki originally intended 33.G*6g, but here he=20 suddenly started fearing 34.B8g+ and after 35.Sx8g Rx8g+ G6h +Rx8i R7a+=20 Gx7a Bx8i R*8h B5f the position is unclear (Rx6h+ fails to B*9e). Suzuki= =20 thought that he had the better position, so he didn't want to give up=20 his advantage by allowing Sato to make a fight of it. However, the truth= =20 is that the position is about even as it is. Sato said after the game=20 that he probably wouldn't have played B8g+. 34.P*7f 02:10:00 02:39:00 35.P*8g 02:14:00 02:39:00 36.R8f-8d 02:14:00 02:39:00 37.P6f-6e 02:16:00 02:39:00 38.K5a-4b 02:16:00 02:43:00 39.P6ex6d? 02:42:00 02:43:00 Suzuki thinks he has seen something that will press his advantage home,=20 but both his positional judgment and tactical judgment is lacking here.=20 He originally intended 39.G6g here, but didn't like 40.N7c. However,=20 Sato also didn't like 40.N7c after 41.Px6d Sx6d P*7d N6e P*6f P7g+ Nx7g=20 Nx7g+ Gx7g. The last move of this variation seems to put the gold in an=20 awkward position, but actually the position is far from clear here. If=20 Suzuki would have correctly judged the position as even, he might=20 thought about this variation a little bit longer. 40.S6cx6d 02:42:00 02:43:00 41.B5f-8c+?? 02:42:00 02:43:00 It is very rare in a title match game that a move like this is being=20 played. Both players see these kind of moves a long time coming and=20 either know that it is no problem or make sure it cannot be played. Sato= =20 has seen it and judged it no problem. Suzuki thought it was good enough=20 to give him a big advantage. It turns out that Sato was right. 42.R8dx8c 02:42:00 02:47:00 43.R6hx6d 02:42:00 02:47:00 44.P*6c 02:42:00 02:53:00 45.R6d-7d 02:42:00 02:53:00 Black now threatens both S*7b and P*6b and Suzuki thought that there was= =20 no defense. If Suzuki would have seen the following move, he would have=20 played 45.R6h here and there would still be some fight in the black=20 position. 46.R8c-8b! 02:42:00 02:54:00 Very simple move but completely overlooked by Suzuki. Black has no way=20 to continue. 47.P*6d 03:10:00 02:54:00 48.B*5e 03:10:00 03:00:00 49.S*7c 03:22:00 03:00:00 50.N8ax7c 03:22:00 03:01:00 51.R7dx7c+ 03:22:00 03:01:00 52.B5ex6d 03:22:00 03:01:00 53.+R7cx8b 03:22:00 03:01:00 54.B6dx8b 03:22:00 03:01:00 55.N*6f 03:22:00 03:01:00 56.B5d-6e 03:22:00 03:03:00 57.R*8e 03:22:00 03:03:00 58.B6ex3h+ 03:22:00 03:04:00 59.K2hx3h 03:22:00 03:04:00 60.B8b-5e 03:22:00 03:24:00 61.B*8c 03:25:00 03:24:00 62.R*8a! 03:25:00 03:29:00 Resigns 03:36:00 03:29:00 A nice drop of the rook in the white camp to end this game. The simple=20 threat is Rx8c Rx8c+ B*6e but there is no good defense against it. Black= =20 loses more material and after 11 minutes Suzuki resigned. Not a good=20 start for Suzuki, who seemed outplayed strategically, tactically and was= =20 put off balance by Sato's opening preparation. He will now need a win=20 with white to get back his confidence. --=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: ------------------------------------------------------------------- WIN A GAULEY OVERNIGHT RAFTING TRIP FOR TWO. 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