From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 01 sep 2006 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1153, June 28th 2006) The Shukan Shogi reports have been a low priority again for a while, but I am ready again to try and catch up with them. Here is the second game of the Kisei match between Sato and Suzuki: [Black "Sato Yasumitsu, Kisei"] [White "Suzuki Daisuke, Challenger"] [Event "77th Kisei-sen, Game 2"] [Date "June 20th 2006"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:00:00 3.P2g-2f 00:00:00 00:00:00 4.P5c-5d 00:00:00 00:00:00 5.P2f-2e 00:00:00 00:00:00 6.R8b-5b 00:00:00 00:00:00 7.B8hx2b+ 00:00:00 00:00:00 8.S3ax2b 00:00:00 00:00:00 9.P9g-9f 00:00:00 00:00:00 This is currently considered the best way to handle the Gokigen Nakabasha. It is a move that Sato introduced himself in the first game of last year's Oi title match against Habu. Until then 9.S7h was the main line, but after 10.P5e B*6e G3b Bx8c+ B*8h black is in trouble. If black opts to strengthen his position instead of dropping the bishop after 10.P5e, white can just exchange the pawns on the 5th file and black has not enough compensation for that. The point of 9.P9f is that in the line above, the black lance can escape to 9g after B*8h. The push of the edge pawn may not look like much, it is very significant. 10.P9c-9d 00:00:00 00:00:00 11.S7i-7h 00:01:00 00:00:00 12.K5a-6b 00:01:00 00:00:00 13.S3i-4h 00:01:00 00:00:00 14.K6b-7b 00:01:00 00:00:00 15.P4g-4f 00:01:00 00:00:00 16.S2b-3c 00:01:00 00:00:00 17.K5i-6h 00:01:00 00:00:00 18.K7b-8b 00:01:00 00:06:00 19.S4h-4g 00:01:00 00:06:00 20.S7a-7b 00:01:00 00:06:00 21.K6h-7i 00:06:00 00:06:00 22.R5b-2b 00:06:00 00:07:00 23.N8i-7g 00:35:00 00:07:00 24.P6c-6d 00:35:00 00:07:00 25.P3g-3f 00:40:00 00:07:00 26.S7b-6c 00:40:00 00:13:00 27.P8g-8f 00:40:00 00:13:00 28.G6a-7b 00:40:00 00:16:00 29.K7i-8h 00:40:00 00:16:00 30.P7c-7d 00:40:00 00:17:00 31.S7h-8g 00:40:00 00:17:00 32.S3c-4d 00:40:00 00:24:00 33.G6i-7h 00:40:00 00:24:00 34.N8a-7c 00:40:00 00:24:00 35.N2i-3g 00:54:00 00:24:00 36.P6d-6e 00:54:00 00:29:00 37.G4i-5h 01:04:00 00:29:00 38.S4d-5e 01:04:00 00:32:00 39.G5h-6h 01:48:00 00:32:00 40.P8c-8d 01:48:00 00:38:00 41.S4g-5f 01:49:00 00:38:00 42.B*5i 01:49:00 00:59:00 43.N3g-4e 01:51:00 00:59:00 44.S5e-4d 01:51:00 01:11:00 45.N7gx6e 01:53:00 01:11:00 46.N7cx6e 01:53:00 01:12:00 47.P6g-6f 01:53:00 01:12:00 48.B5i-3g+ 01:53:00 01:13:00 49.R2h-2i 01:53:00 01:13:00 50.N6ex5g+ 01:53:00 01:23:00 51.G6hx5g 01:53:00 01:23:00 52.+B3g-4h 01:53:00 01:23:00 53.G7h-6h! 02:04:00 01:23:00 53.G7h-6g is better shape, but then 54.P5e S6e P*6d P*5d N*6a is good for white. Moving the gold away from the king looks bad, and it seems that white is clearly better here. 54.P*6d 02:04:00 01:29:00 55.G6h-5h!? 02:06:00 01:29:00 Moving even further away from the king! 56.+B4h-1e 02:06:00 01:31:00 Suzuki felt that he was winning here. Pulling back the promoted bishop into the own camp is very good. Black's position is in disarray, while the white position is very well-balanced. The commentators in the press room agreed with Suzuki. However, as the say: "a won game is like a devil". 57.L9i-9h 02:58:00 01:31:00 58.+B1e-5a 02:58:00 01:35:00 59.G5h-6h 02:59:00 01:35:00 60.P3d-3e?! 02:59:00 01:44:00 Suzuki is getting careless. He thought that black has to take this pawn. 61.G6h-7h! 03:00:00 01:44:00 Instead, Sato sacrifices a pawn to rearrange his pieces, setting up a sudden, but very strong attack. 62.P3ex3f 03:00:00 01:45:00 63.P6f-6e 03:02:00 01:45:00 There it is. Combined with the rook switch to the 6th file, white suddenly has to be very careful... 64.P6dx6e 03:02:00 01:46:00 65.R2i-6i 03:04:00 01:46:00 66.N*7c 03:04:00 01:52:00 67.N*7g 03:05:00 01:52:00 68.R2b-5b 03:05:00 01:56:00 69.P*6d 03:13:00 01:56:00 70.S6cx6d 03:13:00 01:56:00 71.S5fx6e 03:13:00 01:56:00 72.N7cx6e 03:13:00 02:09:00 73.N7gx6e 03:13:00 02:09:00 74.R5b-6b 03:13:00 02:09:00 75.N*7g 03:22:00 02:09:00 76.G4a-5b 03:22:00 02:15:00 77.B*3a! 03:31:00 02:15:00 Easy to overlook and that is exactly what Suzuki did. The obvious move is 77.B*2b to pick up some material. 77.B*3a is just aiming at 6d, but there a two more complex threats here. If white doesn't do anything, black can play P*5c G5b-6c P5b+ +Bx5b Bx6d+ Gx6d S*5c and the white position collapses. The second threat is P7e Sx7e Bx7e+ Px7e P*7d and even though this attack looks simple, there is no good way to defend against it. Tough psychological situation for Suzuki. He was convinced he was winning and suddenly all moves he is looking at seem to be losing. 78.S*8c? 03:31:00 02:44:00 Panicking a little and as a result, Suzuki plays the decisive mistake. This defends the 7th file, but only temporarily as the next move shows. 79.G5g-6f! 03:32:00 02:44:00 Bringing in this hanging piece into the attack, Sato felt that there was no stopping his attack. Because Suzuki had dropped the silver on 8c, white can no longer counter G6f with P*6h Rx6h S*5g. White's best option was 79.S4d-5e and after 80.P7e Px7e P*7d G5b-6c N4e-5g+ Gx7d it seems black is a little bit better, but there is still a lot of fight left in the white position. 80.G5b-4b 03:32:00 03:11:00 81.B3a-2b+ 03:34:00 03:11:00 82.P*6h 03:34:00 03:12:00 83.R6i-5i 03:40:00 03:12:00 84.S4d-5e 03:40:00 03:16:00 85.G6fx5e 03:41:00 03:16:00 86.P5dx5e 03:41:00 03:16:00 87.+B2bx1a 03:41:00 03:16:00 88.G*5d 03:41:00 03:22:00 89.L*6g 03:44:00 03:22:00 90.R6b-6a 03:44:00 03:22:00 91.S*5c! 03:47:00 03:22:00 Right at the focal point to finish this game. Taking this silver would bring the lance on 6g in play. It must have bee painful for Suzuki to see the transformation of Sato's position from all-over-the-place to compact, while his own position went exactly the opposite way. 92.K8b-9b 03:47:00 03:24:00 93.P*6b 03:48:00 03:24:00 94.G7bx6b 03:48:00 03:25:00 95.S5cx6d+ 03:49:00 03:25:00 96.G5dx6d 03:49:00 03:25:00 97.S*5c 03:54:00 03:25:00 Resigns 03:54:00 03:35:00 Now the lance on 6g comes into play, as well as the promoted bishop on 1a that will go to 5e. Suzuki thought for 10 minutes, but decided that he had enough. The first game a blowout, the second game a display of differences in strategic skills. There seems to be a reason why Suzuki is 1-8 in games against Sato. He seems to be out of his depth in this match. Can he find a way to win the next game? -- 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/ --^---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 --^----------------------------------------------------------------