From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 27 aug 2007 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1192, April 4th 2007) In this report the final game of the Kio match between Moriuchi and Sato. Sato won the furigoma and the game to take the title. It was the only title that changed hands in the 2006-2007 season. Here is the game with comments: [Black "Sato Yasumitsu, Challenger"] [White "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Kio"] [Event "32nd Kio-sen, Game 5"] [Date "March 28th 2007"] 1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00 And the winner is... Sato Yasumitsu! This is only about the Furigoma, but data shows how important it was to have the black pieces in the final game. The total score in all the Kio match games that have been played is 81-38 in black's favor (more than 68%!). In this match all games have been won by black, but that is not the first time. It also happened in the 7th and the 18th Kio match. Furthermore, in the 23rd Kio match there was a sennichite after which black won the replay, and black won all four games in this match. The Kio with its short time limit is perfect for converting a small advantage into a win. However, that is not all. Coming into this game, Moriuchi and Sato had played 51 official games against each other with Sato winning 26. Almost no difference, but a big difference between looking at the difference between black and white. The black player has 34 out of the 51 games these two players played against each other. Finally, with the black pieces Sato has won six games in a row against Moriuchi. Both players were pretending not to care about the pawn toss, but I'm sure they both really wanted to play with the black pieces. 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:00:00 3.P2g-2f 00:00:00 00:00:00 4.P9c-9d 00:00:00 00:00:00 5.P2f-2e 00:01:00 00:00:00 6.P9d-9e 00:01:00 00:01:00 A little jab by Moriuchi. He is playing the opening system that Sato has been playing a lot recently. 7.G6i-7h 00:19:00 00:01:00 8.R8b-4b 00:19:00 00:02:00 9.P2e-2d 00:20:00 00:02:00 10.P2cx2d 00:20:00 00:02:00 11.R2hx2d 00:20:00 00:02:00 12.B2bx8h+ 00:20:00 00:03:00 13.S7ix8h 00:21:00 00:03:00 14.R4b-2b 00:21:00 00:03:00 15.P*2c 00:22:00 00:03:00 This is different than the second game, the infamous "Shikenbisha returns". There Moriuchi played Rx2b+ and Sato said he was surprised because he only thought about 15.P*2c R4b. This is how he plays it in this game. 16.R2b-4b 00:22:00 00:21:00 17.S3i-4h 00:24:00 00:21:00 18.G4a-3b 00:24:00 00:39:00 19.R2d-2h 00:26:00 00:39:00 20.K5a-6b 00:26:00 00:40:00 21.S8h-7g 00:54:00 00:40:00 22.K6b-7b 00:54:00 00:42:00 23.K5i-6h 00:55:00 00:42:00 24.P3d-3e 00:55:00 01:06:00 25.K6h-7i 00:59:00 01:06:00 26.N2a-3c 00:59:00 01:50:00 27.P1g-1f 01:05:00 01:50:00 28.P*2e 01:05:00 01:55:00 29.N2i-1g 01:10:00 01:55:00 30.B*3d!? 01:10:00 01:55:00 Moriuchi drops the bishop to pick up the pawn on 2c that was dropped there so early. His conclusion was that after taking the pawn, the edge attack at the head of this king with P1d followed by P1e is good. Of course, the fact that the king hasn't fully castled yet was a cause for concern, but Moriuchi thought that he had to act early. It turned out that the weakness of the king is more important than he thought. 31.K7i-8h 01:50:00 01:55:00 Sato decides to wait for the white attack, which seems to show that the white opening strategy has been a success. 32.G3bx2c?! 01:50:00 02:04:00 Too eager? This gold becomes another weakness. Sato was worried about 32.P4d P4f P4e Px4e Bx4e and then take the pawn with the bishop, while leaving the gold on 3b. This seems to be better. 33.P4g-4f 01:50:00 02:04:00 34.P4c-4d?! 01:50:00 02:31:00 Here Moriuchi suggested that 34.R2b G5h S4b S4g G2d followed by P1d and P1e as better. 35.S4h-4g 01:51:00 02:31:00 36.P4d-4e 01:51:00 02:34:00 37.P4fx4e 01:51:00 02:34:00 38.B3dx4e 01:51:00 02:34:00 39.G4i-5h 02:02:00 02:34:00 40.B4e-3d 02:02:00 02:39:00 41.P*4f 02:12:00 02:39:00 42.B3d-5b 02:12:00 02:43:00 43.P3g-3f 02:53:00 02:43:00 44.P3ex3f?! 02:53:00 02:43:00 I don't think Moriuchi saw what was going to hit him, but here 44.P1d was an alternative. Then 45.Px3e P1e R3h P2f B*3d and it still seems that black is better, although the position is less clear than the game. 45.S4gx3f 02:54:00 02:43:00 46.R4bx4f 02:54:00 02:47:00 47.B*4g! 02:54:00 02:47:00 This seems a terrible spot to drop the bishop, but Sato has seen that white cannot defend against the threat R4h followed by Bx8c+, which gives black a rook in hand which is very strong against the white position with many scattered pieces. After the game Moriuchi admitted that 47.B*4g was a great move. Sato is one of the few professionals who seems to dislike intuition. He says he is always searching for the "logical move". If there is a bad looking move, but he can't find a way for his opponent to make use of it or defend against the threat, he will play it. This is a perfect example of that philosophy. 48.G2c-3d 02:54:00 03:00:00 Moriuchi wins a silver, but it is not enough. This game was played at the Shogi Renmei building in Tokyo, so there were a large number of professionals in the press room, but "there isn't anyone who wants to play this position with white". 49.R2h-4h 02:55:00 03:00:00 50.P*3e 02:55:00 03:13:00 51.B4gx8c+ 02:56:00 03:13:00 52.K7bx8c 02:56:00 03:14:00 53.R4hx4f 02:56:00 03:14:00 54.P3ex3f 02:56:00 03:14:00 55.R*2a 02:56:00 03:14:00 56.G3d-4e 02:56:00 03:19:00 57.R4f-4i 02:59:00 03:19:00 58.P*4h 02:59:00 03:26:00 59.R4i-3i 02:59:00 03:26:00 60.S3a-4b 02:59:00 03:26:00 61.R2ax1a+ 02:59:00 03:26:00 62.B*2h 02:59:00 03:26:00 63.R3i-2i 03:00:00 03:26:00 64.B2h-5e+ 03:00:00 03:26:00 65.P*2d 03:08:00 03:26:00 66.G4e-4f 03:08:00 03:42:00 67.+R1a-1b 03:11:00 03:42:00 68.S4b-5a 03:11:00 03:43:00 69.P*4g! 03:11:00 03:43:00 This seals it. The only reasonable move seems to be 70.G4e, but then the knight can't join the attack anymore and black can just attack without worrying about the king. 70.G4f-3g 03:11:00 03:52:00 The unreasonable move. Playing away from the kings is very painful. According to Moriuchi the bigger problem is that the position became very easy to judge. The number of moves that black needs to mate and white needs to mate are very easily calculated and black can easily make sure that he is one move quicker. 71.P2d-2c+ 03:11:00 03:52:00 72.G3g-3h 03:11:00 03:52:00 73.R2i-7i 03:21:00 03:52:00 74.P4h-4i+ 03:21:00 03:55:00 This creates the pawn defense P*4a, but that is not enough to slow down the black attack. 75.L*5f 03:22:00 03:55:00 76.+B5e-4d 03:22:00 03:55:00 77.+P2cx3c 03:22:00 03:55:00 78.P*4a 03:22:00 03:55:00 79.+R1bx1c 03:27:00 03:55:00 80.P3f-3g+ 03:27:00 03:55:00 This allows the defense P*3d to slow down the black dragon, but again this is not enough. 81.+R1c-2d 03:30:00 03:55:00 82.P*3d 03:30:00 03:55:00 83.G5h-6h 03:33:00 03:55:00 84.G3h-4h 03:33:00 03:56:00 85.P*3e! 03:34:00 03:56:00 The deciding move. 86.+Bx3e +Rx3e Px3e Lx5c+ and the white position collapses. However, without taking the pawn, white is also clearly one move short. 86.+P3gx4g 03:34:00 03:58:00 87.+P3cx3d 03:34:00 03:58:00 88.+B4d-1a 03:34:00 03:59:00 89.+R2d-1c 03:37:00 03:59:00 90.+B1a-2a 03:37:00 03:59:00 91.+P3d-4d 03:38:00 03:59:00 92.P6c-6d 03:38:00 03:59:00 93.+P4dx5c 03:38:00 03:59:00 94.B5b-7d 03:38:00 03:59:00 95.+P5c-6c 03:38:00 03:59:00 96.+P4g-5h 03:38:00 03:59:00 97.L5fx5a+ 03:38:00 03:59:00 98.+P5hx6h 03:38:00 03:59:00 99.+L5ax6a 03:41:00 03:59:00 100.+P6hx7h 03:41:00 03:59:00 101.R7ix7h 03:41:00 03:59:00 102.S*6i 03:41:00 03:59:00 103.+L6ax7a 03:44:00 03:59:00 104.S6ix7h+ 03:44:00 03:59:00 105.K8hx7h 03:44:00 03:59:00 Resigns 03:44:00 03:59:00 There is no mate against the black king and there are multiple mating threats against the white king like S*7b or S*8d. There is no way this position can be defended, so Moriuchi resigned, giving up the Kio title he had only held for a year. From 1991 Habu had won 12 consecutive Kio titles, but the last 5 years the Kio has changed hands every year. For Sato it was especially a big game to win. He had challenged for five consecutive major titles (a record that probably never will be broken), but failed to take the title in each of his previous four attempts. In the last game of the shogi season, he finally managed to win another title and he now holds two titles for the first time since 2003. The last three title matches went to wire, giving him a grand total of 86 games played in a year, sharing third place on the all-time list. A very busy year and no wonder Sato said after the game that he would take it easy for a little while. -- 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.aCGIy8.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 --^----------------------------------------------------------------