From: Reijer Grimbergen yz yamagata-u ac jp> Date: 13 sep 2007 Subject: This week in Shukan Shogi (no. 1194, April 18th 2007) In this report the opening game of the Meijin match between Moriuchi and= =20 Goda. A good start for first-time challenger Goda, who won the first=20 game with the black pieces. Here is the game with comments: [Black "Goda Masataka, Challenger"] [White "Moriuchi Toshiyuki, Meijin"] [Event "65th Meijin-sen, Game 1"] [Date "April 10th and 11th 2007"] 1.P2g-2f 00:00:00 00:00:00 Four tokins give Goda the black pieces in his first Meijin match.=20 Moriuchi has more experience in the Meijin, but Goda is definitely not=20 new to the big stage, winning the Oi title in 1992 and the Kisei title=20 in 1998 and 2001. This is the first time Moriuchi and Goda meet in a=20 title match game, so there was quite a lot of speculation about which=20 opening would be played. Goda doesn't beat around the bush and makes=20 clear from move one that he will play Ibisha. Moriuchi is not so=20 straightforward and has prepared a curve ball for this first game. 2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:01:00 3.P7g-7f 00:02:00 00:01:00 4.P5c-5d 00:02:00 00:03:00 5.S3i-4h 00:08:00 00:03:00 6.B2b-3c 00:08:00 00:08:00 7.K5i-6h 00:14:00 00:08:00 8.R8b-2b 00:14:00 00:09:00 This is of course not a new idea and not even the first time that=20 Moriuchi played this. Still, this opening is very much unexplored=20 territory and both players are more or less on their own as far as=20 opening strategy is concerned. 9.K6h-7h 00:14:00 00:09:00 This is the move that has been played most often in the past. It will=20 lead to a slow game which is kind of the way a Meijin match game is=20 supposed to go. An alternative is the sharp 9,Bx3c+ Nx3c B*5f which was=20 played by Habu against Yamasaki in the first game of the 23rd Asahi Open= =20 match. This is very sharp, but also very risky, so Goda=92s move is no=20 surprise. 10.K5a-6b 00:14:00 00:12:00 11.P5g-5f 00:55:00 00:12:00 12.S3a-4b 00:55:00 00:26:00 13.P6g-6f 00:56:00 00:26:00 14.K6b-7b 00:56:00 00:33:00 15.G4i-5h 01:01:00 00:33:00 16.K7b-8b 01:01:00 00:36:00 17.S4h-5g 01:04:00 00:36:00 18.S4b-5c 01:04:00 00:41:00 19.G5h-6g 01:04:00 00:41:00 20.P7c-7d 01:04:00 01:08:00 Although this looks like a very special position, it actually has been=20 played before. Not only that, it was played by Moriuchi in another=20 Meijin match game, namely the 1st game of the 62nd Meijin match against=20 Habu. The idea is that if black goes for an Anaguma with B7g and K8h,=20 white has a strong counter attack with R7h followed by P7e and S6d. Habu= =20 played 21.P2e but after 22.P6d B7g G4a-5b K8h G6c S7h L9b only the=20 Furibisha side was able to make an Anaguma castle. In the end, Moriuchi=20 won this game with his king still in a full Anaguma, showing how strong=20 the Furibisha Anaguma is in this position. 21.B8h-7g 01:50:00 01:08:00 22.L9a-9b 01:50:00 01:32:00 23.B7g-8f 02:53:00 01:32:00 This is Goda's new plan. Putting pressure on the white position by=20 moving the bishop out early. By doing this, he is warning his opponent=20 that he is ready for a quick attack anytime and at the same time black=20 can also move into the Anaguma himself. 24.P6c-6d 02:53:00 02:48:00 25.P3g-3f 03:27:00 02:48:00 26.R2b-6b 03:27:00 03:25:00 This was the sealed move and a surprise. Moving into the Anaguma with=20 26.K9a was expected, but Moriuchi plays it much more aggressively. 27.N2i-3g!? 04:59:00 03:25:00 Played after long thought (92 minutes). This was definitely a move that=20 needed to be weighed carefully. The short-term meaning is that after=20 28.P4d (which is more or less forced), the pressure on the long diagonal= =20 is off. However, the problem is that the head of this knight is weak and= =20 is likely to become a liability. The natural alternative seems to be=20 27.R3h followed by P3e to attack the head of the bishop, but Goda said=20 after the game that he had hardly given this move any thought, which is=20 a little surprising. 28.P4c-4d 04:59:00 03:35:00 29.K7h-8h 04:59:00 03:35:00 30.G4a-5b 04:59:00 03:44:00 31.G6i-7h 04:59:00 03:44:00 32.K8b-9a 04:59:00 03:47:00 33.L9i-9h 05:00:00 03:47:00 34.S7a-8b 05:00:00 04:14:00 35.K8h-9i 05:24:00 04:14:00 36.G6a-7a 05:24:00 04:15:00 37.S7i-8h 05:24:00 04:15:00 38.R6b-6a 05:24:00 04:26:00 39.P1g-1f 05:37:00 04:26:00 40.P3d-3e 05:37:00 05:12:00 Moriuchi decides to open the game with the black weakness on 3f, but=20 after the game he said he regretted this decision, "being lured into an=20 unreasonable attack". In reality, this attack is not bad at all and the=20 resulting is very close. 41.P3fx3e 06:44:00 05:12:00 42.P6d-6e 06:44:00 05:19:00 43.N3g-2e! 06:47:00 05:19:00 Moves the knight away from the weakness early. 43.P3d looks like a=20 natural move, but would be a mistake after 44.B2d. If the knight then=20 moves to 2e it no longer attacks the bishop so white can concentrate on=20 his attack on the 6th file. Also bad would have been 43.R3h because of=20 44.Px6f Sx6f P2d and the knight can not move away from the front of the=20 rook. 44.B3c-5a 06:47:00 05:50:00 45.P3e-3d 06:50:00 05:50:00 46.B5a-8d 06:50:00 06:13:00 47.P6fx6e 06:57:00 06:13:00 48.R6ax6e 06:57:00 06:17:00 49.R2h-3h 06:57:00 06:17:00 50.P*3g 06:57:00 06:25:00 51.R3h-6h 07:00:00 06:25:00 52.R6e-3e 07:00:00 06:25:00 53.P7f-7e 07:07:00 06:25:00 54.P3g-3h+ 07:07:00 06:47:00 55.S5g-6f 07:15:00 06:47:00 56.+P3h-3g 07:15:00 06:52:00 57.N2e-3c=3D 07:16:00 06:52:00 58.+P3gx4g 07:16:00 06:55:00 59.P7ex7d 07:18:00 06:55:00 60.P*7g 07:18:00 07:31:00 "Drop a pawn on the focal point" is a well-know shogi proverb, but=20 dropping a pawn on a square that is covered by no less than six pieces=20 is not something one sees every day. With so many ways to take this=20 pawn, Goda had trouble deciding which one was best. 61.S8hx7g 07:47:00 07:31:00 This seems to weaken the Anaguma a lot, but is probably the best reply.=20 Goda said he had even considered taking with the bishop, but the bishop=20 is rather effectively pointing into the white camp. Another variation=20 that was analyzed in the press room was 61.G7hx7g and after 62.Nx3c=20 Px3c+ N*6e Sx6e +P5g S7f +Px6h Gx6h black can drop a pawn on 6i to make=20 his position very strong. However, if we just count wood white is a rook= =20 against a knight up, so it very difficult to say who is better here. 62.N2ax3c 07:47:00 07:39:00 63.P3dx3c+ 07:47:00 07:39:00 64.N*9d 07:47:00 07:42:00 65.B8fx5c+ 07:56:00 07:42:00 66.G5bx5c 07:56:00 07:46:00 67.N*7c 07:56:00 07:46:00 68.R3e-3i+ 07:56:00 08:02:00 69.N7cx8a+ 08:11:00 08:02:00 70.G7ax8a 08:11:00 08:03:00 71.N*7c 08:29:00 08:03:00 72.S8bx7c 08:29:00 08:05:00 73.P7dx7c+ 08:29:00 08:05:00 74.B8dx7c 08:29:00 08:05:00 75.P5f-5e 08:29:00 08:05:00 Interestingly, both players thought they were losing here. This blocks=20 the bishop from entering the attack and now black strongly threatens=20 P*7d, but it also hands over the attack to white. 76.+P4g-5h? 08:29:00 08:46:00 Even though he realized that this was probably not good enough, Moriuchi= =20 saw no other way to play in this position. Because his Anaguma is=20 already weakened a lot, he had no confidence in his position, which may=20 have clouded his judgment here. Had he realized that the game is still=20 very much in the air, he might have found 76.P*7f, which is the right=20 move here. Taking this pawn with the silver or gold is out of the=20 question (the same attack as in the game would now be decisive), so the=20 best way to play for black seems 77.P*7d, but after 78.Px7g+ G6gx7g B9e=20 P9f N*7f white is winning. Goda said that he had planned to play 77.S8h,= =20 but then 78.N*7d is the perfect answer, dropping where the opponent=20 wants to drop. 79.S7e then fails to 80.Bx5e and 79.P*7i to Nx6f Gx6f=20 +P5g and the white attack is faster. This position was analyzed for a=20 long time during the post-mortem, but no good way to play for black was=20 discovered. 77.R6hx5h 08:29:00 08:46:00 78.B*6i 08:29:00 08:46:00 79.R5h-6h 08:29:00 08:46:00 80.B6ix7h+ 08:29:00 08:50:00 81.R6hx7h 08:29:00 08:50:00 82.G*7i 08:29:00 08:50:00 83.R7hx7i 08:36:00 08:50:00 84.+R3ix7i 08:36:00 08:50:00 85.S*6h! 08:36:00 08:50:00 Now the white attack is stopped because black also has the strong G*8h.=20 Black wins. 86.P*7h 08:36:00 08:51:00 87.P*7d 08:40:00 08:51:00 88.B7c-8b 08:40:00 08:51:00 89.B*7c 08:44:00 08:51:00 90.R*3i 08:44:00 08:57:00 91.G*8h 08:46:00 08:57:00 92.+R7i-6i 08:46:00 08:58:00 93.B7cx8b+ 08:46:00 08:58:00 94.G8ax8b 08:46:00 08:58:00 95.B*7c 08:47:00 08:58:00 96.N*8a 08:47:00 08:58:00 97.B7cx8b+ 08:51:00 08:58:00 98.K9ax8b 08:51:00 08:58:00 99.S*7c 08:51:00 08:58:00 100.N8ax7c 08:51:00 08:58:00 101.P7dx7c+ 08:51:00 08:58:00 102.K8bx7c 08:51:00 08:58:00 103.N*6e 08:51:00 08:58:00 104.K7c-6d 08:51:00 08:58:00 105.S7g-7f 08:56:00 08:58:00 106.B*9e 08:56:00 08:59:00 107.S7f-7e 08:58:00 08:59:00 108.K6d-6c 08:58:00 08:59:00 109.P*6d 08:58:00 08:59:00 110.G5cx6d 08:58:00 08:59:00 111.G*5c 08:58:00 08:59:00 112.K6c-7b 08:58:00 08:59:00 113.S7ex6d 08:58:00 08:59:00 114.P7h-7i+ 08:58:00 08:59:00 115.N6e-7c+ 08:58:00 08:59:00 116.B9ex7c 08:58:00 08:59:00 117.S6dx7c+ 08:58:00 08:59:00 118.K7bx7c 08:58:00 08:59:00 119.P*7d 08:58:00 08:59:00 Resigns 08:58:00 08:59:00 Mate after 120.Kx7d B*5b K8d G*7d etc. or 120.K6d B*7e Kx7d G*6d etc. A=20 good win by Goda to start this campaign. A victory in the first game by=20 the challenger almost always means an interesting and close match.=20 Still, there is a long way to go yet and Moriuchi also didn't seem too=20 phased, looking quite relaxed during the post-mortem analysis. He will=20 have the black pieces in the second game to try and level the match. --=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/ --^---------------------------------------------------------------- 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=3DTEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------