21st Ryu-O Match Game 1
[Black "Watanabe Akira, Ryu-O"]
[White "Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger"]
[Event "21st Ryu-O sen, Game 1"]
[Date "October 18th and 19th 2008"]
1.P7g-7f 00:01:00 00:00:00
A special start to a special match. This first game of the 21st Ryu-O title match
was played at the "Le Meridian Etoile" in Paris. This is the second time a game of
the Ryu-O title match was played in Paris. The previous time it was the first game
of the 7th Ryu-O match between Habu and Sato in 1994. The other thing about this
match is that Watanabe has won four straight Ryu-O titles and Habu has won a total
of six Ryu-O titles. The requirement for becoming Lifetime Ryu-O are either five
consecutive Ryu-O titles or a total of seven Ryu-O titles. Therefore, whoever wins
this match will be the first Lifetime Ryu-O. For Habu, this would also mean that he
would have a full set of seven honorary titles (one for each of the seven major
professional titles), which of course has never been done before. The game starts
with shogi fans from all over Europe watching the furigoma end up with four pawns
up, giving Ryu-O Watanabe the black pieces in this first game.
2.P3c-3d 00:01:00 00:00:00
3.P2g-2f 00:04:00 00:00:00
4.G4a-3b 00:04:00 00:02:00
5.G6i-7h 00:06:00 00:02:00
6.B2bx8h+ 00:06:00 00:04:00
Habu chooses the Kakugawari opening with tempo loss.
7.S7ix8h 00:06:00 00:04:00
8.S3a-4b 00:06:00 00:04:00
9.S3i-3h 00:09:00 00:04:00
10.S7a-6b 00:09:00 00:06:00
11.P1g-1f 00:14:00 00:06:00
12.P1c-1d 00:14:00 00:08:00
13.K5i-6h 00:26:00 00:08:00
14.P6c-6d 00:26:00 00:14:00
15.S8h-7g 00:28:00 00:14:00
16.S6b-6c 00:28:00 00:16:00
17.G4i-5h 00:30:00 00:16:00
18.G6a-5b 00:30:00 00:50:00
19.K6h-7i 00:45:00 00:50:00
20.P7c-7d 00:45:00 00:57:00
21.P2f-2e 01:26:00 00:57:00
22.S4b-3c 01:26:00 00:59:00
23.S3h-2g 01:31:00 00:59:00
24.N8a-7c 01:31:00 01:08:00
25.S2g-2f 01:31:00 01:08:00
26.R8b-8a 01:31:00 01:10:00
27.P3g-3f 01:45:00 01:10:00
28.S3c-4d 01:45:00 01:13:00
29.S2f-3g!? 02:03:00 01:13:00
Watanabe started with the Bogin attack, but now aborts this strategy to move the
silver over to 4f. This looks strange, because the route 3h-3g-4f would have put
the silver on 4f in 3 moves, while Watanabe's 3h-2g-2f-3g-4f gets there in five
moves. This means that even though white has opted to exchange the bishops first
(thereby losing a move), black still loses one move here. Normally, this would not
be good, but Watanabe's reasoning is that white has moved into a Migigyoku formation,
which means that the silver on 2f is now far away from the white king and the
climbing silver attack is therefore not so effective. The plan is to stop any
white counter attack by moving the silver to 4f and then move into an Anaguma
castle, which is much stronger than the white castle formation. If Watanabe can
pull that off, black will have very good prospects.
30.K5a-6b 02:03:00 01:19:00
31.S3g-4f 02:04:00 01:19:00
32.P8c-8d 02:04:00 01:32:00
33.P6g-6f 02:07:00 01:32:00
34.P9c-9d 02:07:00 01:37:00
35.P9g-9f 02:09:00 01:37:00
36.P5c-5d 02:09:00 01:40:00
37.G5h-6g 02:17:00 01:40:00
38.P8d-8e 02:17:00 01:48:00
39.N2i-3g 02:37:00 01:48:00
40.K6b-7b 02:37:00 02:14:00
41.K7i-8h 02:39:00 02:14:00
42.G5b-6b 02:39:00 02:17:00
43.L9i-9h 03:02:00 02:17:00
44.N2a-3c 03:02:00 02:43:00
45.K8h-9i 03:04:00 02:43:00
46.S4d-5c 03:04:00 03:10:00
47.G6g-6h 03:45:00 03:10:00
48.P4c-4d 03:45:00 03:12:00
49.P2e-2d 04:00:00 03:12:00
50.P2cx2d 04:00:00 03:36:00
51.R2hx2d 04:02:00 03:36:00
52.P6d-6e! 04:02:00 04:00:00
In a way, this is an incredible move. Habu said after the game that just dropping
a pawn back on 2c would be bad for white, but what happens after 52.P6e seems to
be far worse. For starters, white is giving black a gold and knight for a bishop.
This in itself should be good enough (the proverb tells us to always exchange two
pieces for one, even if one of them is a pawn), but Habu throws in something extra
in also giving black a promoted rook. There is no way that this can lead to anything
but disaster for white. Or is there?
53.B*2c 04:48:00 04:00:00
Watanabe takes the bait, like probably everyone would. Still, he didn't have
much choice, because the other natural move here is 53.P3e and after 54.P*2c R2i
B*3h R3i Bx4g+ Px3d +B4h R2i +B4g leads to sennichite. With so much going for black
after 53.B*2c, the option of a replay with the white pieces is not very attractive.
54.G3bx2c 04:48:00 04:03:00
55.R2dx2c+ 04:48:00 04:03:00
56.P6ex6f 04:48:00 04:03:00
57.+R2cx3c 04:49:00 04:03:00
58.P6f-6g+ 04:49:00 04:04:00
This is the first part of Habu's clever plan: creating a promoted bishop on 4g.
59.G6hx6g 04:58:00 04:04:00
60.B*6i 04:58:00 04:05:00
61.G6g-6h 05:02:00 04:05:00
62.B6ix4g+ 05:02:00 04:08:00
63.G*4c 05:07:00 04:08:00
64.B*6d! 05:07:00 04:12:00
And here is the second part of Habu's counter against the attack with the promoted
rook. This bishop works both in attack and defence, but it was a big surprise for
both Watanabe and the professionals in the press room that black actually has no
effective moves here. For example, 65.N*5f +Bx4f Nx6d +Bx6d and the material balance
has been restored, but the white promoted bishop works very well and black has no good
way to play from here. Also, 65.N*4e Px4e Nx4e N*4a +R3b P*4b is not working for black.
For example, Nx5c+ Nx5c +Rx4b P*4a stops the black attack.
65.P7f-7e 06:35:00 04:12:00
Played after 88 minutes of thought. Not a bad move, but white now takes the lead in
the game. However, Habu still thought it was difficult until the very end. Indeed,
judging from the way this endgame is playing out, the white lead is only marginal
and Habu needs some great endgame skills to close out this game.
66.P*6g 06:35:00 05:01:00
67.G6hx6g 06:35:00 05:01:00
68.P8e-8f 06:35:00 05:01:00
69.S7gx8f 06:51:00 05:01:00
70.P*6f 06:51:00 06:25:00
71.G6g-7g 07:06:00 06:25:00
72.+B4gx4f 07:06:00 06:42:00
73.P7ex7d 07:14:00 06:42:00
74.S6cx7d 07:14:00 06:44:00
75.P*7e 07:14:00 06:44:00
76.P*7f 07:14:00 06:57:00
77.G4cx5c 07:20:00 06:57:00
78.B6dx5c 07:20:00 07:00:00
79.P7ex7d 07:20:00 07:00:00
80.P7fx7g+ 07:20:00 07:00:00
81.N8ix7g 07:20:00 07:00:00
82.B5cx8f! 07:20:00 07:35:00
This is a very risky move and required some very accurate calculation. According to
Sato Yasumitsu, who had travelled to Paris to do the local commentary for this game,
the normal professional way of thinking in this position is to let black take this
bishop on 5c and use this time to give the white attack decisive strength. Moving
the bishop away gives the promoted rook a clear path to 7c, the head of the white
king. Because of this, black suddenly gets all kinds of attacking possibilities.
However, after the game Watanabe admitted that even though it looked close, after
82.Bx8f there is no way for black to win the game. Despite the risk, Habu didn't
have much choice here. After 82.S*6i P*6c Gx6c S*5b the black attack is quite fast.
By the way, 82.Bx8f is a mating threat (after Bx7g+ next), so it forces black into
action.
83.P7dx7c+ 07:34:00 07:35:00
84.+B4fx7c 07:34:00 07:47:00
85.N7g-6e 07:37:00 07:47:00
Watanabe plays the strongest counter. 85.N6e is mating threat defending against
the mating threat. Usually, this would be enough, but Habu has looked deeper.
86.S*6g! 07:37:00 07:50:00
Defending against the black mating threat with another mating threat. This silver
defends the squares 5f and 7f and now black no longer has a mate. Also, white
threatens mate with G*8i next. There is no way black can escape from this and
only here Habu felt certain he would win the game.
87.N6ex7c+ 07:54:00 07:50:00
Or 87.Gx6g S*8h Kx8h G*7h Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g G*6h K5f G*4f leads to mate.
88.G6bx7c 07:54:00 07:50:00
89.G7hx6g 07:57:00 07:50:00
90.G*8h 07:57:00 07:55:00
91.K9ix8h 07:57:00 07:55:00
92.G*7h 07:57:00 07:55:00
Resigns 07:57:00 07:55:00
Mate after 93.Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g N*5e K5f S*6g K4f G*4g. A win with the white pieces
is the perfect start for Habu on his way to the Lifetime Ryu-O title. However,
Watanabe should not be underestimated. He has taken the Ryu-O title from Moriuchi
and defended it against Kimura and twice against Sato Yasumitsu. This match is
not over yet.