21st Ryu-O Match Game 3
[Black "Watanabe Akira, Ryu-O"]
[White "Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger"]
[Event "21st Ryu-O sen, Game 3"]
[Date "November 13th and 14th 2008"]
1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00
2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:03:00
3.P2g-2f 00:01:00 00:03:00
4.G4a-3b 00:01:00 00:04:00
5.G6i-7h 00:05:00 00:04:00
6.P8c-8d 00:05:00 00:07:00
7.P2f-2e 00:07:00 00:07:00
8.B2bx8h+ 00:07:00 00:09:00
Like in the first game, Habu plays the Kakugawari opening with tempo loss.
9.S7ix8h 00:07:00 00:09:00
10.S3a-2b 00:07:00 00:09:00
11.S3i-3h 00:15:00 00:09:00
12.S2b-3c 00:15:00 00:11:00
13.K5i-6h 00:17:00 00:11:00
14.S7a-7b 00:17:00 00:15:00
15.P3g-3f 00:24:00 00:15:00
16.P6c-6d 00:24:00 00:28:00
17.S3h-3g 00:27:00 00:28:00
18.S7b-6c 00:27:00 00:33:00
19.S3g-4f 00:29:00 00:33:00
This quick attack with the silver is one of the hottest research topics in this
opening.
20.S6c-5d 00:29:00 00:35:00
21.P3f-3e 00:43:00 00:35:00
22.P3dx3e 00:43:00 00:41:00
23.S4fx3e 00:44:00 00:41:00
24.P8d-8e 00:44:00 00:42:00
25.P2e-2d 01:01:00 00:42:00
26.P2cx2d 01:01:00 00:47:00
27.S3ex2d 01:01:00 00:47:00
28.B*5e 01:01:00 01:04:00
29.P*3g 01:02:00 01:04:00
30.S3cx2d 01:02:00 01:04:00
31.R2hx2d 01:02:00 01:04:00
32.P*2c 01:02:00 01:04:00
33.R2d-2h 01:02:00 01:04:00
34.N2a-3c 01:02:00 01:04:00
This is a strange position. Black seems to have gotten everything he wants here:
exchanging the rook pawn, exchanging the attacking silver for a defensive one and
forcing white to drop a bishop while the black bishop is still in hand. Despite
this, white has a winning percentage that is higher than 50% in this position.
In contrast, Habu's winning percentage in this position is 0% because he played
it in the second game of the Ryu-O challenger match against Kimura and in the 7th
game of the Oi match against Fukaura and lost both times. Actually, Watanabe had
played this position with white as well and tried 34.P8f here instead of 34.N3c.
35.K6h-7i!? 02:27:00 01:04:00
This is a new move, although it seems to have been studied by some young professionals
according to Namekata (8-dan). Because the pace of this game was very fast up to
here, Morishita (9-dan) expected that both players were familiar with this, but
surprisingly this didn't seem to be the case. In the post-mortem analysis Watanabe
said that he originally intended to play 35.S7g here (just like Habu played in the
7th game of the Oi match), but when he started thinking about 35.K7i here, it started
to look better and better and in the end he decided to play it instead.
36.P*3f!? 02:27:00 02:07:00
Again Morishita expected that Habu had prepared this move at home, but Habu also
denied having looked at this position before. The natural move seems to be 36.P8f,
but Habu didn't like 37.Px8f Rx8f N7g R8b P*8c. However, Watanabe said that he
intended to simply play 37.Px8f Rx8f P*8g R8b S7g to get rid of his wall silver.
In any case, 36.P*3f is a move that requires a lot of courage as it takes the game
straight into the endgame. Habu felt it was necessary to attack at this point, before
black would be able to move the silver up to 7g and make his king safe.
37.P5g-5f 02:43:00 02:07:00
38.P3fx3g+!? 02:43:00 02:24:00
Habu doesn't give an inch. This move was considered impossible in the press room
and was abandoned almost immediately after it was proposed. It will result in a
position that must be bad for white according to all common shogi knowledge as we
will see next. Therefore, in the press room the following variation was deeply
analyzed: 38.Bx8h+ Kx8h Px3g+ Nx3g P*3f and black now has the choice between P5e
or N2e P3g+ Nx3c+ Gx3c and white threatens N*8f. Neither position seems to be very
clear, but one of the reasons Watanabe played 35.K7i is to be able to take with the
king after a future Bx8h+ and that is something Habu didn't want to allow.
39.P5fx5e 02:48:00 02:24:00
40.+P3gx2h 02:48:00 02:24:00
41.P5ex5d 02:51:00 02:24:00
42.+P2h-3h 02:51:00 02:26:00
The only move. White is a silver behind and if black can get a promoted pawn on the
head of the king with Px5c+, there is no hope for white to save the position. With a
material advantage and such a strong threat there seems to be no way that this can
be good for white. Actually, even Habu wasn't sure that this was good for white,
but it is amazing that he dared to play this variation despite these doubts.
43.G4ix3h? 03:40:00 02:26:00
The first mistake. Watanabe should have called Habu's bluff here and play 43.Px5c+
instead. Then 44.+Px4i B*2f! (both attack and defending against R*5i) +P5i S7g P8f
Sx8f and Watanabe had a feeling that there was some decisive move by white, but
this doesn't seem to be the case. For example, S*6i (or R*6i K8h and there is no
good mating threat against the black king) Bx5i Sx7h+ Kx7h R*5h S*6h Rx5c+ P*3d
is far better for black than what was played in the game. Habu admitted in the
post-mortem analysis that he had looked at this and wasn't at all sure about his
position: "A silver behind, having a tokin at the head of the king, there is no
way this will work out perfectly".
44.R*4i 03:40:00 02:34:00
45.K7i-6h? 03:42:00 02:34:00
We are still on the first day, but with this second mistake in a row Watanabe throws
the game away. Black could still have saved himself after 45.S*6i. Habu said after
the game that he intended to play 46.S*5h G6h Sx6i+ Gx6i S*5h which leads to sennichite
after S*7h Sx6i+ Sx6i S*5h etc. Habu's conclusion was even more firm than that. When
asked what he would have played after 45.S*6i, he just said: "It's sennichite". A very
cool assessment of the situation where white seems to have a strong attack and is the
side to play the next move. When this was pointed out to him, Habu seemed to be a little
surprised and returned the question: "Is there anything else?". While Watanabe seemed
to have gotten carried away a little by the sharp position so early in the game, it
seems like Habu always seemed to be in control.
46.R4ix2i+ 03:42:00 04:02:00
Very difficult to believe, but this was the sealed move. Still a full day of play,
but the game is as good as over. Watanabe shows some toughness in the rest of the
game, but he never gets a chance to win.
47.P*3i 03:45:00 04:02:00
48.P5cx5d 03:45:00 04:03:00
49.B*5c?! 04:15:00 04:03:00
Watanabe makes a promoted bishop on 6d, at the same time creating running space for
the king up the board. This was generally considered a good move, but it turns out
to be clearly not good enough. After the game, Habu pointed out that 49.P*5c is
probably better. For example, 50.P*3g S*5b Gx5b Px5b+ Rx5b S*6c Px3h+ Sx5b+ Kx5b
R*8b S*6b B*3e looks like a strong bishop that works both in attack and defence,
but Habu had looked deeper and saw that white can answer B*3e with S*5g Bx5g N4e
and white still wins although it is "far from easy" (Habu).
50.P*3g 04:15:00 04:35:00
51.B5cx6d+ 05:21:00 04:35:00
52.P3gx3h+ 05:21:00 04:38:00
53.P*5b 05:21:00 04:38:00
54.K5a-4a 05:21:00 05:54:00
Habu is still not taking this position lightly. In the rest of the game he refuses
to rush his attack and turns to defence instead. This forces Watanabe to come up
with attacking moves that become more and more desperate until they finally run out.
55.S*2a 06:29:00 05:54:00
56.S*4b 06:29:00 05:55:00
57.S2ax3b+ 06:29:00 05:55:00
58.K4ax3b 06:29:00 05:55:00
59.P*2b 06:30:00 05:55:00
60.G*3a 06:30:00 06:18:00
61.G*2a 06:31:00 06:18:00
62.S*5c 06:31:00 06:39:00
Only here Habu said that he felt sure that he would win this game. The black attack
is running out of steam. To try and make something out of nothing, black has to
give up material that white can use for his final attack.
63.G2ax3a 06:33:00 06:39:00
64.K3bx3a 06:33:00 06:39:00
65.+B6d-6c 06:34:00 06:39:00
66.G6ax5b 06:34:00 06:49:00
67.P2b-2a+ 06:34:00 06:49:00
68.K3a-4a 06:34:00 06:57:00
69.S*7a 06:35:00 06:57:00
70.G5bx6c 06:35:00 07:09:00
71.S7ax8b+ 06:35:00 07:09:00
72.N*5f 06:35:00 07:09:00
The time is come to go for the black king. Black wriggles a little more, but there
is no escape.
73.K6h-7g 06:35:00 07:09:00
74.B*5i 06:35:00 07:09:00
75.G*6h 06:35:00 07:09:00
76.N5fx6h+ 06:35:00 07:12:00
77.G7hx6h 06:35:00 07:12:00
78.G*6i 06:35:00 07:14:00
79.R*7a 06:44:00 07:14:00
80.G*5a 06:44:00 07:15:00
81.S8h-7i 06:46:00 07:15:00
82.G6ix7i 06:46:00 07:16:00
83.B*7b 06:47:00 07:16:00
84.G6c-6d 06:47:00 07:22:00
85.N*6c 06:48:00 07:22:00
86.B5ix6h+ 06:48:00 07:22:00
Resigns 06:48:00 07:22:00
Mate after 87.Kx6h G*7h K5h S*4i K5g N4e K4f (or K6f P*6e etc.) G5e K3f +P3g K3e
+R2d, so Watanabe resigned here. A strong game by Habu with the white pieces,
outplaying Watanabe by both thinking deeper and more accurately. His reward is
a 3-0 lead and four chances to become the first Lifetime Ryu-O and the first player
to hold honorary titles in all seven major titles. His first chance is already a
very good one, as he will play with black in game four.