21st Ryu-O Match Game 6
[Black "Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger"]
[White "Watanabe Akira, Ryu-O"]
[Event "21st Ryu-O sen, Game 6"]
[Date "December 10th and 11th 2008"]
1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00
2.P8c-8d 00:00:00 00:02:00
3.S7i-6h 00:03:00 00:02:00
4.P3c-3d 00:03:00 00:02:00
5.P6g-6f 00:05:00 00:02:00
6.S7a-6b 00:05:00 00:03:00
7.P5g-5f 00:06:00 00:03:00
8.P5c-5d 00:06:00 00:05:00
9.S3i-4h 00:08:00 00:05:00
10.S3a-4b 00:08:00 00:08:00
11.G4i-5h 00:11:00 00:08:00
12.G4a-3b 00:11:00 00:09:00
13.G6i-7h 00:16:00 00:09:00
14.K5a-4a 00:16:00 00:11:00
15.K5i-6i 00:19:00 00:11:00
16.P7c-7d 00:19:00 00:24:00
17.G5h-6g 00:31:00 00:24:00
18.S6b-5c 00:31:00 00:32:00
Another game that Watanabe must win to avoid losing his Ryu-O title. Again he faces
the tough challenge of having to beat Habu with the white pieces. Picking his
favourite Yagura is no surprise, but this quick attacking system is an opening
more often played by Akutsu (6-dan), who became a professional together with Watanabe.
The idea is that if black gives priority to castling the king, white can play S5d
followed P*5e and then castle himself. This will lead to a slow pace game where the
pawn on 5e makes it hard for black to attack. This used to be quite a popular way of
playing, but recently it is not seen that often.
19.P2g-2f 01:13:00 00:32:00
20.P8d-8e 01:13:00 00:44:00
21.S6h-7g 01:18:00 00:44:00
22.P5d-5e 01:18:00 00:45:00
23.P5fx5e 01:30:00 00:45:00
24.B2bx5e 01:30:00 00:45:00
25.B8h-7i 01:36:00 00:45:00
26.B5e-7c 01:36:00 01:01:00
27.B7i-4f 01:43:00 01:01:00
28.S5c-6d 01:43:00 01:04:00
29.P7f-7e 02:15:00 01:04:00
This is a normal way of playing this position. Pushing up the castle pawn may look
risky, but with this pawn black is looking for a bishop exchange. If white avoids
this like in the game here, the white attacking pieces end up in a slightly cramped
position.
30.R8b-8d 02:15:00 01:11:00
31.P7ex7d 02:17:00 01:11:00
32.R8dx7d 02:17:00 01:11:00
33.P*5f 02:18:00 01:11:00
34.K4a-3a!? 02:18:00 01:56:00
This is a new move. Although it is a natural move to castle the king, in this
position it has never been played before because it looks very dangerous for white
to allow 35.P6e. After the game, Watanabe admitted that he had studied this at home.
35.P2f-2e? 03:36:00 01:56:00
After more than an hour of thought, Habu decides to believe Watanabe's preparation
and go for a pawn exchange on the second file instead of playing 35.P6e. He might
have regretted this decision when he heard what Watanabe intended to play after that.
The forced line is 35.P6e 36.Sx6e 37.Bx7c+ 38.Nx7c 39.P*6f. Suzuki Daisuke (8-dan)
then thought that white had to play moves like P8f or B*4i to try and get a good
attack. Suzuki didn't have much faith in the white position after that, but he was
even more surprised when Watanabe said after the game the he intended to just play
40.G5a! instead of an attacking move. Suzuki just couldn't believe that Watanabe
really thought that there would be enough compensation for white to sacrifice a full
silver. He even called it "a new way of thinking". Even if Habu agreed with Watanabe
here, it would probably still have been better to play K7i here or on the next move.
The difference in king position combined with a nice way to counter the pawn exchange
on the second file makes the black position already quite precarious.
36.G6a-5a 03:36:00 02:08:00
37.P2e-2d 03:47:00 02:08:00
38.P2cx2d 03:47:00 02:08:00
39.B4fx2d 03:47:00 02:08:00
40.B7c-6b! 03:47:00 02:48:00
Habu must have underestimated this excellent counter to the attack on the second file.
White is going for the black rook, which is a very nasty piece to drop with the king
still on 6i.
41.P3g-3f 05:01:00 02:48:00
42.P*2g 05:01:00 03:24:00
43.R2hx2g 05:01:00 03:24:00
44.P*2f 05:01:00 03:25:00
45.R2g-2h 05:01:00 03:25:00
46.R7dx7g+ 05:01:00 03:54:00
47.G6gx7g? 05:01:00 03:54:00
This is already the decisive mistake. The only way for black to stay in this game was
47.Nx7g. For example, the natural 48.S*2g P*2b Gx2b R*8b Sx2h+ Rx8a+ R*4i S5i S3h+
N*5d S6d-5c Nx6b+ Sx6b N6e +S4h K7i Rx5i+ K8h is not so good for white because black
strongly threatens B*9e next. Habu said after the game that he felt that it was not
good to sacrifice the pawn on 2b, but it seems that this was based on some
miscalculation. 47.G6gx7g looks like a normal move, because with the two golds
connected it is harder for white to make a mating threat. However, in this game it
is more important that by moving away the gold from the centre, it is easier for the
white king to escape up the board and it is harder for black to make mating threats
against the king.
48.S*2g 05:01:00 03:54:00
49.P*2b 05:01:00 03:54:00
50.K3ax2b 05:01:00 05:04:00
51.P*2c 05:03:00 05:04:00
52.K2bx2c 05:03:00 05:16:00
53.R*2e! 06:01:00 05:16:00
Habu has managed to weave a little magic in this rather hopeless position. Watanabe
admitted after the game that he had underestimated this move. He initially thought
that white was OK here after 54.K1b, but then 55.Rx2g Px2g+ Bx1c+! turns the tables
because Nx1c S*2a is mate and Kx1c Rx2a+ threatens mate after S*2d K1d S1e etc.
54.N2a-3c! 06:01:00 05:24:00
Watanabe is a little fortunate that this move is winning. Now 55.Bx1c+ Kx1c Rx2a+ is
not a mating threat, so white can play G3a.
55.B2dx3c+ 06:02:00 05:24:00
56.K2cx3c 06:02:00 05:24:00
57.P6f-6e 06:02:00 05:24:00
58.P4c-4d! 06:02:00 06:00:00
This cool defence decides the game. White gives up a silver, but the white king gets
plenty of space to run and there are no good ways for black to attack it anymore.
59.P6ex6d 06:28:00 06:00:00
60.S2gx2h+ 06:28:00 06:03:00
61.P6dx6c+ 06:28:00 06:03:00
62.B6b-8d 06:28:00 06:03:00
63.S*2d 06:49:00 06:03:00
64.K3c-2b 06:49:00 06:21:00
65.P*2c 07:01:00 06:21:00
66.K2b-3a 07:01:00 06:27:00
67.K6i-7i 07:03:00 06:27:00
68.R*4i 07:03:00 06:34:00
69.K7i-8h 07:03:00 06:34:00
70.P*7f 07:03:00 06:34:00
Resigns 07:08:00 06:34:00
Habu resigned here, because after 71.Gx7f Rx4h+ even the defence P*6h is easily broken
down with P*6g Gx6g P*6f. Furthermore, black has no attack against the white king. After
the game Habu seemed to be already looking ahead to the seventh game, but losing this
game in 70 moves with black must have done considerable psychological damage. On the
other hand, Watanabe will be brimming with confidence after coming back to 3-3 after
being 3-0 down. Common sense would give Watanabe the best chances to win the seventh
game, but Habu is famous for quickly recovering from bad losses, so the final game of
this thrilling Ryu-O match should be much more interesting than this sixth game.