23rd Ryu-O Match Game 1
[Black "Watanabe Akira, Ryu-O"]
[White "Habu Yoshiharu, Challenger"]
[Event "23rd Ryu-O sen, Game 1"]
[Date "October 14th and 15th 2010"]
1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00
In this match, Habu gets another chance at becoming Lifetime Seven Crown, getting
honorary titles in all of the seven majors. This is something that has never been
done before and most likely will never happen again. Habu is entering this match
in shining form, winning three title matches (Meijin, Kisei and Oza) in straight
games. However, two years ago he had four chances to take the Ryu-O title from
Watanabe and failed four times in a row. Watanabe may not such a phenomenal title
match record as Habu, but his hold on the Ryu-O title is impressive. He is gunning
for his seventh straight title and has won the last 8 games played in a Ryu-O title
match (beating Habu four times in a row two years ago and Moriuchi in straight games
last year). There was definitely a lot of anticipation regarding this match. The
Furigoma showed four pawns, giving Watanabe the black pieces in this opening game.
2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:01:00
3.P2g-2f 00:01:00 00:01:00
4.P8c-8d 00:01:00 00:04:00
5.P2f-2e 00:02:00 00:04:00
6.P8d-8e 00:02:00 00:07:00
7.G6i-7h 00:04:00 00:07:00
8.G4a-3b 00:04:00 00:08:00
9.P2e-2d 00:05:00 00:08:00
10.P2cx2d 00:05:00 00:09:00
11.R2hx2d 00:06:00 00:09:00
12.P8e-8f 00:06:00 00:10:00
13.P8gx8f 00:06:00 00:10:00
14.R8bx8f 00:06:00 00:10:00
15.R2dx3d 00:07:00 00:10:00
16.B2b-3c 00:07:00 00:13:00
17.R3d-3f 00:08:00 00:13:00
18.S3a-2b 00:08:00 00:14:00
19.K5i-5h 00:25:00 00:14:00
20.K5a-5b 00:25:00 00:25:00
21.P*8g 00:36:00 00:25:00
22.R8f-8e 00:36:00 00:38:00
Watanabe used to be the leading expert in this opening, but Habu also doesn't shy
away from the R8e-Yokofudori, playing it regularly in title matches. Therefore, it
was not a big surprise that he played this opening here.
23.R3f-2f 00:36:00 00:38:00
24.P7c-7d 00:36:00 01:17:00
25.P1g-1f 01:21:00 01:17:00
26.G6a-5a 01:21:00 02:02:00
27.P1f-1e 01:24:00 02:02:00
28.K5b-4a 01:24:00 02:03:00
This looks (and is) a loss of tempo, as the king moved first to 5b and now to 4a.
However, there is a high class opening strategy behind this tempo loss. By playing
the king to 5b first, white takes away most of the early attacking strategies that
black has. Only after there is no longer any danger of being overrun by an early
attack, the king moves in the normal Nakahara castle formation with K4a. This idea
was first played by Kiriyama (9-dan), but it was Matsuo (7-dan) who realized the
importance of the idea and added it to his opening repertoire. From there on, it
has become one of the most popular ways to play the R8e-Yokofudori lately.
29.B8hx3c+ 02:09:00 02:03:00
30.N2ax3c 02:09:00 02:04:00
31.N8i-7g 02:09:00 02:04:00
32.R8e-8d 02:09:00 02:05:00
33.P1e-1d 02:20:00 02:05:00
34.P1cx1d 02:20:00 02:20:00
35.P*1b 02:21:00 02:20:00
36.L1ax1b 02:21:00 02:23:00
37.B*2a 02:32:00 02:23:00
This looks very good for black and there has only been one game played with this
position before. Matsuo played this with black against Takahashi in a Kisei game
played on September 30th. There it followed 38.L1c B1b+ P*2c +B2a P7e P*1b and
black won.
38.B*4e 02:32:00 02:59:00
This is Habu's improvement upon Takahashi's play. Watanabe was unable to hide his
surprise. When Habu left the playing room after playing 38.B*4e, Watanabe could
clearly be heard murmering: "What is that supposed to mean?". It clearly is a move
that only someone like Habu could find, because it looks very dubious after the
following sequence.
39.P4g-4f 03:14:00 02:59:00
40.B4e-3d 03:14:00 03:10:00
41.B2ax3b+ 03:33:00 03:10:00
42.K4ax3b 03:33:00 03:11:00
43.G*3e 03:33:00 03:11:00
It seems like black is getting a huge advantage here, winning material and weakening
the white king position.
44.P7d-7e! 03:33:00 03:46:00
Now things are suddenly not so clear. By dropping the bishop on 4e, white has forced
black into playing P4f, which opens the diagonal to the king. Furthermore, with P7e
white puts pressure on the vulnerable head of the knight, at the same time opening
the rook line to help in defense. Watanabe started to feel uncomfortable about his
position here.
45.G3ex3d 03:34:00 03:46:00
46.R8dx3d 03:34:00 04:00:00
47.B*5f 03:36:00 04:00:00
48.R3d-5d 03:36:00 04:02:00
49.B5fx1b+ 03:37:00 04:02:00
50.P*2c 03:37:00 04:02:00
51.L*5f 04:51:00 04:02:00
52.R5d-6d 04:51:00 04:32:00
53.P*2d 04:54:00 04:32:00
54.P2cx2d 04:54:00 04:55:00
55.L5fx5c+ 04:55:00 04:55:00
56.G*2c! 04:55:00 05:06:00
Black has won a lance, which is promoted on 5c near the enemy king. Also, the bishop
is promoted on 1b, putting pressure on the other side of the king. It all looks good
for black, but Watanabe realized that it only looked that way. After the game, he
admitted thinking here: "This is bad". The point is that black has no good way to
continue his attack here, while white has the strong attack with Px7f that is unstoppable
if given the time. Interestingly, two years ago in the opening game of the Ryu-O match
a similar thing happened. Watanabe got a material advantage and it looked like Habu
had no compensation, but Habu had looked deeper than that and won the game.
57.L1ix1d 05:49:00 05:06:00
Watanabe hated to play this move at this point, but he saw no other way.
58.P*1a? 05:49:00 05:40:00
Habu has played the opening and early middle game brilliantly, but this is a mistake
that throws away his advantage. Correct was 58.Px7f N6e and only then P*1a. For example,
+Bx2c Kx2c G*2a as in the game and now Rx6e Gx2b Kx2b +Lx4c K2c L1c+ K3d S*4d G4b! and
the black attack is stopped.
59.+B1bx2c 05:50:00 05:40:00
60.K3bx2c 05:50:00 05:40:00
61.G*2a! 05:50:00 05:40:00
This is one of Watanabe's strengths. His attack is very thin, but he is able to use
what few material he has to force his opponent into a mistake.
62.B*3e? 05:50:00 06:14:00
Now it all becomes very muddy. Again, 62.Px7f would probably have given white the
better chance to win.
63.G2ax2b 05:56:00 06:14:00
64.K2cx2b 05:56:00 06:14:00
65.L1d-1c+ 05:56:00 06:14:00
66.K2bx1c 05:56:00 06:24:00
67.R2f-1f 05:57:00 06:24:00
68.K1c-2b 05:57:00 06:24:00
69.P*2c 06:12:00 06:24:00
70.K2bx2c 06:12:00 06:24:00
71.R1fx1a+ 06:12:00 06:24:00
72.P*5f 06:12:00 06:25:00
73.S3i-4h 06:32:00 06:25:00
74.P7ex7f 06:32:00 06:36:00
75.+R1ax5a 07:01:00 06:36:00
76.P7fx7g+ 07:01:00 06:42:00
77.G7hx7g 07:02:00 06:42:00
78.N*6e 07:02:00 06:53:00
79.+R5a-2a 07:14:00 06:53:00
80.K2c-3d 07:14:00 07:22:00
81.S*2c 07:16:00 07:22:00
82.K3d-4d? 07:16:00 07:23:00
Habu used only 1 minute for this move, which he may have regretted afterwards,
because this is the decisive mistake. Things would still have been very difficult
after 82.K2e. For example, 83.P*2f Kx2f G*1g K2e P*2f Bx2f +Rx7a Px5g+ Sx5g Bx1g+
Nx1g K2f and the position is unclear. "After this I have to revert to defense, but
there are no good defensive moves" (Watanabe). It seems like both players thought
during the game that 82.K2e would be winning for black.
83.+R2ax7a 07:19:00 07:23:00
84.B*2e 07:19:00 07:25:00
85.S*3f 07:24:00 07:25:00
86.B3ex4f 07:24:00 07:26:00
87.G*4g 07:27:00 07:26:00
Now the holes in the black position are plugged and white is one move slow.
88.P5fx5g+ 07:27:00 07:36:00
89.S4hx5g 07:27:00 07:36:00
90.L*5e 07:27:00 07:36:00
During the game Watanabe was worried about 90.Bx5g+ Gx5g N4e, but the post-mortem
analysis showed that after B*3e K3c Sx2e N4ex5g+ K6i black can escape.
91.P*5f 07:29:00 07:36:00
92.L5ex5f 07:29:00 07:37:00
93.G4gx5f 07:31:00 07:37:00
Resigns 07:31:00 07:37:00
After 94.Bx3g+ Nx3g Bx3f L*4g is check, leading to mate after K3e B*1g any*2f G4f
K4d Bx2f etc. First blood to Watanabe in this match after a game that started
excitingly, but ended in a bit of a whimper after Habu uncharacteristically failed
to find the best move in a number of endgame positions. Still early days with Habu
playing with the black pieces in the next game, but an indication that Watanabe might
to be immune to the title match power Habu has shown so far this season.