50th Osho Match Game 2
Black: Habu Yoshiharu, Osho
White: Tanigawa Koji, Challenger
50th Osho-sen, Game 2, January 18th and 19th 2001
1.P7g-7f 1/1 0/0
2.P3c-3d 0/1 3/3
3.P2g-2f 6/7 0/3
4.P4c-4d 0/7 1/4
5.P2f-2e 5/12 0/4
6.B2b-3c 0/12 1/5
7.S3i-4h 1/13 0/5
8.R8b-4b 0/13 9/14
Before the game, Tanigawa said that he would like to try different
openings in this match. Also, Habu has had a lot of problems against
the Shikenbisha in his matches against Fujii. So even though Tanigawa
is far from an Shikenbisha expert, it was not a big surprise that he
chose this opening after he lost the first game in the R8e Yokofudori.
9.K5i-6h 2/15 0/14
10.S3a-3b 0/15 5/19
11.K6h-7h 7/22 0/19
12.S7a-7b 0/22 3/22
13.P5g-5f 20/42 0/22
14.P9c-9d 0/42 5/27
15.P9g-9f 12/54 0/27
16.K5a-6b 0/54 19/46
17.G4i-5h 15/69 0/46
18.S3b-4c 0/69 9/55
19.P3g-3f 15/84 0/55
20.K6b-7a 0/84 5/60
21.S7i-6h 9/93 0/60
22.K7a-8b 0/93 12/72
23.S6h-5g 5/98 0/72
24.G4a-5b 0/98 32/104
25.S5g-4f 74/172 0/104
Quick fight again. Maybe Habu regretted a little that he played the
Left Mino in the decisive game of the Ryu-O match...
26.R4b-3b 0/172 66/170
27.P3f-3e 11/183 0/170
28.P5c-5d 0/183 15/185
29.P3ex3d 12/195 0/185
30.S4cx3d 0/195 2/187
31.P2e-2d 0/195 0/187
32.P2cx2d 0/195 80/267
The sealed move. This is one of those games where you wonder what the
players thought about for a full day. This position has been played
a million times before.
33.R2h-3h 5/200 0/267
34.P4d-4e 0/200 7/274
35.B8hx3c+ 60/260 0/274
36.R3bx3c 0/260 3/277
37.B*6f 0/260 0/277
38.P*3e 0/260 39/316
The first really interesting point in the game. The sharpest variation
is 38.Px4f Bx3c+ P*3g Rx3g P*3f +Bx3d (Rx3f S4e is good for white) Px3g+
Nx3g Px4g+ Sx4g R*3i R*4a. This was played in the game between Kimura
and Moriuchi in the Kisei tournament last spring. Moriuchi followed with
G5b-5a and won the game after Rx2a+ S*8h. However, Habu was in the
press room when this game was played and analysed it with Sato Yasumitsu.
Tanigawa must have figured that they found some improvement for Kimura's
play, so he decided to play 38.P*3e here instead.
39.S4f-5g 24/284 0/316
40.B*6d 0/284 0/316
41.P*2b 40/324 0/316
This looks good for black. However, analysis in the press room and a
postmortem analysis of one and a half hours did not find any way for
black to get a solid advantage from here. If this position is better
for black, the difference is very small.
42.B6dx1i+ 0/324 30/346
43.P2bx2a+ 0/324 0/346
44.R3c-4c 0/324 0/346
45.R3h-3i 1/325 0/346
46.L*2f 0/325 2/348
47.B6fx1a+ 29/354 0/348
48.L2fx2i+ 0/354 1/349
49.R3i-5i 0/354 0/349
50.P3e-3f 0/354 0/349
51.N*8f? 19/373 0/349
A rare mistake in positional judgement by Habu. He was convinced that
his position was worse here and decided to attack. He also seriously
considered 51.L*4d R5c N*6e R2c +P2b R3c +P2a here, which leads to
sennichite. The white rook can not be trapped, but it can also not
escape. In the end Habu decided that a sennichite with black was not
a good result and played 51.N*8f. However, there was a much better move
here to avoid sennichite: 51.+B6f. As the proverb says: "The promoted
rook in the opponent camp, the promoted bishop in your own camp". Then,
if 52.S3e L*9h with a strong edge attack coming up, or 52.N*2f +P3a N3h+
+P3b and black has good chances.
52.S3d-3e 0/373 14/363
53.N8fx9d 23/396 0/363
54.K8b-7a! 0/396 2/365
If 54.Lx9d P9e then white is in trouble, but after 54.K7a the position
has changed in white's favour. Black has to attack this king from both
sides to avoid that the king runs away, but does not have the material
to do so. Despite the white advantage, things are still very much
unclear here.
55.P*3d 0/396 0/365
56.P3f-3g+ 0/396 15/380
57.S4hx3g 12/408 0/380
58.+B1ix3g 0/408 0/380
59.R5ix2i 0/408 0/380
60.L9ax9d 0/408 14/394
61.P9f-9e 14/422 0/394
62.N*6e 0/422 2/396
63.S5g-6f 12/434 0/396
64.P4e-4f 0/434 21/417
65.P3d-3c+ 5/439 0/417
66.R4c-4d 0/439 3/420
67.+P3c-3d 1/440 0/420
68.R4dx3d 0/440 0/420
69.+B1a-1b 0/440 0/420
70.R3d-4d 0/440 6/426
71.P4gx4f 1/441 0/426
72.+B3g-3h 0/441 10/436
An alternative was 72.P*9h Lx9h P*9g Lx9g N*8e followed by S*7g, but
Tanigawa did not like this variation.
73.R2i-1i 3/444 0/436
74.L9dx9e 0/444 17/453
75.L9ix9e 0/444 0/453
76.P*4g 0/444 0/453
77.P4f-4e 6/450 0/453
78.P4g-4h+ 0/450 2/455
79.G5hx4h? 0/450 0/455
The losing move. This brings the promoted bishop one step closer to the
king and that just means the difference between winning and losing.
Simply taking the rook with 79.Px4d was best. Then 80.+B2h +B3d +Bx1i
P4c+ is still very much unclear. For example, R*9h L*8h N*9f +Bx3e
P*4d S*9g and no one could find a win for white. Habu said after
the game that he thought he was already losing here, while in reality
things were still very difficult.
80.+B3hx4h 0/450 0/455
81.P4ex4d 0/450 0/455
82.N*9g 0/450 0/455
83.R1i-1h 5/455 0/455
84.P*3h 0/455 1/456
85.R*4e 1/456 0/456
86.+B4hx6f 0/456 7/463
87.P6gx6f 0/456 0/463
88.N9gx8i+ 0/456 0/463
89.R4ex6e 3/459 0/463
90.S*8h 0/459 0/463
91.G6i-6h 1/460 0/463
92.S3e-4f 0/460 1/464
93.N*4i 4/464 0/464
94.S*5i 0/464 2/466
95.R1hx3h 8/472 0/466
96.S4f-4g+ 0/472 1/467
Resigns 0/472 0/467
Time: 07:52:00 07:47:00
White threatens mate with Sx6h+ and black has no defence. Despite a slow
start, this was a very interesting game that was complicated until the
very end. Habu's mistakes in positional judgement are uncharacteristic.
The next game will show if this was just an incident or if Habu is losing
form a little bit.