34th Kio Match Game 3
[Black "Sato Yasumitsu, Kio"]
[White "Kubo Toshiaki, Challenger"]
[Event "34th Kio-sen, Game 3"]
[Date "March 8th 2009"]
1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00
2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:00:00
3.P2g-2f 00:00:00 00:00:00
4.P5c-5d 00:00:00 00:01:00
5.P2f-2e 00:00:00 00:01:00
6.R8b-5b 00:00:00 00:02:00
7.G6i-7h 00:00:00 00:02:00
This is a common way to play against the Gokigen Nakabisha. Sato has prepared
something special, at least that is what he thinks...
8.K5a-6b 00:00:00 00:02:00
9.S3i-4h 00:00:00 00:02:00
10.K6b-7b 00:00:00 00:02:00
11.K5i-6i 00:00:00 00:02:00
12.K7b-8b 00:00:00 00:02:00
13.P9g-9f 00:01:00 00:02:00
14.P9c-9d 00:01:00 00:02:00
15.P2e-2d 00:03:00 00:02:00
16.P2cx2d 00:03:00 00:11:00
17.R2hx2d 00:03:00 00:11:00
18.B2bx8h+ 00:03:00 00:13:00
19.S7ix8h 00:03:00 00:13:00
20.R5b-2b 00:03:00 00:13:00
21.P*2c 00:04:00 00:13:00
22.R2b-5b 00:04:00 00:13:00
23.S8h-7g 00:04:00 00:13:00
24.P5d-5e 00:04:00 00:33:00
25.G7h-6h 00:15:00 00:33:00
This is the move that Sato prepared. Moving this gold back to the center and
moving the rook in the castle with K7h next is making it very hard for the
"Sabaki artist" Kubo to open up the position. After the game Sato was very
happy with how his new strategy had worked. That is, until he was told that
this wasn't a new idea at all, but had been played before. The same counter
to the Gokigen Nakabisha was played by Naito in the game against Yamasaki, which
was played in the Ginga tournament in April 2005. Because the timing of moving
the silver and gold was different, Sato hadn't been able to find it in the
database. Not a big problem in this game, because Kubo also thought this was
a new idea.
26.S7a-7b 00:15:00 00:34:00
27.K6i-7h 00:15:00 00:34:00
28.G4a-3b 00:15:00 00:39:00
29.R2d-2h 00:21:00 00:39:00
30.N2a-3c 00:21:00 01:05:00
31.B*4a 00:49:00 01:05:00
32.R5b-4b 00:49:00 01:07:00
33.B4ax3b+ 00:49:00 01:07:00
34.R4bx3b 00:49:00 01:07:00
35.G*2b 00:49:00 01:07:00
36.R3b-5b 00:49:00 01:26:00
37.G2bx3a 00:49:00 01:26:00
38.P*2f 00:49:00 01:26:00
39.R2hx2f 00:59:00 01:26:00
40.B*5c 00:59:00 01:33:00
41.R2f-4f 01:03:00 01:33:00
42.B5cx3a 01:03:00 01:42:00
43.R4fx4c+ 01:03:00 01:42:00
44.G*4b 01:03:00 01:42:00
45.+R4c-4f 01:21:00 01:42:00
It looks like there are many possible ways to play this position, but until
here both players exactly followed the game between Naito and Yamasaki. At
first, Sato couldn't hide his disappointment that his "new" idea had been played
before, but he could soon smile about it: "On the other hand, having the same
idea as Master Naito is an honor". Naito played 45.+Rx3d here, but Sato decided
to pull back the promoted rook to 4f instead.
46.B*2g 01:21:00 01:46:00
47.G4i-5h 01:24:00 01:46:00
48.B2g-4e+ 01:24:00 01:50:00
49.+R4f-2f 01:24:00 01:50:00
50.G4b-4c 01:24:00 01:53:00
51.P4g-4f! 01:27:00 01:53:00
Kubo was quite happy with his position here, being up a bishop against a silver,
but after this move he lost his confidence. Despite being behind in material, Sato
chooses to play a slow game by P4f followed by S4g. When looking at the position
closely, the material balance is not so clear. White is a bishop for a silver up,
but black has two pawns for it. More importantly, white has no pawns in hand. Also,
even though the promoted bishop on 4e looks very good, the promoted rook on 2f is
even stronger.
52.+B4e-4d 01:27:00 02:15:00
53.+R2f-2h 01:28:00 02:15:00
54.P3d-3e 01:28:00 02:18:00
55.S4h-4g 01:32:00 02:18:00
56.+B4d-3d 01:32:00 02:20:00
57.S*2b! 01:45:00 02:20:00
Very pragmatic move. The professionals in the press room greeted it with cries of
surprise, because this is not a move a professional likes to play. Dropping this
silver far from the king, just to pick up a lance that is not doing anything
anyway is bad style. However, Sato judged that it was the only move that wasn't
bad for the Static Rook side. Kubo agreed, admitting that after this silver drop
there was no way to achieve Sabaki for his major pieces.
58.B3a-6d 01:45:00 02:23:00
59.S2bx1a= 01:45:00 02:23:00
60.G4c-5d 01:45:00 02:23:00
61.P2c-2b+ 01:46:00 02:23:00
62.P7c-7d 01:46:00 02:39:00
63.P*2d 01:54:00 02:39:00
64.N3c-2e 01:54:00 02:52:00
65.P2d-2c+ 01:54:00 02:52:00
66.R5b-5c 01:54:00 02:52:00
67.+R2h-2f 02:14:00 02:52:00
68.P1c-1d 02:14:00 02:58:00
69.P*2d 02:36:00 02:58:00
70.R5c-5a 02:36:00 02:59:00
71.P1g-1f? 02:43:00 02:59:00
A mistake that makes this a very close game. The plan is clear, because this
threatens +P3c +B2d +P2b-2c, trapping the promoted bishop, but white has a
strong counter. The right move here was actually found by lady professional
Yauchi, who proposed 71.+P3b Rx1a +P3b-3c +B5b +P2c-3b and the threat +P3b-4b
is very strong, because the white promoted bishop is tied to the defense of
the knight on 2e. Sato said that he hadn't given this any thought, because
it just gave away a silver, but admitted that it was better than what he played.
Kubo agreed that even with the extra silver, his position was desperate. Yauchi
was of course very happy that she had discovered something these two top men
weren't able to find.
72.B6d-5c 02:43:00 02:59:00
73.+R2f-2h 02:52:00 02:59:00
74.B5c-4d 02:52:00 03:00:00
Black still has the advantage, but getting the promoted pawns moving is now
very hard.
75.+P2c-3b 03:01:00 03:00:00
76.+B3dx2d 03:01:00 03:09:00
77.N2i-1g 03:08:00 03:09:00
78.P*2f 03:08:00 03:12:00
79.N1gx2e 03:08:00 03:12:00
80.+B2dx2e 03:08:00 03:12:00
81.+P3b-4b 03:08:00 03:12:00
82.R5a-5c 03:08:00 03:12:00
83.N*6f 03:10:00 03:12:00
84.B4d-3c 03:10:00 03:13:00
85.N6fx5d 03:16:00 03:13:00
86.R5cx5d 03:16:00 03:15:00
87.G*4c 03:17:00 03:15:00
88.P5e-5f 03:17:00 03:21:00
89.G4cx3c 03:25:00 03:21:00
90.P5fx5g+ 03:25:00 03:22:00
91.G5hx5g 03:25:00 03:22:00
92.N*6e 03:25:00 03:26:00
93.L*5h! 03:41:00 03:26:00
Sato is lucky here. He intended to play 93.P*5f, which is good for black after
94.Nx5g+ Gx5g P2g+ +R6h, but here he realized that white also can play 94.P2g+
first, because Rx2g R2d strongly threatens +Bx4g next and Sato couldn't find a
way to defend against this. Fortunately for him, 93.L*5h is a good move,
indirectly aiming at the rook on 5d.
94.N*8e 03:41:00 03:40:00
95.S4g-5f 03:50:00 03:40:00
96.N8ex7g+ 03:50:00 03:42:00
97.N8ix7g 03:50:00 03:42:00
98.N6ex5g+ 03:50:00 03:42:00
99.L5hx5g 03:50:00 03:42:00
100.S*5i 03:50:00 03:42:00
101.B*4c! 03:50:00 03:42:00
The decisive move. After 102.+Bx4c Gx4c P2g+ +R5h there is no way to get to the
black king, so black will win the semeai.
102.P2f-2g+ 03:50:00 03:49:00
No choice, but...
103.B4cx2e+ 03:50:00 03:49:00
Black gives up the promoted rook, but instead removes the strong promoted
bishop on 2e by getting a promoted bishop himself here. This bishop works
very well in attack and defense.
104.+P2gx2h 03:50:00 03:49:00
105.G6h-6i 03:50:00 03:49:00
Chasing away the silver gives black enough time to win the attacking race.
106.S5i-4h= 03:50:00 03:51:00
107.S5f-5e 03:53:00 03:51:00
108.S4hx5g+ 03:53:00 03:53:00
109.S5ex5d 03:53:00 03:53:00
110.+P2hx1i 03:53:00 03:53:00
111.N*8f 03:54:00 03:53:00
112.L*7c 03:54:00 03:59:00
113.+P4b-5b 03:55:00 03:59:00
114.L*6d 03:55:00 03:59:00
115.+P5bx6a 03:58:00 03:59:00
116.+S5gx6g 03:58:00 03:59:00
117.K7h-8i 03:58:00 03:59:00
118.G*7h 03:58:00 03:59:00
119.G6ix7h 03:58:00 03:59:00
120.+S6gx7h 03:58:00 03:59:00
121.K8i-9h 03:58:00 03:59:00
Resigns 03:58:00 03:59:00
No mate against the black king, and there is a simple mate after B*7a K9b
G*9c. Because there is no good defense against this mating threat, Kubo resigned
here. A good win for Sato, who was rewarded for his very positive play despite
being 2-0 down. He will have to do that two times more to defend his title, so
he is still in major trouble, especially because Kubo will have the black pieces
in the next game.