57th Osho Match Game 1
[Black "Kubo Toshiaki, Challenger"]
[White "Habu Yoshiharu, Osho"]
[Event "57th Osho-sen, Game 1"]
[Date "January 17th and 18th 2008"]
1.P7g-7f 00:00:00 00:00:00
For the first time Kubo plays a best-of-seven title match where each
game takes two days. He will have been happy with the outcome of the
furigoma, which gave him the black pieces. Starting with black gives
the best chance to start the match with a victory and be ahead of Habu
for a change.
2.P3c-3d 00:00:00 00:05:00
3.P7f-7e 00:04:00 00:05:00
4.P5c-5d 00:04:00 00:14:00
5.P6g-6f 00:25:00 00:14:00
6.S3a-4b 00:25:00 00:21:00
7.R2h-7h 00:29:00 00:21:00
Kubo almost always plays the Ishida style Sankenbisha with black and
here he shows that he has no intention to surprise Habu.
8.S4b-5c 00:29:00 00:25:00
9.K5i-4h 00:47:00 00:25:00
10.B2b-3c 00:47:00 00:34:00
11.S3i-3h 00:54:00 00:34:00
12.R8b-2b 00:54:00 00:47:00
The Mukaibisha. Interesting that in the Oza match that was played four
months ago, Habu played the Sankenbisha with black and Kubo the Mukaibisha
with white. Colours reversed, but definitely within the realm of expectation.
13.K4h-3i 01:11:00 00:47:00
14.P2c-2d 01:11:00 01:30:00
15.S7i-6h 01:36:00 01:30:00
An interesting choice by Kubo. Recently, in this type of position the normal
way of playing is 15.P3f followed by S3g, because this doesn't allow the
pawn exchange on 2f by white. Kubo himself has a very good winning percentage
with this way of playing, so it was a surprise that he allowed this. Because
this position might appear again in this match it was glossed over during the
post-mortem analysis, but it seems that Kubo had no intention of playing the
Yagura formation with P3f and S3g.
16.P2d-2e 01:36:00 02:01:00
17.S6h-6g 01:44:00 02:01:00
18.G6a-7b 01:44:00 02:05:00
19.G6i-5h 02:37:00 02:05:00
20.K5a-6a 02:37:00 02:17:00
Habu may not be a natural Furibisha player, but this shows his deep sense of
the game. The normal way to castle the king is to set up a Mino formation, but
Habu doesn't like the pressure of the pawn on 7e in that case and opts for a
lower king formation, further from the fight.
21.K3i-2h 03:09:00 02:17:00
22.S7a-6b 03:09:00 02:36:00
23.P5g-5f 03:47:00 02:36:00
A preparation for the next move. Black wants to build a High Mino formation,
but if black plays 23.P4f immediately, white can attack strongly with P5e
followed by S5d.
24.K6a-7a 03:47:00 03:28:00
25.P4g-4f!? 04:14:00 03:28:00
In his first two-day title match Kubo selects to seal the move. Not only that,
he seals a move that completely changes the pace of the game. He could have
continued to develop his position with 25.P9f followed by B9g, but instead he
decides to call out Habu.
26.P2e-2f 04:14:00 03:58:00
Habu takes up the challenge, but he had no choice. If black is allowed to build
the High Mino formation with G4g followed by P3f and N3g, he will never be stuck
for moves and white will suffer a strategic loss.
27.G5h-4g 04:16:00 03:58:00
Necessary. 27.Px2f Rx2f P*2g Rx4f G4g R4e G3f R4d P6e P5e is good for white.
28.P2fx2g+ 04:16:00 04:28:00
29.S3hx2g 04:38:00 04:28:00
30.P*2f 04:38:00 04:28:00
31.S2g-3h 04:38:00 04:28:00
White has a huge pawn on 2f, but Kubo fancied his chances to stop the white attack.
Habu also had no idea if his attack would be strong enough. As it is, Kubo had
judged the position correctly. However, he only gets one chance to stop the white
attack...
32.S5c-4d 04:38:00 04:28:00
33.P3g-3f 04:51:00 04:28:00
34.P3d-3e 04:51:00 04:28:00
35.G4i-4h 04:51:00 04:28:00
36.P3ex3f 04:51:00 04:44:00
37.G4gx3f 04:51:00 04:44:00
38.B3c-2d 04:51:00 04:44:00
39.P6f-6e 05:12:00 04:44:00
40.P5d-5e 05:12:00 04:52:00
41.P*2e 05:29:00 04:52:00
42.S4d-3e 05:29:00 05:04:00
43.G3f-4e? 05:57:00 05:04:00
Here was Kubo's only chance. Bad is 43.Gx3e Bx3e K3g Rx2e S*3f P2g+ S3hx2g G*2f or
43.G3f-3g P*3f G3g-4g B4b P*3g R3b, but after 43.G3f-3g P*3f black can also play
the surprising Gx2f!. Then Sx2f Px2d is good for black because white has no pawn
in hand to drop on 2g and after Rx2e P*2g the black position is safe. Therefore,
after Sx2f Px2d white has to try something like P3g+ but then P3g+ Nx3g G*3f B*6i!
keeps the black position together (Gx4f is answered by Bx5e). Habu admitted after
the game that he had no confidence in his position if this would have been played.
Kubo misses his chance, but even at the top level playing perfect defence is difficult.
44.N2a-3c 05:57:00 05:24:00
45.P2ex2d 06:17:00 05:24:00
46.N3cx4e 06:17:00 05:24:00
47.P4fx4e 06:17:00 05:24:00
48.R2bx2d 06:17:00 05:24:00
49.B8h-7i 06:28:00 05:24:00
50.G*3f 06:28:00 05:54:00
51.B*1f 06:39:00 05:54:00
52.P2f-2g+ 06:39:00 05:57:00
53.B1fx2g 06:42:00 05:57:00
54.P5ex5f 06:42:00 06:06:00
55.S6gx5f 06:48:00 06:06:00
56.G3fx2g 06:48:00 06:40:00
57.S3hx2g 06:48:00 06:40:00
58.B*3f 06:48:00 06:40:00
59.G*3h 06:55:00 06:40:00
60.B3fx2g+ 06:55:00 06:42:00
61.G3hx2g 06:55:00 06:42:00
62.S*3f 06:55:00 06:42:00
63.B*1f 06:56:00 06:42:00
64.S3fx2g+ 06:56:00 06:45:00
65.B1fx2g 06:56:00 06:45:00
66.P*5g 06:56:00 06:46:00
67.B7ix5g 06:59:00 06:46:00
68.G*4f 06:59:00 06:46:00
69.B5gx4f 07:23:00 06:46:00
70.S3ex4f 07:23:00 06:46:00
71.P*2f 07:23:00 06:46:00
72.B*6f 07:23:00 06:54:00
73.N*3h 07:28:00 06:54:00
74.S4f-5e 07:28:00 07:20:00
75.S*7g 07:31:00 07:20:00
76.B6fx4h+ 07:31:00 07:21:00
77.S5fx5e 07:31:00 07:21:00
78.+B4h-4g 07:31:00 07:21:00
79.G*4f 07:32:00 07:21:00
80.+B4g-6i 07:32:00 07:21:00
81.R7h-9h 07:37:00 07:21:00
82.P*5d 07:37:00 07:23:00
83.G4f-3e 07:41:00 07:23:00
84.R2d-2a 07:41:00 07:28:00
85.S5e-4f 07:44:00 07:28:00
86.+B6i-7i 07:44:00 07:29:00
87.P4e-4d 07:45:00 07:29:00
88.+B7ix8i 07:45:00 07:33:00
89.P1g-1f 07:45:00 07:33:00
90.P*3d 07:45:00 07:33:00
Habu has been playing it very carefully and he surprised everyone after the game by
commenting that only here he felt confident that he would win the game.
91.G3e-2e 07:45:00 07:33:00
92.P4cx4d 07:45:00 07:35:00
93.B2gx5d 07:46:00 07:35:00
94.R2a-2c 07:46:00 07:35:00
95.P6e-6d 07:55:00 07:35:00
96.P*2d 07:55:00 07:41:00
Resigns 07:59:00 07:41:00
This wins the gold after which white can simply play P2e followed by Px2f or P*2f
which makes the white attack unstoppable. Black has no way of getting to the white
king, so Kubo resigned here. This looked like a one-sided game on the surface, but
it was much closer than it looked, so that may give Kubo a little confidence to take
into the rest of this match.