On March 21, the young title holder, Ryuoh Watanabe matched with Bonanza, 16th World Computer Shogi Champion in Tokyo Japan. Both did not give any handicap. Watanabe won the game in 112 moves. To our surprise, Bonanza slightly led the position in the middlegame but it turned around in the endgame. Watanabe's victory was expected by many people, but everyone was amazed how Bonanza played well and the prediction that computer will be able to beat Meijin in 2012 got more reality after the game.
You may replay this historical game here(Kifu for Java) or here(KiFLA).
And you can see lots of photoes in the blog specifically opened for this special match by Japan Shogi Association, although the texts are written in Japanese there.
The translation of entries in Watanabe's blog are availabe in shogi-l archives as below;
Hi Takodori,
Your title says, “Bonanza led the middlegame”. I read the translated comments of Watanabe in the shogi-l. Where does Watanabe say Bonanza led the middlegame? Watanabe said Bonanza made the correct move and Bonanza made a good move. But I don’t see where Watanabe says Bonanza was leading the middlegame.
Posted by: Mark Schreiber | May 02, 2007 at 01:01 AM
The position at the 71th move(P6e-p6d) is now commonly recognized that Bonanza led the middlegame.
Posted by: takodori | May 14, 2007 at 08:27 AM
Why is move 71 P6e-p6d recognized as Bonanza leading the middle game?
Watanabe talks about P6e-p6d. Watanabe says P6e-p6d was unexpected. Watanabe thinks P6e-p6d is a bad move. Watanabe changes his mind P6e-p6d is a good move. Watanabe plays S-3e expecting Bonanza to play a bad move. But Bonanza plays the correct move P-3f. Watanabe realizes Bonanza is stronger then he previously thought. Watanabe never said Bonanza was leading.
How was Bonanza in a stronger position than Watanabe?
Posted by: Mark Schreiber | May 17, 2007 at 04:11 AM
Watanabe made no bad moves after the 71th move. If Bonanza moved 89.L*2g instead of 89.P*2d, then Bonanza should have won. This theoritically means Bonanza led the position of the 71th move(P6e-6d). I don't say the 71th move is the decisive one that started to lead the position. Maybe it led the position a couple moves ealier. Katsumata 6dan suggested 60.R8b-8c might be questionable in the TV program aired in May.
My understaning what he means is if Watanabe moved 60.R8b-8d instead of R8b-8c, then the possible variation would be 61. R6h-6g 62. L9a-9b 63.B4f-9a+ 64.P8e-8f 65.P8gx8f 66.R8dx8f 67.+B9ax9b 68.R8f-8i+. Comparing with the proceeding of the real game, the position of Sente's promoted bishop is worse since it has shorter diagonal line.
Posted by: takodori | May 17, 2007 at 03:01 PM
Now I see what you are referring to. Watanabe explained Bonanza needed to sacrifice pieces. He figured Bonanza wouldn’t be capable of finding such a high-level sequence. He was correct because Bonanza did not see it. Computers still have a long way to go in understanding shogi. I say about 2 decades before they are unbeatable.
Posted by: Mark Schreiber | May 19, 2007 at 07:47 AM