Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

Kubo made a mistake at the final moment. Habu defended Osho title

Yesterday Habu won the fifth game of 57th Osho-sen 4-wins match with Challenger Kubo 8 dan in 112 moves. Kubo was Sente player. The opening strategy of the game was Kubo's Shikenbisha while Habu chose quick attack advancing his left Silver to 5c. At the 99th move, Habu's King was in Hisshi(brinkmate) and Habu had to checkmate Kubo's King to win. He started to make a check by pawn sacrifice with promotion of P-6i+ at the 100th move. He believed there was mate but the fact is that there was no mate. However, Kubo finally made a mistake at the 109th move of K-7e. If he played K-7f instead, then his King would not have been mated. Habu was surprised to know there was no mate in the most mortem after the game. That means he played as if he was sure he would win the game after the 100th move. I am curious how Kubo felt about Habu's groundless confident attitude of making moves in the endgame.

The diagram below is the resignation one. The possible variations after that position would be as followings;

K-8d Rx8e(mate)

K-7f R-6g+ K-7e +R-6e K-8d +Rx8e(mate)

Gote's King could not help being mated in any cases.

With this victory, Habu defended the Osho title at 4-1.

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #17

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #17. It's a 7 move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #16

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #15. It's a 7 move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Boardlive today and tomorrow - 5th game of 57th Osho-sen

Today and tomorrow are the days for the 5th game of 57th Osho-sen 4-wins match between Osho Habu and Kubo(8 dan). Kubo is Sente(black) player this game since Habu was so last game. You can watch and replay the game through the link below(Java capable browser is needed).

5th game of 57th Osho-sen 4-wins match

Here are the explanations about the four buttons above the board there.

1st button --- to be refreshed every 30 seconds
2nd button --- to be refreshed every 1 minute
3rd button --- to be refreshed every 3 minutes
4th button --- to be refreshed manually

The color of the buttons shows you which one you are choosing now(The example above is choosing the 1st button). I recommend you to choose the 4th button when you replay the game from the start to the current position and push the 2nd button to watch the live games in the endgame in Byoyomi.

The opening strategy of this game was Sente's Shikenbihsa(4th file Rook). Habu did not take Ibisha-Anaguma and chose boat castle and S4b-5c! Long time no see. I don't remember when Habu chose this opening against Shikenbisha last time.

Although the texts are written in Japanese, you can see many photos and videos frequently uploaded related to this match through the official blog linked below;

57th Osho-sen broadcasting blog

Atamakin Tsume Practice #15

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #15. It's a 7 move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Community of "3gatsu no lion"(manga)

"3 gatsu no lion" is a manga of Kiriyama Rei as the main character who is 17 years old professional shogi player in C-1 Juni-sen class written by Umino Chica. Her former "Honey and Clover"(ten volumes in total) is sold in more than eight million prints cumulatively in Japan. The 1st volume of 3 gatsu no Lion has been on sale since February 22. It's most likely to be sold very well so far.

There is a community of 3 gatsu no lion in English. It may be a good idea to join it if you are interested in that manga.

March Comes in Like a Lion

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #14

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #14. It's a nine(!) move tsume but I think you can manage it if you have solved # 13 by yourself.  I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Sato tied the score at 1-1 - 2nd game of 33rd Kio-sen

The day before yesterday Sato won the second game of 33rd Kio-sen 3-wins match with Challenger Habu(2 crowns) in 133 moves. The score was tied at 1-1. Sato was Sente player. The opening strategy of the game was Gote's Gokigen Nakabisha(central Rook). Sato traded Bishops at the seventh move which is called Maruyama Vaccine since Maruyama (9 dan) used to beat Gokigen Nakabihsa with this bishop trade. They say Habu had winning position up to the 123th move. I think S*7f instead of S*8g at the 124th move would have been better since Gote's King was not in threatmate at that time.

The diagram below is the resignation one. The possible variations after that position would be as followings;

Px9e Kx9e P*9d Kx9d B*6a S*8c Bx8c Px8c+ K-8a B*9b Lx9b +Px9b Kx9b G*8b (mate, replayable by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the diagram)

Px9e Kx9e P*9d Kx9d K-8a P*9b Lx9b P*9c Lx9c Nx9c= K-7a G*7b(mate)

S*8g Gx8g Nx8g+ G*8b(mate)

S*8b S*9c Sx9c G*8c K-8a S-7b+(mate)

There would be more variations, but Gote was hopeless in any cases.

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #13

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #12 #13. It's a seven move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.

Atamakin Tsume Practice - #12

"Atamakin" means Gold drop on the square ahead of the opponent's King supported by other piece of yours on the board. This gold drop is frequently used when checkmating the King in the endgame. It is necessary to be able to make an Atamakin for you to win a game. You can learn by solving Atamakin Tsume Practice problems to be posted here. Today is #12. It's a seven move tsume. I recommend you to replay the answer to remember the line if you cannot solve this problem within 5 minutes.

You can see the answer by clicking the arrow in the right direction under the board in order to replay the answer line. (Popup diagram to be saved for printing) Click the exclamation marks which appear below the diagram for further comments on the problem. If you click the marks again, the comment windows go away.