Habu took the first game - 21st Ryuo-sen 4-win match

On October 18 & 19 in Paris, the 1st game of the 21st Ryuo-sen 4-win match between Ryuo Watanabe Akira and Challenger Meijin Habu took place in Le Meridien Etoile . As a result of Furigoma, Watanabe became Sente player. The opening strategy is Gote's Itteson Kakugawari(Bishop exchange with Gote's one tempo delay). Watanabe built Anaguma castle on his left side while Habu adopted Migigyoku(Right King) strategy. The game was ended with Habu's victory in 92 moves. The diagram below is when Watanabe resigned just after Habu dropped his Gold on 7h. At the the resignation diagram, only 5 pieces on the board were left unmoved such as the lances on 9a, 1a and 1i and the pawns on 8g and 5g.

Sente's King would be mated in any way. Some possible variations after G*7h would be

1. K-9i S*8h(mate)
2. Kx7h Px6g+ K-8h G*7h K-9i S*8h(mate)
3. Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g N*5e K-7h S*7g K-8i G*8h(mate)
4. Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g N*5e K-5h S*4g K-6i G*6h(mate)
5. Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g N*5e K-6f P*6e Kx6e G-6d K-6f G*6e(mate)
6. Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g N*5e K-6f P*6e Kx6e G-6d K-5f S*6e K-4f G*4g(mate, replayable clicking the arrow in the right direction below the diagram)
7. Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g N*5e K-6f P*6e K-7f G*7e(mate)
8. Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g N*5e K-6f P*6e K-5f S*6g K-4f G*4g(mate)
9. Kx7h Px6g+ Kx6g N*5e K-6f P*6e K-5f S*6g Kx6e G-6d K-6f G*6e(mate)

They say this is one of Habu's masterpieces. Habu led the score in 1-0. The second game will be held on October 30 & 31.

Comments

[Tony]

A great game. It's not the win but the exceptional way Mr. Habu has controlled the entire game.

[deepsojourner]

as i played over this game it seemed that at move 82 kaku takes gin at 8f Habu was making forced moves. I do not agree with "tony" that Habu controlled the whole game. Yet there was a rythem to it that was very clear, Habu knew he was winning from the beginning.
it is as if the cobra knows the mongus is dead. amazing

[marcchan]

cool !

[deepsojourner]

i am distressed that some japanese websites do not serve none nippon residents and seem to block ready access to the deeper pages of said sites.
i have tried to gain a password to play at shogidojo and have sent numerious emails to the web master to no avail.
it keeps saying i have a free email address.
this is not true, deepsojourner dot info is a paid site.
i asked takodori and he rudely told me to play at kurnik.
i have been to nippon, have played a the shogi remmei and the nihon kiin both.
but i feel that there is a undertow that being a racist attitude toward the west.
at both shogidojo and panda i cannot get a response to any means of communication. this is rude and mean spirited.
it has a lack of Bushido. it is an attack on my HARA
thank you for your time deepsojourner

[Tony]

@deepsojourner:
OK, then I will reword my paragraph as "Mr. Habu controlled the RyuO game 1 most of the time".

For the registration problem there is a possible solution.

Hopefully Mr. Takodori will help deepsojourner by registering on his behalf, then give the password to deepsojourner to play.

They say move #64 was the move of a genius. The Ryu-ou managed to promote the Hisha AND get two pieces in hand for the attack but lost nonetheless.
Still, was move #89 suicidal? Gote's gyoku is under some fireand what would happen if Watanabe just stuck to pulling the gold back?