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18th Zen Nihon Pro Tournament,
Game 3
To play through the game in
a Java viewer, click here.
Black: Okazaki Hiroshi, 5-dan
White: Tanigawa Koji, Kisei
18th Zen Nihon Pro Tournament, Game 3, April 27th 2000
Notes by Reijer Grimbergen
1.P7g-7f 2.P3c-3d 3.P2g-2f 4.P8c-8d
(A
diagram) At the party before the start of the tournament,
Morishita and Ouchi predicted that Tanigawa would play Furibisha,
but he selects the Yokofudori instead.
5.P2f-2e 6.P8d-8e 7.G6i-7h 8.G4a-3b 9.P2e-2d 10.P2cx2d 11.R2hx2d
12.P8e-8f 13.P8gx8f 14.R8bx8f 15.R2dx3d 16.B2b-3c 17.K5i-5h 18.S3a-2b
19.G4i-3h 20.K5a-4a 21.R3d-3f 22.S7a-6b 23.P9g-9f 24.P9c-9d 25.P7f-7e
Okazaki likes this move, which is an attempt to avoid the R8e-Yokofudori.
However, he runs straight into the home preparation of Tanigawa.
This game seems to indicate that 25.P7e is not good and that black
has to play either S4h or N7g.
26.R8f-8d!
The
move that Tanigawa prepared. Okazaki only knew 26.R8b and
admitted that he had not studied this variation well enough. The
game now picks up pace very quickly.
27.N8i-7g
28.P*8g 29.B8h-9g 30.P9d-9e 31.P9fx9e 32.N8a-9c 33.P7e-7d 34.P7cx7d
(A
diagram) Not good is 34.Rx7d Rx3c+ Nx3c B*8c G5a (G7a P*7b)
Bx7d+ Px7d P*7c and black gets the initiative.
35.R3f-8f
36.R8dx8f 37.B9gx8f 38.P8g-8h+ 39.S7ix8h 40.P*8e
This
looks like a complete loss for black, as 41.B9f fails to 42.Px9f
and after 40.Nx8e white can play the sacrifice Bx8h+ anytime he
likes.
41.R*8a!
(A
diagram) With his back against the wall, Okazaki shows that
he is not a pushover. The next moves are forced.
42.R*7a
43.R8ax7a+ 44.G6ax7a 45.P*7b 46.G7ax7b 47.R*8a 48.R*7a 49.P*7c
And suddenly black
seems to have everything to play for. 50.Sx7c or Gx7c fail to
Rx7a+ followed by Bx5c+ and black has an overwhelming position.
White has no choice.
50.R7ax8a 51.P7cx7b+ 52.P8ex8f
53.P*8b!
Much better than 53.+Px8a which moves the promoted pawn to far from
the king. Okazaki thought that he had the better position here,
but in the press room Ouchi already pointed to the general wall
on 3h and 3i, which would make it very hard for the black king to
escape. Ouchi predicted that black's attack was not strong enough
and that white's counter attack would be very severe.
54.P8f-8g+ 55.S8hx8g 56.P*8f 57.S8g-7f
(A
diagram) Here Okazaki woke up to reality. He thought he
could play 57.Sx8f, which after 58.R*8i +Px6b G4b Px8a+ B*6i K6h
P*8g S*7i is good for black. However, here he realised that after
58.Rx8b! +Px8b R*8i R*8a S5a +P7b B*6i K6h P*8g he has no silver
in hand and he can no longer defend. 57.S8f is a change of plan
and that is almost never a good sign.
58.R8ax8b 59.+P7bx8b 60.P7d-7e!
Now white's advantage is clear.
61.+P8b-7b 62.S6b-5a 63.+P7b-6a 64.S5a-4b 65.+P6a-6b 66.G3b-3a
67.R*7a 68.K4a-3b 69.R7ax7e+
Black has managed to
avoid immediate disaster by taking this pawn, but allowing the white
king to get out of danger has virtually ended this game. White is
completely safe and black has nowhere to run.
70.R*8i 71.P6g-6f
No choice. The natural 71.P*7i fails to 72.Bx7g+ Gx7g Rx7i+.
72.B*4i 73.K5h-6h 74.B4ix7f+ 75.+R7ex7f 76.P*7e 77.+R7fx7e 78.P8f-8g+
79.P*2d 80.B3cx2d 81.G*3d 82.+P8gx7h 83.K6hx7h 84.B2dx5g+ 85.K7hx8i
Resigns
Time: 02:15:00 02:14:00
Black has no mate and even the defence 87.R*7h P*8h Rx8h G*7i leads
to mate. Another great performance by Tanigawa, who
wins the Zen Nihon Pro Tournament after a three year lapse for the
7th time, improving on his own record. One has to feel a little
sorry for Okazaki, who failed to make much impact in his first appearance
on the big stage. Still, most professionals do not even get this
far in their entire career and Okazaki will take this experience
with him into the other tournaments.
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