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Yoshiharu Habu, 31 y.o., is the Shogi Champion. Shogi is widely played in
Japan, a country in which there are around 10 million people who have
played the game, and there are at least a few houndred thousands of
regular players, but surprisingly, Western Chess is not well known in
Japan, and the number of Chess players is ridiculous, making perhaps Japan
the country with the lower relation: W/Chess players vs. population. Mr.
Habu said the following, about Computer programs: '... In normal games,
the computer is still far from the professional level. Its level can be
compared, in the best of cases, to a 4-dan among amateurs [approximately
2300 strength in chess Elo terms. The first dan among professionals starts
after the amateur 6-dan. To get a rough idea, the best Shogi players in the
world, including Mr Habu, have a ranking of professional 9-dan.'.
It seems that Shogi, for a while, is a bit more difficult to be dominated
by a cyber-player. Time will tell.
As a note, Mr. Yoshiharu Habu, the Shogi champion, is also the second best Western Chess player in Japan, a country in which Western Chess is almost unknown. With ELO 2341, Mr. Habu is FIDE master, and is looking for complete the three norms needed for International Master tittle of FIDE-Chess.
Here are these extraordinary annotated games played by Mr. Habu in the 49th Osho Match (2000), against Yasumitsu Sato (Habu won 4-0): Sente: Challenger Yasumitsu Sato Gote: Osho Yoshiharu Habu Event: 49th Osho Match, Game 1 Date: 2000 January 8th and 9th Site: Hokkaido Opening: Yokofudori 1 P2f P8d 2 P2e P8e 3 G7h G3b 4 P2d P2d 5 R2d P2c 6 R2f S7b 7 K5h P1d 8 P7f P6d 9 P3f P3d 10 P2d P2d 11 R2d S6c 12 R3d B3c 13 R3e S5d 14 R2e S2b 15 S3h P6e 16 N3g B8h+ 17 S8h P6f 18 P6f B3d 19 B6g B2e 20 N2e R2h 21 P2g P3g 22 G3i R3h+ 23 G3h P3h+ 24 S7g +P3g 25 P7e +P3f 26 P3d P2d 27 P3c+ N3c 28 N3c+ G3c 29 B7f K4b 30 K6h +P4g 31 K7i P6g 0-1 Sente: Osho Yoshiharu Habu Gote: Challenger Yasumitsu Sato Event: 49th Osho Match, Game 2 Date: 2000 January 17th and 18th Site: Shiga Opening: Aigakari 1 P2f P8d 2 P2e P8e 3 G7h G3b 4 P2d P2d 5 R2d P2c 6 R2f S7b 7 S3h P6d 8 P7f P8f 9 P8f R8f 10 P8g R8b 11 P3f P3d 12 K5h B8h+ 13 S8h S2b 14 P3e P3e 15 P3d R8d 16 N7g K4b 17 S3g P7d 18 B6f P7e 19 S4f P3f 20 G3h B4d 21 B4d P4d 22 B6f R7d 23 R3f P7f 24 N8e S6c 25 N3g P8d 26 P7e R7b 27 B4d P8e 28 N4e N4a 29 B2b+ G2b 30 S3c N23c 31 P3c+ N3c 32 N3d K5b 33 N2b+ N4e 34 R3b+ P4b 35 S4e R7e 36 S4d P3g 37 G3g K6b 38 G6f R7b 39 P7c K7c 40 +N1a N4e 41 L7e K8b 42 L7b+ G7b 43 P7c N7c 44 +R3a N6e 45 R8a K7c 46 G6e P6e 47 N7e B3i 48 N6c+ K6c 49 +R6a G*6b 50 N7e K7d 51 +R7b G7b 52 S8c K6d 53 R6a+ 1-0 Sente: Challenger Yasumitsu Sato Gote: Osho Yoshiharu Habu Event: 49th Osho Match, Game 3 Date: 2000 January 26th and 27th Site: Kumamoto Opening: Shikenbisha 1 P7f P3d 2 P2f P4d 3 P2e B3c 4 S4h P9d 5 G45h P9e 6 K6h R4b 7 K7h S3b 8 P5f S7b 9 S5g S4c 10 P3f K6b 11 B7g K7a 12 K8h K8b 13 L9h R3b 14 S6f P4e 15 R3h P6d 16 N3g P6e 17 S5e P5d 18 N4e P5e 19 N3c+ N3c 20 P5e P6f 21 B6f S6e 22 B7e R5b 23 P3e P3e 24 R3e P3d 25 R3f G3b 26 N7g S7d 27 B6f S4d 28 R3d G4c 29 R3f S5e 30 B4h P5f 31 Gh6h N6d 32 P5h N7f 33 K8i N6h+ 34 G6h R5d 35 P3d R3d 36 R3d G3d 37 R3a R4i 38 B2f G4d 39 R1a+ P6f 40 L6b G9i 41 K7h P6g+ 42 G6g G7a 43 P6f G9h 44 N6d R4g+ 45 P4h +R5h 46 G6h +R5i 47 G6i +R2i 48 +R7a K7a 49 B5c K8b 50 N7b+ K7b 51 L6a+ R8h 0-1 Sente: Osho Yoshiharu Habu Gote: Challenger Yasumitsu Sato Event: 49th Osho Match, Game 4 Date: 2000 February 7th and 8th Site: Sendai Opening: Kakugawari Koshikakegin 1 P7f P8d 2 P2f P8e 3 B7g P3d 4 S8h G3b 5 G7h S4b 6 B2b+ G2b 7 S7g G3b 8 S3h S7b 9 P9f P9d 10 P4f P6d 11 S4g S6c 12 K6h S5d 13 P1f P1d 14 S5f G5b 15 K7i K4a 16 P6f P4d 17 G5h P3e 18 P2e S3c 19 S4g P4e 20 P4e S4e 21 P4f Se3d 22 P3f P3f 23 S3f K3a 24 P3e S4c 25 N3g P7d 26 G4g R6b 27 S4e P9e 28 P9e P6e 29 P6e P9g 30 P3d S43d 31 P2d P2d 32 P2b G2b 33 S3d S3d 34 N4e P8f 35 B4d S4e 36 P2c G2c 37 B1a+ B3c 38 +B1b S3d 39 L3i G4c 40 +B2c S2c 41 L3c+ G3c 42 P8f P4a 43 B6d R6d 44 P6d L6e 45 P6c+ B6i 46 R8b P6b 47 R6b+ P3b 48 S1a S2b 49 G4b P4b 50 +R6a N4a 51 +R4a K4a 52 S2b= B7h+ 53 R7h R6i 54 K8h G9h 55 L9h P9h+ 56 K9h L9f 57 S9g L9g+ 58 K9g P9f 59 K9f S8g 60 K8g R8i+ 61 G8h 1-0
Another Habu great game, commented!: Sente: Challenger Koji Tanigawa Gote: Meijin Yoshiharu Habu Event: 55th Meijin Match, Game 5 Date: 1997 May 29th & 30th Site: Hokkaido Opening: Kakugawari Koshikakegin [Notes based on Shukan Shogi, 97-June-4.] 1. P7f P8d 2. G7h P8e Habu, who needs this game and the next two to avoid losing the Meijin title, spent 33 minutes on his first move and 21 on his second. 3. B7g P3d 4. S6h G3b 5. S3h S7b 6. P2f B7g+ 7. S7g S4b 8. P1f P1d 9. P9f P9d 10. P4f P6d 11. S4g S6c 12. K6h S5d 13. S5f S3c 14. G5h P6e!? 15. K7i K4b 16. P2e G5b The sealed move. 17. P3f K3a 18. N3g P4d 19. R4h G54c 20. K8h K2b 21. G56h G44b 22. L1h G44c 23. G5h G44b 24. G4g!? With 24. B2f, Sente can break the repetition but not gote's defence. The continuation would be 24... G34c 25. P4e P4e 26. S4e P4d. 24... G44c 25. R2h G44b 26. P4e!? Finally, Tanigawa opens the middlegame, though his King's defences are thin. 27... P4e 27. N4e After 27. N4e..... 28... S4e! Habu finds the best chance. If instead 27... S4d 28. P4f, gote has no suitable continuation, while sente can exchange pawns with P2d and advance P3e at will. Or if 27... P4f 28. N3c+ G33c 29. G4h N4d 30. P3e, again sente has a good game. 30... N3f 31. P3d N2h+ 32. P3c+ and gote has no good way to recapture. 32... G3c 33. B7i, 32... N3c 33. P3d, or 32... K3c 33. S3e all seem to favor sente. 28. S4e P8f 29. P8f P6f A slight surprise. 29... P8e was expected. Then if 30. P8e, gote could follow up with either 30... P6f or 30... N9c with a good game. Or if 30. P3e as in the game, 30... P8f 31. P3d N8e would win. Sente has a remarkable resource, however, in 30. S7a! when 30... R7b loses to 31. P3e, and 30... R8d is met by 31. P8e R8e 32. P8f R8f 33. P8g (but not 33. S8f B5e) R8e 34. P3e P6f 35. G5f P6g+ 36. G6g. 30. P6f P8e 31. P3e Of course not 31. P8e? R8e and sente's silver at 4e is lost. 31... B6i!? 31... P8f is not good due to 32. P8c R8c 33. B5f. 32. B5f N4d! After 32... N4d! If instead 32... N6d 33. B6e P8f 34. P8c R6b 35. P3d, gote's knight blocks his own rook. 33. B6e 33. S4d might be better. Then after 33... S4d, sente can try either 34. S5h, killing the bishop, or 34. P8e S4e 35. N2f. 33... P8f 34. P8c R6b 35. P3d R6e 36. P6e B6g! 37. G6g 37. S8f B4e+ 38. P3c+ G43c 39. S5f would have led to a difficult game. 37... P8g+ 38. K7i B4g+ 39. B6i +B6i 40. K6i B4g 41. S5h? Tanigawa misses his last chance. 41. B5h, preventing Habu's next shot, was absolutely necessary. Then after 41... B5h 42. K5h G3g 43. R2f +P7h 44. P5f the game looks far from over. 41... N3f! 'Habu magic'. 42. P3c+ G43c 43. S3f There is nothing better. If the rook abandons the 2nd rank, 42... N4h+ wins. 43... B3f+ Now gote's king is safe. 44. P3d G3d 45. N2f Gd3c 46. P3d Gc4c 47. P2d Nice try, but insufficient. 47... G7h Accurate. The tempting 47... +B3g allows matters to get out of hand: 48. N1d! L1d 49. P2c+ G2c 50. S3c! and now if 50... N3c? 51. R2a! mates. 48. K5i +B3g 49. R*4h P4g 50. B6f K3a 51. S4g S3i Threatening mate after 52... S4h 53. R4h R7i. There is no defence as 52. G6h is met simply by 52... P6g. 0-1 At long last, Habu wins a Habu-style victory.
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