Good example how to approach opponent's King

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This is a position of the 2005 JT cup game between Morishita 9 dan(Sente) and Tanigawa 9 dan. In the diagram, Tanigawa dropped his Silver on 4h to threat to capture Sente's Rook on 5i and Gold on 4i. If Sente took it, he would lose the Rook by Gote's +Bx5i. What Sente should do?

Morishita's answer was splendid. He neglected the dropped Silver since it was not a threatmate. He knew he could win the game if he made a threatmate at that time. His next move was kNight drop of N*7c which was a clear threatmate aiming at Rook drop of R*8a or R*6a. Tanigawa had no defense. After N*7c, it went like this;K-8b R*8a K-9b R-6a+ Resign.

After resignation, if Gote moved the Silver from 6b to 7a to protect the Gold on 7b, then there would be a mate like this;+Rx7b Sx7b G*8b(mate). If Gote opened his King's escaping path by P-9d, then there would be a mate as well like this; +Rx7b K-9c +R-8b K-8d G*8e(mate). This is why Tanigawa could not help resigning the game.

Back to Morishita's decisive kNight drop on 7c, what would happen if Gote took it? It was impossible to save Gote's King anyway. One possible variation was like this; Sx7c Px7c+ Gx7c R*4b +Nx6b S*8b K*8b Rx6b+ S*7b N-8e B*8d Nx7c+ Bx7c N*7d K-8a G*7a K-9b +Rx7b L*8b +R-8a(mate).

You can replay the full game here. You need FlashPlayer to replay it.

Interesting article which may be applicable to shogi

I have read an interesting article titled "The End of the Affair" written by Clive Thompson in Wired News.

This is much like what Ralph Koster argues in his Theory of Fun: We humans seek constant novelty, so only gameplay that has nearly infinite permutations -- like chess -- can hold our attention forever.

I think shogi has more permutations than chess. Shogi can hold our attention forever theoritically.

After reading the 51 page PDF presentation of Theory of Fun in Ralph Kosters' Website I decided to purchase the abovementioned Ralph Koster's book. I'm looking forward to reading it. Here is the phrase about games like chess.

Most long-lasting games in the past have been competitive, because they lead to an endless supply of similar yet subtly varied puzzles.

4th game of 16th Ladies Oui Title Match

On October 27(JST), 4th game of 16th Ladies Oui Title Match was held. Ladies Oui Shimizu went first and defeated Challenger Nakai ladies 6dan with 125 moves. Shimizu defended the title by this victory with the score of 3-1.

After the resignation diagram of S*5b. the possible variations are as followings;

(1) K-6b S*7a K-7b B-8b+(mate)
(2) Rx5b Gx5b Kx5b R*4b K-6a S*6b K-7b S-7a= K-8c R-8b+(mate)

Congratulation on Shimizu. She defended the Ladies Oui title 7 terms in a row.