Monday, October 31, 2005

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.