The 2nd game of Oushou Title Match between title holder Watanabe and challenger Gouda started today. It's played as a 7-game match and each game have been played for two days. Today was the first day.
The position has proceeded in Bishop-exchanged Double Reclining Silver. Watanabe for
gote selected △P-65 strategy (Diag.1). If anything, this strategy is intended to play defensively, including a draw game due to repetition (thousand-day moves). Then, in some cases, △B*64 is dropped in order to restrict the opponent's attacking formation.
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| Diag.1 |
About ten moves later from Diag.1, the position became Diag.2.
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| Diag.2 |
From here, it proceeded with ▲R-69 △R-62 ▲R-59 △R-92 (Diag.3)
At a glance, this rook's movement looks strange. But, there is a deep meaning behind ▲R-59 and △R-92.
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| Diag.3 |
To put it simply, in Diag.2,
sente wants to open fire with ▲P-45 △Px ▲Nx. But, after △S-42, it's not easy to keep attacking. Conversely,
gote can take the knight for free with △P*44 next. The attack from ▲P-45 wouldn't go well.
Here, if the gold's position is
on 42 in Diag.2, not on 43, the same attack with ▲P-45 △Px ▲Nx would go well because when ▲Nx, the silver must go to 44. In this case,
sente is not worried about being taken the knight by △P*44. After △S-44, supporting the knight with ▲P*46 (Diag.4), the position is satisfactory for
sente. It's possible to exchange the pawn on the rook's file and manage to keep attacking, such as an edge attack.
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| Diag.4 |
Therefore,
sente wants to give gote a turn at Diag.2. ▲R-59 was the move aiming at a turn
loss purposely. If the rook goes back to 82 instead of △R-92, the aim achieves with ▲R-29.
Gote must play something in Diag.2. For example, against △P-74, ▲B*64 △R-92 ▲P-45 △Px ▲Sx would be an effective attack. △R-92 means that when ▲R-29 again, the rook also go back to 82. The position is the same as Diag.2 with
sente's turn. It's the repetition.
Sente doesn't want to go for a draw game because of first mover advantage.
In Diag.3, although ▲S-47 △R-62 ▲P-56 △B*64 is the common line, challenger Gouda thought the other attack line from ▲P-45 after moving the rook to 48 Today's final position is Diag.5.
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| Diag.5 |
If
gote takes the pawn, it would proceed with ▲Sx △Sx ▲Nx △S-44 ▲P*46. After this,
sente is aiming to drop the bishop
on 63. And, △R-82 is also considered in preparation for the attack from 8th file later. In this case, the line of ▲P-44 △Sx ▲R-28 △S-33 is common. Anyway, I think at least both players don't still go for the attack fiercely.
