[TITLE 60th Osho-sen, Game 4] [BLACK Kubo Toshiaki, Osho] [WHITE Toyoshima Masayuki, Challenger] [Date "February 18th and 19th 2011"] 1. P-7f 2. P-3d 3. P-7e 4. S7a-6b 5. P-6f 6. K-4b 7. R2h-7h 8. S3a-3b 9. K-4h 10. K-3a 11. S3i-3h 12. P-8d 13. K-3i 14. P-8e 15. R7h-7f 16. P-1d 17. P-1f 18. B2b-3c 19. K-2h 20. P-2d 21. B8h-7g 22. R8b-8d 23. S7i-7h 24. P-9d 25. S7h-6g 26. K-2b 27. G6i-7h 28. P-6d 29. S6g-5f 30. S6b-6c 31. P-6e [Kubo has some fond memories of this position, because he also played it against Watanabe in last year's Osho league. He won that game, which was very important for his bid to challenge for (and eventually win) the Osho title. Challenger Toyoshima doesn't shy away from this and after the game said that he intended to play the pawn push to 6d all along. ] 32. G6a-5b [This is Toyoshima's opening preparation (Watanabe played 32.Px6e here). It doesn't look like much, but the white generals are now all nicely connected, so black needs something to compensate for having played the gold to 7h.] 33. Px6d 34. R8dx6d 35. G7h-7i [! Kubo is not afraid to take some unusual measures. He doesn't want to drop the pawn back on the 6th file and 35.G7i is the only reasonable way to defend against the rook promotion. Still, this move needed some thorough calculation. ] 36. P-5d [It was important to check that 36.Bx7g+ Nx7g B*6g is not as strong as it looks. Both players agreed that black can then play Sx6g Rx6g+ B*5h which holds the black position together. ] 37. B7gx3c+ 38. N2ax3c 39. N8i-7g 40. P-5e 41. S5f-6e 42. R6d-8d 43. R7f-6f [! Another good move by Kubo. This threatens the unpleasant P*6d next and at the same time opens a square for the silver to retreat. ] 44. P*6d [This is not what Toyoshima intended, but he has no choice. ] 45. S6e-7f 46. P-8f 47. Px8f [The sealed move and a huge surprise. Everybody in the press room expected 47.S8e, but Kubo wasn't sure after 48.R8b Rx8f (the natural move, but also necessary here because Px8f is answered by P5f) B*9e R7f Bx7g+ Rx7g Rx8e and white gets two pieces for the bishop. ] 48. R8dx8f 49. P*8g 50. R8f-8c [Kubo said that he mostly played 47.Px8f because he thought it was difficult for white to find a good square for the rook to retreat to. He considered this more than enough compensation for making the silver on 7f less mobile. The rest of the game seems to prove his analysis right, because black slowly but surely gets the better position from here on. ] 51. G7i-7h 52. P-5f 53. Px5f 54. B*5g 55. R6f-6i 56. P-7d 57. Px7d 58. B5g-8d+ 59. P*6e 60. Px6e 61. B*4f 62. L9a-9c 63. P-8f 64. S6c-5d 65. P-8e 66. +B8d-6f 67. R6ix6f 68. Px6f 69. B*7b 70. R8c-5c 71. N7g-6e 72. S5dx6e 73. S7fx6e 74. R*8i [? This probably missed the only chance that Toyoshima got in this game. Correct was 74.P*5g. Kubo thought that white had no good follow-up after 75.Bx5g, but when he was shown the variation 76.R*6b Bx5d+ Rx5d Sx5d B*7f P*6c R8b with the double threat Bx5d and P6g+, Kubo admitted that he was far from confident in his position. ] 75. S6e-5d 76. P*5h 77. S*4h 78. P-1e 79. B4fx2d 80. R8ix9i+ 81. S5dx5c+ 82. G5bx5c 83. B7bx8a+ 84. L*2c 85. B2dx3c+ 86. Kx3c 87. N*4e 88. K-2b 89. N4ex5c+ 90. N*3e 91. G4i-3i 92. Px1f 93. P*1d 94. L1ax1d 95. P*1e 96. L1dx1e 97. R*1d 98. P*2f 99. Px2f 100. B*4d 101. R1dx1e [? Time for Kubo to make a mistake. Things would have been over quickly if he had played 101.G*1b K3a +B6c. ] 102. P*2g 103. S3hx2g 104. B4dx5c 105. R1ex1f 106. K-3a 107. R1f-1a+ [Again, black could have won faster here with 107.G*2b Kx2b (K4b L*5e) R1a+ followed by N*4e. Kubo is a little fortunate that his two mistakes are minor and don't change the outcome of the game. Toyoshima gets very close with a nasty double knight attack at the head of the king, but it is not enough to turn the tables. ] 108. P*2a 109. L1i-1c+ 110. B5c-4d 111. G*2b 112. K-4b 113. +L1cx2c 114. S3bx2c 115. +R1ax2a 116. N*1e 117. G2bx2c 118. N1ex2g+ 119. +B8ax2g 120. N3ex2g+ 121. Kx2g 122. S*2e 123. S*3c 124. K-5c 125. S3cx4d 126. Px4d 127. L*5e 128. K-6c 129. B*5d 130. Kx7d 131. Px2e 132. S*1e 133. P*7e 134. Kx8e 135. B5d-6c+ [Resigns 07:57:00 07:58:00 Mate after 136.K8f S*8g etc.; 136.Kx7e S*7f etc.; 136.K7f L*7g etc. so Toyoshima resigned here. It is interesting that in all cases the gold on 7h plays a vital role. This bad looking gold has played an important throughout this game. Kubo wins to take a 3-1 lead and get within one game of defending his Osho title. Tough times for Toyoshima who needs to bounce back in game 5 to avoid that this match ends prematurely. -- Reijer Grimbergen School of Computer Science, Tokyo University of Technology 1404-1 Katakura, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0982 Japan Tel: +81-(0)42-637-2591 FAX: +81-(0)42-637-2112 http://www.teu.ac.jp/gamelab/ ]