ANISH GIRI VS JAPAN
Hello, my fellow Anish Giri fans; and welcome to another edition of the Osaka Papers. Late last year Anish Giri took on three of Japan's top chess masters in an online simul.
A simul, a display in which a player plays a number of opponents simultaneously are quite common in chess. Yet, with one caveat, they are almost always held against opponents rated under 2000. A Masters' simul is quite a different proposition, none of Anish's opponents were random patzers who could barely understand how the En Passant rule worked...
He played against the best Japan had to offer.
What was the result of this encounter? Did he just crush them? Did he actually lose? Or did he decide to force draws in every single game in under 20 moves...?
The answer might surprise you.
The Prodigal Son
Anish Giri needs very little introduction. He is a Russian born Dutch Super-GM, with peak rating of 2798. A chess prodigy he became a Grandmaster at the tender age of 14. He is known for his solid and conservative style, which has led some critics to describe him as a "drawing master". He is also famous for his banter with, and trolling of fellow Super-GMs, most notably Magnus Carlsen.
Not as widely known however, is the fact that from the age of 8 until 14, he lived in Sapporo, Japan, where he joined the Sapporo Chess Club, winning the Sapporo Championship in 2004.
So, perhaps out of some sense of homesickness or nostalgia for childhood triumphs, Anish agreed to return to his humble chess beginnings, and take on 3 of Japan's top masters.
The Simul
The simul was held on that other chess site, that shall not be named...
Anish Giri played with the White pieces in every game, and had 45 minutes no increment in which to make his moves. His three opponents were given 15 minutes no increment.
Yet, who did he play? Hikaru Nakamura was born in a suburb of Osaka, Japan, but he learned chess from his Indonesian stepfather, not his Japanese birth father; and has had little to do with the Japanese chess community in recent years.
So, who are these Japanese Masters?
THE OFFBEAT KING
CM Thanh Tu Tran
A native of Vietnam, Tu has won several Japanese and Vietnamese championships. He has represented Japan at two Olympiads and is known for unique playing style. Tu is the unofficial King of Offbeat openings; he is notorious for winning tournaments with perfect scores, while playing stuff like 1.a3, 1.h4, 1.Nc3...and other openings that only Madmen essay.
Last summer at a tournament in Nagoya, I witnessed him come to every game 15 minutes late... it was a rapid tournament, time control was only 25 minutes...I mean, who does that?!
If IDGAF was a person, it would be CM Thanh Tu Tran.
Let's see how this style stood up against a Super-GM.
Black is threatening to win a pawn can you find the only move for White and continue in the Best fashion to stamp out any counter-play?
He put up a great fight but Anish was able to handle the Offbeat King's unique playing style. Anish Giri 1 - Japan 0.
The Professional
IM Shinya Kojima
Out of the estimated 125 million people in Japan, Shinya Kojima is one of the very few to actually make a living mainly from chess. He has won a host of national titles at the junior and open levels, and has competed for Japan at the Olympiad 8 times. I have never had the pleasure of playing against Shinya, but he is a staple at all the major events here in Japan. He has a classical, solid playing style; lets say he is the Dean Martin to Tu's Jerry Lewis, Batman to his Joker...Wayne Brady to his Dave Chappelle.
Perhaps a more conservative style will be a better match for Giri.
Shinya put up an incredible fight; that was really close with a couple chances to get the draw, but Anish was too much for him in the end. Anish 2 - Japan 0.
The Shogi Master
FM Mirai Aoshima
Mirai is a two time winner of the Japan Championship, claiming the title in 2019 and 2022. I had the honour of playing Mirai in the 2021 edition of the Japan Open, a game in which I showed how NOT to play chess. Aside from being a strong chess player Mirai is a professional Shogi player, holding the rank of 6-dan, which makes him one of the top 100 players in Japan...which really makes him one of the top 100 players in the World.
Shogi, also known as Japanese Chess, is very similar to its Western cousin, with pieces that move analogously to Knights, Bishops and Rooks. The main difference is the that once you capture a piece, you retain it, and can reintroduce it into the game; this leads to complex middle games and a lack of any real endgame. It also means that Shogi players have an incredible ability to calculate complex variations.
What was the result when one of the best chess players in the world went toe to toe with one of the best shogi players?
The Endgame is dead equal but there is only one move that leads to a draw, can you play like a Shogi Master and find it?
The Shogi Master was able to do what the Chess Masters couldn't and held Anish Giri to a draw. Anish 2 & 1/2 - Japan 1/2.
Takeaways
And that was it that was the Japan Masters Simul. A few important takeaways I got from looking at these games.
First, even Super-GMs make mistakes, we saw more than a couple blunders, so perhaps us amateurs shouldn't be so hard on ourselves.
Second, Engines are better at chess, but we should not follow their advice blindly, in a quite a few lines Anish came up with strong moves and ideas that weren't the Engine's top choice but still worked in practical terms.
Last, if we here in Japan can get Shogi players to play chess, we'll have a bright future. There are a couple Shogi players who have recently taken up the game, attaining near 2000 Elo in less than a year. Meanwhile, I've been playing for 10 years and I'm stuck in the 1600s...O_o...
If every Shogi player in Japan switched to our noble game, Japan would be a world power in no time...of course that is easier said than done.
As always, thanks for reading and feel free to share this simul with your friends down at the Shogi or Chess Club.
Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.
Anish's commentary on the Japan Masters Simul.
