Pair Go Ricoh Cup 2001 The Final

■Pair Go Ricoh Cup 2001 The Final

Honinbo Smoothly? Commentated the Game with Large Board

The game started with the pair of Ms. Osawa and Mr. Rin as senban (black), as decided by nigiri. Both Honinbo Mr. O and 9-dan Yo, who acted as the large board commentators, explained the game in Chinese only as previously agreed with the staff. Therefore, the Japanese press and other Japanese people who accompanied the players did not understand at all what they talked. I could catch some Chinese words such as hei (black), pai (white), shia (lower part) and fan-in (welcome), but did not able to make out the subtle situation of the game. As the audience sometimes burst into laughter, I realized that their commentary was successfully going on.

As the game progressed, Black had jitsuri, while White had moyo as a general situation. In particular, Mr. Yoda, who played at the turns of multiples of four, made a series of important moves from the 16th move (boshi) and the 28th move (nozoki) on the right part through the 32nd move (o-geima) on the lower part. While he was making these moves, 7-dan Ms. Kusunoki was gradually establishing the shape at the left lower part, connecting the moves of Mr. Yoda. The combination of the two players seemed to be perfect.