■The final game

At 13:15, the curtain rose on the stage. Before the game began, the organizer of this event made an address. Former NHK announcer Ms. Miyoko Goto acted as master of ceremony and 1-dan Ms. Machiko Shibusawa served as assistant to the MC.

Mr. Seigen Go acted as chief referee. At 13:30, the final game started with the signal given by chief referee Mr. Go.

For the real-time commentary with a large board, 9-dan Mr. Masaki Takemiya acted as the commentator and 6-dan Ms. Tomoko Ogawa served as assistant to 9-dan Mr. Takemiya. Since the game was played on the same stage with the commentary, the commentator must pay attention to have no effect on the game.

The roles of the recorder and the timer were filled by Ms. Kozue Mukai and Ms. Konyu Han. Both Ms. Mukai and Ms. Han are new 1-dan players and will make their debut as pro players in April 2002.

The game must be played with no overall consideration time and 30-second countdown for each move from the first. Besides, each player can use one-minute consideration time up to ten times according to the NHK tournament rules. Specially for the final game, there is a 30-minute intermission in the middle of the game, when the paired players can discuss how to play.

The pair of Ms. Inori and Mr. Cho took senban by nigiri.

Usually, White would place the stone on the intersection where white 30 was made. White chose white 28 probably because they thought that Black was playing a little aggressively. Black began to attack the white stones on the right side, starting with black 39 after playing kikasi move (black 37).

Meijin Mr. Yoda made an ambitious move (white 8), against which Oza Mr. Cho made an unusual move (black 11). "Usually, Black would play ikkenjimari on the intersection where black 95 was made. This is an ingenious move," said commentator 9-dan Mr. Takemiya. Black depicted a pattern on the lower side, starting with black 11, while White spread a pattern from the upper side to the right side. Black began to ruin the upper side, starting with black 25 which was uchikomi. White 28 was an unexpected move.

White arranged their pattern by playing kikashi moves (white 50 and 52). Unfavorably for White, however, Black answered those kikashi moves as well as solidified their pattern on the lower side with black 51 and 53. So far, Black was successful. However, Black got out of harmony between the paired players for the first time.

Oza Mr. Cho made black 59 without playing tsugi to black 73. This was because he expected that his partner would make kiri move (black 61) on the intersection of 3-4.

However, Ms. Inori was not able to understand his idea. As a result, White was able to not only protect their stones but also put Black into gote with white 64. After the game, Mr. Cho confessed that he had almost given up the game at that moment. Black 69 was selected as the fujite and the intermission started.

During the 30 minutes, the paired players were allowed to converse with each other about any matters. Immediately before the intermission, Black played unsuccessfully on the upper left corner. However, 5-dan Ms. Inori said to Oza Mr. Cho, "We are still all right. Let's hold on." Oza Mr. Cho was encouraged by this remark.

In the venue, fans cast answers for the quiz of guessing the fujite.