On returning to the main hall . . . the third round, in which the pairs with two wins meet each other under the Swiss system, had started. This is about the time that the winning teams start to become conscious of the possibility of winning the tournament, so play becomes tenser.

The Oda/Nagayo pair was playing the Chinese pair of Chang Ye and Jianjun Wang. Runan Wang told us that Ms. Ye was quite a strong player. At one time, she had hoped to become a professional and was now an employee of the China Qi-Yuan. She was also quite a competitor. China had been behind in their first-round game against Canada, but they grasped a win by forcing the opponents into a loss on time. Oda/Nagayo were into their last five minutes, making the gallery nervous. They would have to play all of the endgame, which is difficult for amateurs, with no time. However, according to Honinbo Shuho, ‘the game was bad for them, but they caught up in the endgame and overturned the opponents’ lead.’ They hung on to their lead and picked up a win. They had defeated a Chinese pair that was their superior in strength. Incidentally, Oda was last year’s Japanese amateur women’s champion. Nagayo is a strong player who has insei experience. They were considered the best prospects among the Japanese pairs.

The largest number of spectators was standing around the game between the team of Miho Yoshida and Takashi Kuboniwa and the Korean pair. Yoshida is this year’s Japanese women’s champion. Kuboniwa is another strong player with insei experience. It was a tough, closely matched game, and it became even more difficult when the Korean pair played a do-or-die move near the end. Kuboniwa began to look worried. His team used up virtually all of its time, and this game was the last to finish in the third round. Victory in the deathly struggle went to the Korean team.

The Kashihara/Nishitani pair lost to Chinese Taipei on time. ‘Even if our time hadn’t run out, we were losing anyway,’ said Nishitani, biting his lips.

The all-Japanese pairing of the Geishun and Toshiaki Kushiro team versus the husband-and-wife team of the Tanakas saw a win for the Kushiros. After the game, the four players conducted a friendly review of the game that went on and on.

The pair of Kiyomi Takehisa and Naoya Uchida, which had had bad luck in the draw and had run into strong opponents, scored its first win by defeating the Turkish team. ‘We finally managed to win,’ said Takehisa, looking relieved. ‘The Turkish players are supposed to be 5-kyu and 1-dan, but they were much, much stronger than that.’

Kayoko Itoi and Satoru Fukuda scored their second win with a victory over the Slovenian pair. After the game, they gave their opponents a present of little rabbit dolls dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. Their opponents were delighted to receive these typical Kyoto souvenirs and they shook hands.

The teams with a chance of winning were getting narrowed down. Four pairs had three wins. The games to be played after lunch would decide who would make the final.

To get back to the handicap tournament: 152 pairs were competing in tournaments divided according to strength. In the tournament with most competitors, B Block, it was possible not to end in the top three even if you won all three of your games (places were decided by the Swiss system, so players with the same score were ranked according to the results of their opponents). Also, there was a beginners’ block, with introductory lessons in Go and parent/child pairs playing on 13x13 boards. Yuka Ogaki was doing the teaching, and she started off by playing ‘ponnuki bingo’ with the children. The children had lost their nervousness and were in a hurry to play Go. Later they enjoyed a number of games, with children pairing up with parents and grandparents and everyone taking care not to play in the wrong order.