This is the fourth of ten parts devoted to a famous but still neglected ten-game match held almost 50 years ago.

Game 4, held in Fujisawa City on 23 November 1954.

This was to be the shortest game of the match - a mere 101 moves. Already 2-1 down and faced with taking White in a no-komi game, Fujisawa must have been feeling desperate. But at least he had the advantage of a home game. The players met in Fujisawa City, about little more than an hour out of Tokyo, just beyond Kamakura. Purely by coincidence it was Fujisawa's home town, and the venue was less than 10 minutes walk from his house.

The game was played in the Kaihin Hotel in the shoreward Katase area of the city, overlooking Sagami Bay. Normally it is a placid stretch of beach, curving gently around the huge bay, but there are signs warning of unpredictable tsunami tidal waves. That was what Fujisawa was hoping to conjure up.

For Hashimoto and his travelling partner, Ishii (a director in the Kansai Ki-in), there was the satisfaction of seeing Mt. Fuji in all its glory. Snow was already piling up on the slopes. But when they rode in by train the evening before, they saw only blackness with the sun behind the mountain.

On the morning of the game they saw its pure whiteness. But out to see, the normally rich green island of Ennoshima was in the shadow and looked black. It was if Nature was telling them that great mysteries were hidden beneath the simplicities of black and white.

In the midday break, conversation centred on a game played by Go Seigen just over a week before. It was the first of a series, sponsored by the Yomiuri Shinbun, between Go and new stars of the Kansai Ki-in. First up for the Kansai Ki-in was Handa Dogen 7-dan, and it being said that Go had played a terrible game, and that he could find no way out of it even though he had masses of time at his disposal. Whether the hint about time struck home or not, Fujisawa later played the bold invasion at 26 unusually quickly, with just three minutes thought.

But he had miscalculated somewhat. By the time Day 1's sealed move 41 was reached, Black was in a relatively happy position. True, White (Fujisawa) had made a huge gain on the left side, but the ponnuki (diamond) shape that was about to be created with the capture at 41 was in this case worth more than the proverbial 30 points.

Quite apart from the fact that simple moves such as one around two points to the right of 52 are probably good enough compensation for the left side for Black, he has room to play something nasty on the left. We can easily imagine what was occupying Hashimoto's thoughts on that first evening! But Fujisawa was nothing if not resourceful.

On Day 2 Go Seigen turned up. It was very rare for him to attend other players' games, but on this occasion he had been to the opening of the Nihon Ki-in's new Central Hall and he was now on his way back to Hakone. He had arrived at a critical point for White. Black had just cut at 77. In the press room, Kitani Minoru and others were clustered round a board. "Fantastic game, isn't it?" he said, as they all puzzled over who was likely to come out on top.

But in retrospect it became obvious what had happened. Up to move 25 the game had been balanced, but with 26 Fujisawa changed the pace and was at the mercy of events. From being a salmon swimming sedately in the sea, he became a fish frantically beating its way upstream through foaming torrents in a life-and-death struggle.

Successful arrival was possible but improbable. Here implacable Hashimoto mercifully put an end to the unequal battle with a single harpoon. White's invading group died. Hashimoto led 3-1.

To download Game 4 in sgf format, click here. The moves are also shown on the following diagram.

White: Fujisawa Kuranosuke 9-dan Black: Hashimoto Utaro 9-dan
Game 4 of 10-game uchikomi match sponsored by Yomiuri Shinbun
Played at the Kaihin Hotel, Fujisawa City, on 23 and 24 November 1954
No komi, 10 hours each