This is the eighth of ten parts devoted to a famous but still neglected ten-game match held almost 50 years ago.
Game 8, held in Ito City on 9 March 1955
The uchikomi rules, under which a player faced the embarrassment of taking a handicap if he fell four games behind, certainly added tension to a match in the early stages. Ironically they could also deflate a match once a handicap had been invoked. What was meant to be proved had already been proved; for the rest of the match the handicap player could fight back, but however well he might do that there would always be a sense of anti-climax.
That impinged on the sponsors, too, of course. And so it came about that, in Game 8, the usual commentator, Yamada Fukumenshi, was excused duty and a colleague, Ikeda Shuichi, stood in. The difference was apparent. Probably Ikeda was much more able than he seemed, and wisely decided not to try to match Yamada. The result was that all we got was a brief commentary on the moves and no colour. Even the commentary came mainly from the Segoe Kensaku 8-dan rather than the players.
Writing about the game years afterwards, though, Yamada did add a little insight into how the match came about. As we have already seen in Part 1, Fujisawa had approached Shoriki Matsutaro, the Yomiuri chairman, to suggest the match. Shoriki listened and gave his approval in principle. There were, however, obstacles to overcome.
Uppermost in Yamada's mind was a memory of the complications caused by the challenge letter issued by Kiseisha on behalf of their man, Karigane Jun'ichi 8-dan, to the Nihon Ki-in, represented by the Meijin Honinbo Shusai. He was therefore put out when he heard that Fujisawa was to be allowed to issue a challenge almost immediately to Hashimoto. He therefore tried to point out the problems to Shoriki - a major one was that the challenge was being issued by the first 9-dan, and another point is that the 1949 challenge from Hashimoto was technically still on the table. Of course, the big difference was that Fujisawa was a member of the Nihon Ki-in in 1949; now he was a free agent. On Hashimoto's side, although he was keen to play, the Kansai Ki-in had a vested interest in exercising the proprieties.
Yamada was therefore despatched to Osaka, many times, to see whether he could get the Kansai Ki-in chairman to give his sanction to the match. He had two close friends there who also applied pressure on his behalf when he wasn't there, and whenever he returned he would repair to Shoriki's office in Tokyo to report, after which he would spend an interminable time on the telephone with Fujisawa, or visiting him in Izu.
Then Shoriki fell ill - he was after all fast approaching 70. He decided to convalesce in Izu, which meant even more trips for Yamada. Naturally he would call in with Fujisawa, and he recalled that whenever he announced them both in the hallway, Shoriki would make a point of rising from his sick bed to greet them. His first question would be an enquiry as to whether it was all off. Yamada would deny this, but then went on to list the various objections on the Kansai Ki-in side (it appears the Nihon Ki-in was being bypassed completely), after which the invalid could only retire to his bed again in despair.
With this background to the match, everyone involved must have felt a great obligation to Yomiuri. Yet it was in danger of turning into a sideshow.
Black began steadily, occupying a good point at 21, neatly resisting White's important-looking move 26 and turning it into nothing special up to Black 37, and then capturing at 39, which brought the game to a natural pause.
White 40 maybe should have been at 51. Black created a weak group with 41 to 49 and was able to leave it, confident of making it live. White should have attacked it more energetically with 50 at one point below 48, or he could have left it altogether and bolstered his surrounding thickness by playing atari at the right of 11. Black was able to exploit this latitude by deftly making sabaki with 51 to 55, and although White 58 and 60 can be called a splitting attack, it can hardly be said to have ended up satisfactorily. Black's lead was looking unassailable after 69 as he was thick all over the board. The next major junction saw Black cement his lead with 119, and then with 127 he could have ended the game as a contest with 141. Yet even without that he was ahead.
Maybe complacency set in for a while, as Fujisawa slipped up with 131 and 133 (131 had to be at 132). White managed to wrest a ko out of the position (154), but Black's thickness finally paid off here as it left White with a shortage of ko threats. Furthermore, once the ko had ended, White's large group just kept bumping into walls before it died.
To download Game 8 in sgf format, click here. The moves are also shown on the following diagram.
White: Hashimoto Utaro 9-dan, Black: Fujisawa Kuranosuke 9-dan
Game 8 of 10-game uchikomi match sponsored by Yomiuri Shinbun
Played at the Kaniya Shuraku Inn, Ito Spa, on 9-10 March 1955
Handicap B-(B)-W, no komi, 10 hours each
