| Quest of the lost systems |
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| Chapter One: Yagura |
| Section 1: suzume-zashi, or attack a la sparrow shish kebab |
Black began his attack by P-6e, first making White's B go away from 6d,
but he just couldn't follow the same procedure as what followed Diagram
2 because of White's B on 4b. But Black's two Ls dropped on the same file,
on 2f and 2h, look successfully threatening to White's camp.
Only a month before this, exactly the same phase appeared (up to White's
B*3f) in the game played by Yonenaga(b) and Hifumi Kato(w). Instead of dropping
L on 2f, Black dropped S on 2g, which was to be countered: (w)Bx2f, (b)Lx2f,
(w)N*1e. The last move, N*1e, was a goodie, which undermined Black's attack.
Back to this game, White's N*2e gives an impression of a thought-out defence,
but Black's R-1f surpassed it. You might say, why proceed to 1f position
when you know the opponent will drop P on 1e, then Black's R will be forced
to retreat, thereby Black makes one move in vain? But lo and behold. By
dropping P on 1e, White can't make P*1g, which was his original plan.
In the actual game, after Diagram 3, Yonenaga moved his K to 7i, which made
the game a very difficult one. Yonenaga lost the game in the end. Instead
of K-7i, however, he should have made S*1d, which would certainly have put
White in plight. But nobody knows for certain.
A month later, a brilliant counter-punch devised by Kato carried the day...
The game was played by Keiji Mori(b) and Hifumi Kato(w) on May 25, 1979,
as a preliminary match for Oi (rhymes with "boy", meaning kingly
status). It went exactly the same way as the Yonenaga-Nakahara game did,
all the way through Diagram 3 up to (b)L*2f, except that both Ps on the
9th file stayed immobile.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
+---------------------------+ White in hand: N,4Ps
|wL wN * * * * * * * |a
| * wR * * * wB wG wK * |b
|wP * wS wP * wG * wP wN |c
| * * wP * wP wP * * * |d
| * wP * bP * * wP * * |e
| * * bP * bP * wB bL * |f
|bP bP bS bG * bP * * * |g Black in hand: S
| * * bG * * bS * bL * |h
|bL bN * bK * * * * bR|i
+---------------------------+
Diagram 4. Mori(b) vs Kato(w), up to L*2f.
Moves from Diagram 4: (from White)
N*1d; Lx2c+, Gx2c; Lx2c+, Kx2c; G*3g, B-2e;
P*2f, B-3d; G-4f, L*1e; (Diagram 5)
