From: Takako Noda JA2 SO-NET OR JP> Date: 24 feb 1997 Subject: "QUEST" Tsukata Special (5) Tsukata Special (5) The following is from the final round of the B-2 Jun-i-sen in 1986, in which Tsukata and Nakamura were competing with each other for a B-1 berth. Only they didn't play each other in their final games. The situation was, Tsukata's win would automatically give him the ticket, while Nakamura would need a win plus Tsukata's loss for his promotion. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 +--------------------------------------------+ White in hand: | wL | wN | | wG | wK | | wS | wN | wL | a +------------------+ +--------------------------------------------+ | 2Ps | | | wR | | wS | | | wG | wB | | b | | +--------------------------------------------+ +------------------+ | wP | | wP | | wP | wP | wP | | | c +-------------------------------------------- | | | | wP | | | | bR | wP | d +--------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | e +--------------------------------------------+ | | | bP | | | | | | bP | f +--------------------------------------------+ | bP | | | bP | bP | bP | bP | | | g +--------------------------------------------+ Black in hand: | | bB | bG | | | | bS | | | h +------------------+ +--------------------------------------------+ | 2Ps | | bL | bN | bS | | bK | bG | | bN | bL | i | | +--------------------------------------------+ +------------------+ Diagram 5. Tsukata(b) vs Yoshida(w), up to R-8b. Tsukata was playing Yoshikatsu Yoshida( then 7-dan, retired now), who happened to be the very first player to invent the nimble P*2d (in hineri-bisha, though). The record keeper was again me, who since that day had been fascinated by Tsukata-sensei and following him. Moves after the diagram: (from black) Rx6d, Rx8h+; Rx6b+, Gx6b; Sx8h, Among the countermeasures the Tsukata Special encountered after its debut, there was P*8f in response to black's P-1e in a game against Hiroji Kato (now retired), which didn't make Tsukata happy. So, he skipped moving along the first file in this game, and just shifted his R to 6d. The rest proceeded like the first game. Moves afterwards: (from white) P-3d; R*8c, B*5d; R-8b+, P*2g; G-3i, P-1e; +Rx9a, Bx8h+; Gx8h, R*7i; S*6i, Yoshida attacked from the first file, but it didn't work. Tsukata won this game, and was promoted to B-1. The game ended exceptionally early, at 3 :40 pm. Indeed, I'd never known a Jun-i-sen game that wrapped up earlier than this in my experience as a record keeper. The Tsukata Special became a boom, which culminated in Tsukata's establishing 22 consecutive wins, the record of the longest winning streak at the time. Then, other players like Yonenaga began using this strategy, which accelerated investigation to find an antidote. The one who finally stood against the Tsukata Special was Kohji Tanigawa (now Ryu-oh, the highest-prize-money title, approx. US$300,000 ). (TO BE CONTINUED)