From: Takako Noda <mxc06231 <at> JA2 <dot> SO-NET <dot> OR <dot> JP>
Date: 3 jan 1997
Subject: "QUEST" Masuda's Ishida-ryu (3)

Masuda's Ishida-ryu: gote version---continued

After Masuda's R-1b : R-2f, G-3b, P-3f, Px3f, Sx3f, P*2b, Px2b+,
Rx2b, P*2e, S-4b, G-6h, P-5d, P-1f, B*5c. (See Diagram below)

   9    8    7    6    5    4    3    2    1
+--------------------------------------------+       White in hand:
| wL | wN |    | wG |    |    |    | wN | wL |  a   +------------------+
+--------------------------------------------+      |    2Ps           |
|    | wK | wS |    |    | wS | wG | wR |    |  b   |                  |
+--------------------------------------------+      +------------------+
| wP | wP | wP | wP | wB | wP |    |    |    |  c
+--------------------------------------------
|    |    |    |    | wP |    |    |    | wP |  d
+--------------------------------------------+
|    |    |    |    |    |    |    | bP |    |  e
+--------------------------------------------+
|    |    | bP |    |    | bP | bS | bR | bP |  f
+--------------------------------------------+
| bP | bP |    | bP | bP |    |    |    |    |  g
+--------------------------------------------+      Black in hand:
|    | bS | bK | bG |    |    |    |    |    |  h   +------------------+
+--------------------------------------------+      |   B, P           |
| bL | bN |    |    |    | bG |    | bN | bL |  i   |                  |
+--------------------------------------------+      +------------------+

Then continued as follows (from Black) :
R-2h, B-6d;     G-3h, Bx4f;    N-3g, P*2c;     S-7g, P-4d;
S-6f, S-4c;     G-4g, B-6d;    P-5f, S-3d;     P*3e, S-4e;
P-5e, Sx3f;     Gx3f, P*3h;    R-2i, G-4c;     P-2d, Px2d;
S*6e, B-3a;     Px5d, S*4g;    G-4f, S-4h-;    G-3f, P-6d;
S-5f, P-3i+;    P*2c, R-3b;    R-2h, +P-4i;    K-8h, P*3d;
Px3d, P*3e;     Gx3e, Sx3g-;   R-2g, S-4f-;    Gx2d, B-1c;
G-7h, N*8d;     B*7i, Nx7f;    K-7g, P*2f;     Rx2f, ???

Excuse my long citation.  Masuda made a develishly clever move at the
end (marked ???), which set the game in his favor. (Would you guess what
that was?) Oyama, however, was known to be a tenacious player. He hung
on till the 210th move, and finally bowed to Masuda.

Masuda-shiki Ishida-ryu was a challenge to a common belief that furi-
bisha was a passive strategy. And Masuda certainly made his point.

Thus, Masuda's  Ishida-ryu had its day, becoming a pet strategy among shogi
fans for a certain period, and even to this day we still can  see some
people like to use it, but not anymore among professionals.  Why?
The clue lies in the 6th game of the same meijin-sen series.
                                       (TO BE CONTINUED)