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1Suspicious Jigos and Early Resignations 
2by Nakayama Noriyuki 
3The Suspicious Jigos 
4Around 1935, the Tokyo Nichinichi News- 
5paper, which was the predecessor of the Mainichi 
6Newspaper, sponsored a knockout tournament 
7for young and middle-level professionals. At the 
8time, the half-point komi system was not yet 
9in use, so games often ended in a draw or jigo. In 
10a knockout tournament, a drawn game had to 
11be replayed; moreover, the players received a 
12game fee for the replay. This was considered only 
13natural: a game was a work of art on which one 
14expended one's sweat and blood. 
15There were two mischievous players — T 
16?-dan and I ?-dan — who thought of a way of 
17taking advantage of this system. When they 
18were matched against each other, why not make 
19all the money they could, they decided. After 
20putting their heads together, they played two 
21jigos in a row. When you misbehave like this, 
22you can't stop people from becoming suspicious. 
23The newspaper company, which was being 
24fooled into handing over game fees for nothing, 
25became very angry and protested to the Nihon 
26Ki-in. 
27The Nihon Ki-in severely admonished the two 
28players, who begged for forgiveness on bended 
29knees and promised to play the next game 
30seriously. 
31Well, the third game was played. Both players 
32took a lot of time and fought with all their 
33might, but by one of those ironies of fate, 
34the result after a furious fighting game was yet 
35another jigo. 
36The infuriated newspaper company protested 
37in the strongest possible terms to the Nihon Ki-in 
38and demanded that something be done about the 
39situation, but since the third draw was not a 
40fake, the Nihon Ki-in was unable to scold the 
41players. 
42After going into a huddle, the Ki-in authorities 
43replied that henceforth in newspaper games 
44in knockout tournaments there would be a 
45komi with half a point. This is the origin of 
46the present half-point komi system; the proposer 
47was the late Murashima Yoshinori, then 5-dan, 
48who used to be known as the brains of the Nihon 
49Ki-in. 
50Now who might these players T and I be? The 
51number of professionals in those days was much 
52smaller, so finding out is quite easy. There 
53were only two players with the initial T: Taka- 
54gawa Shukaku and Takahashi Shigeyuki. I 
55seems to have been Inoue Ichiro. I can't believe 
56that the great Takagawa would have been guilty 
57of misappropriating game fees, so it must have 
58been Takahashi, who, along with Inoue, had a 
59reputation for naughtiness at the time. The two 
60players are probably turning over in their graves 
61at this revelation of their misdeed, but I think 
62the 'official secrets act' no longer applies. 
63Records for Brevity 
64Professionals usually struggle for a whole day 
65on a game, going into byo-yomi and finishing up 
66around the midnight hour. This is a record of 
67misadventures in which players throw in the 
68towel early. 
69The spring Oteai, 27 April 1927: Sugiura 
70Ainosuke v. Kambara Shigeji. Something must 
71have gone badly wrong: Sugiura (black) resigned 
72after 23 moves. Time taken: a bare 30 minutes. 
73The game record has not survived. 
74More recently, there is the game in which Su 
755-dan challenged Sakata 9-dan in a preliminary 
76round of the 7th Gosei tournament. Seventy-three 
77minutes into the game and — a mortified resig- 
78nation. Asked later for his impressions by a go 
79journalist, Sakata replied: 
80'Yes, some young player, I don't know who he 
81was, but he was really manly about his resig- 
82nation.' 
83Su's comments: 'Next time I will have to play 
84a little better, so that Sakata Sensei remembers 
85my name. The losing move? Playing Sakata was 
86the losing move.' 
87Long ago, the late Mukai Kazuo made the 
88immortal remark, 'Black 1 was a thoughtless 
89move,' but in Su's case the problem seems to 
90have arisen even before the first move. The 
91mistake was being matched against Sakata. His 
92remark enhanced Su's reputation for modesty. 
93In two-day title matches there is the famous 
94episode in which Kato, who was being challenged 
95by Rin for the 34fh Honinbo title in 1979, 
96made a mistake in his analysis of a life-and-deafh 
97position and resigned on the first day, the only 
98time a top title game hasn't made it to the 
99second day. But — this was the only game he 
100lost in the series. 
101(Translated by John Power 
102from 'Igo Club Bessatsu' No. 10)