Nothing like it in the whole history of the game. Still wasting time there,
are you? Should have played in one minute, no more.”
Incessantly, under a cloudy sky, bulbuls whistled and called. I went to the
veranda and saw that an azalea by the pond was in bud and indeed had sent
forth two unseasonal blooms. A gray wagtail came up to the veranda. Faint
in the distance was the sound of a motor pump, bringing water from the hot
spring.
Otaké took an hour and three minutes for Black 107. Black 101, invading
the White formation in the lower right-hand corner, was an offensive play
demanding a response and worth a potential fourteen or fifteen points, and
Black 107, though it did not require an immediate response, extended
Black’s territory toward the lower left, and was worth some twenty points.
In both cases it seemed likely to us observers that considerable profit would
redound to Black, and in both cases Black was favored by the order of the
moves.
Now the offensive had passed to White. A stern, intent expression on his
face, the Master closed his eyes and breathed deeply. In the course of the
session his face had taken on a coppery flush. His cheeks twitched. He
seemed to hear neither the wind nor the drum
of a passing pilgrim. Yet he
took forty-seven minutes for his next play. It was his one prolonged period
of deliberation during the Itō sessions. Otaké took two hours and forty-
three minutes for Black 109, which became the sealed play. The match had
advanced only four plays. Otaké had used three hours and forty-six
minutes, the Master but forty-nine minutes.
