Ryuuou no Oshigoto! - Volume 6 - Chapter 2.7

  LETDOWN STICK

At about the time the grade schoolers are getting home, Mr. Oishi lights up a cigarette and slides his Gold forward.

“What do you think, Ryuo?”

“He’s got a check path …… But I don’t see the defending King getting trapped by it.”

Mr. Kagamizu and I are sitting in front of the monitor in the Player’s Room with an analysis board between us.

Seeing Mr. Oishi’s check path, Mr. Okito deploys a Bishop onto the board to put him in check. Here it is, the final battle.

“Now where’s he going to move his King–––?”

Mr. Kagamizu leans in close to the monitor as the screen shows Mr. Oishi move his King diagonally upward with a quick flick of the wrist and a lit cigarette sandwiched between his fingers. That’s not particularly good manners for a title holder to have, but it’s exhilarating to see the Worldly Maestro do it with style.

But his fingers are shaking just a little bit.

“3 Six King? …… Wouldn’t 4 Six have been better to get his King to safety?”

“If he moved it to 4 Six, all the defender would need to do is drop a Silver at 5 Five and he’d control the middle of the board.”

I play out what would happen on the analysis board as I answer.

“Moving to 3 Six is pretty much the same as a king deserting his castle right before the fall, but not a bad move in this situation.”

“Playing like this, it looks like he’s afraid of something.”

I have a good idea about the something Mr. Kagamizu is talking about.

“So, what do you think?”

“I think the Maestro still has a few good options.”

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been asked what I think today, but I offer my opinion on the formations just the same. Everything is clear as a whistle to me at this point.

“The defender advanced his edge Pawn and secured an escape route for his King. All this puts a bit of pressure on the offense’s King, it’s only pressure, nothing more. Judging from the offensive point of view, I’d say he should deploy a Gold at 4 Six or 6 Six to take control of the central area. That will make it more difficult to put him in check.”

“For sure. Doing that would put them neck and neck–––.”

Mr. Kagamizu picks up a Gold from the offensive piece stand and starts to reach for 6 Six on the board.

Just before it got there.

“Huh?!” the two of us say in disbelief after Mr. Oishi, on offense, makes his move.

“5 Seven Paaawn?! Not 6 Six Gold?!”

The Gold Mr. Kagamizu had in his hand falls onto the board with a few dull clicks.

“What was he seeing ……?”

“An illusion? …… That’s all it could be.”

I arrange the pieces on our analysis board to show what I think was going through Mr. Oishi’s mind.

“Probably, he was thinking that Mr. Okito’s Dragon at 4 Nine would come to take his defensive Gold. In that case, deploying a Rook at 3 Two in enemy territory would put the defending King in checkmate.”

“But, move the Dragon to 5 Six and the offensive King would have nowhere to go.”

“I know. I think Mr. Oishi didn’t see it.”

“Oishi-sensei, overlooking something that simple ……?!”

“I don’t believe it either, but that’s the only explanation. Ahhh …… Yeah, an apology.”

Mr. Oishi takes the defender’s Dragon with the Gold he thought was going to get taken. That opened the door to the Gold and Silver defensive wall, making that move pointless.

I bet he saw the defender’s 5 Six Dragon would get him as soon as he made that move.

That’s why he tried to go in a totally different direction. In Shogi, we call this an apology, sort of like accepting a mistake and trying to move on from it.

But the situation is already too bleak for an apology to make much difference.

“…… He built up that much of a lead in the early game ……”

Mr. Kagamizu bites his lip to endure the pain.

“Maybe that strategy was a little too new? So much so that even Mr. Oishi couldn’t pull it off.”

“That’s part of it.”

I nod, but have a different idea.

“I agree with you, but …… I think he lost for a different reason. Mr. Oishi was too worried about his opponent. That’s why he ran out of gas when the attacks came to a head.”

I’ve seen this type of loss before. It happens quite a bit when players go against particularly strong opponents.

Build a lead in the early game.

Extend that lead in the mid-game.

But …… Lose the match on a mistake in the late game.

––That’s what happens when people lose to computers.

“Looks like he just can’t …… surrender,” mutters Mr. Kagamizu. 

I didn’t even nod, just kept my eyes on the monitor. It’s so obvious, I didn’t need to agree with him.

Three minutes later, Mr. Oishi silently lowers his head.

“……… The letdown stick.”

“Yeah ……”

Waiting time ran out on Mr. Oishi’s turn without making a move, resulting in a loss. The match recorder has to write each move on the match record, but also the waiting time. Whenever a player runs out of time, they don’t have a move to record.

So, what they do is write “–––” through the square on the sheet.

That’s where the term letdown stick comes from. If the player gives up right away, then there is no stick.

When the player knows that they’re defeated, they can mentally prepare themselves so the actual act of throwing in the towel happens almost right away.

It’s what we call setting the scene.

But there’s no time to prepare when your own mistake results in a near instant death. Not wanting to go out on that note, they think as hard as they can but end up running out of time and throwing a piece.

That’s what the stick in the match record means.

The agony of defeat will live on in that match record forever.

There’s nothing more humiliating for a pro to go through. That’s especially true for someone who prides themselves on aesthetics, like Mr. Oishi.

“…… This loss might stick with him for a while.”

Wondering why Mr. Kagamizu is starting to collect his things as he spoke, I ask, “Aren’t you going to stay for the review session?”

“I’d like to, but …… I don’t want to see Oishi-sensei like this. It hurts too much.”

As a fellow member of the Ranging Rook party, I’m sure he has great respect for Mr. Oishi. Much more than I do, anyway. That’s probably why he can feel Mr. Oishi’s pain right now.

“You’re going there yourself, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Be sure you do. I can’t imagine Ginko is comfortable in there.”

With that, Hiuma Kagamizu puts on his coat and leaves the room.

Now that I look around, the Player’s Room that was so full just a little while ago is now completely empty.