Review Session
“ Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, hereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehereherehere––––––.”
We’d been keeping a pretty good tempo until her hand froze in midair, nose floating just above the pieces on the board, her whole body ticking back and forth like a metronome and she starts whispering to herself.
–—Stop now of all times? No way …
Did she figure out my attack was coming in too strong? Then again, I highly doubt this girl has the skill to hold off a professional’s advance. This match is as good as over.
“Hereherehereherehereherehereherehere …………… Uh-huh!!”
Sitting up and more determined than ever, the tiny girl leans over the large Shogi board, reaches all the way out with her hand, and moves a piece into place. A sharp snap of wood on wood fills the room, echoing higher and higher.
“Huh?”
Sound dribbles out of my mouth the moment I see the move Ai chose to make. It wasn’t to shore up her defense.
Instead—she moved to attack.
That move sends a shockwave across the board that shatters my false sense of security and nearly blew the skin off my cheeks.
“…?!”
It looked like a horrible move at first glance.
Answer an attack with an attack? That should blow up in her face.
It’s like she knew that my attack would come up just short, a slash that sent a chill down my spine.
“?! … That can’t be right!”
The more I read what’s on the board, the attack I thought would “never happen” felt more and more like a dagger aimed at my throat.
“Sacrificing the Knight to take the Silver and put me in check, eh? But if I retreat the King to 6-1 position, the Rook at 4-7 will take the Silver at 6-2 … That’s checkmate if the King is there?! And if the Gold goes in, she’d move the Bishop to 8-3 will take it and then put me in check at the same time?! W-what is this girl?”
How far ahead did she plan this out?!
I look up without even thinking and behold the girl seated across from me.
She doesn’t notice my staring eyes. Instead, she’s bent over like a sprinter in mid-race with her eyes glued to the board, body still ticking back and forth.
“……… Hereherehereherehereherehereherehere ……………”
Eyes racing back and forth over the board and no words, only sounds coming out of her mouth, I can tell that she’s playing out a vast number of scenarios and sequences in her mind at an incredible speed.
She’s transcended the board itself.
Thoughts like strengthening her defense and trying to win my favor haven’t even crossed her mind.
“This girl is!”
Ai Hinatsuru is trying to kill me!!
That thought sends a shiver down my spine.
I’m not scared of the idea that an elementary school girl might beat me. Just the opposite. It’s the joy a Shogi player who has spent years researching the true way to play feels when confronted with something completely new on a Shogi board.
And it’s the happiness a competitor feels when presented with a worthy challenge.
“So you know what you’re doing after all.”
I lick my lips, slip on my special match glasses, and go on the attack with everything I’ve got.
There’s no going back. I can’t go back.
Ai’s not going to retreat. A passion, an enthusiasm I didn’t think a cute girl like this was capable of forced my verbal jab in one ear and out the other.
“… Here, here, herehereherehereherehere–––Uh-huh!!”
The little assassin sits up and reaches out with her eyes open wide, firing her Bishop at my King like a cannonball. Of course, I return fire. It’s kill or be killed. It will be over the instant someone even thinks about defending.
A no-guard slugfest.
The wooden clicks get louder, each of us predicting faster and faster as we trade blows in a blood-soaked brawl.
I forgot that the person in front of me was a little girl in grade school at some point and crushed her heart with everything I had.
REVIEW SESSION
“…… I lost.”
Hearing those words, I was dumbstruck.
How much stronger Ai was in the late game than I thought she’d ever be!
Above all I was dumbstruck by how much fun I had during the whole thing.
I haven’t had such a sweet and stimulating time since facing a top-top class pro in a Double Wing Attack in the Ryuo title match.
No one can play Shogi alone, obviously.
So a meikyoku, a match worth remembering, can never happen if either player is much stronger or much weaker than the other.
Both strategies have to clash at full force, both players keep the big picture in mind and continue making the best possible moves so that the victor is decided by the slimmest of margins and the defeated gracefully accepts their fate like a badge of honor.
That’s what a great match requires.
This match wasn’t one. It was too chaotic to qualify for that name.
However, no matter how highly skilled the players—even pros using the latest research—there is such a thing as a boring match of Shogi. A kind of match that cools the heart.
On the other hand, there are some matches that completely ignore the latest research and throw the standard style out the window to become a perverse variation of the game. That, along with crummy matches where both players make mistakes left and right, tend to get the audience fired up.
Just like words that remain unsaid, a style of Shogi that remains unplayed, no matter how much preparation has gone into it, can never inspire people.
Shogi matches that ignite the soul—where both players put their “hearts” into every move—have courage, fighting spirit, pride, but also fear, tenacity, will, passion, hope, despair and grit. They make the soul burn brighter and brighter.
And Ai’s Shogi reminded me what that feels like.
That Shogi could be this intense. That it was this much fun.
Losing became scary once I had the weight of Ryuo on my shoulders and started caring what was written on the Internet as well as what other people thought. For someone like me who avoided confrontation, choosing to play the safe way even against his own Master, it’s been ages since feeling this heat, since I enjoyed playing this much.
Numbed by eleven consecutive losses, my spirit is shaking, burning to the very core. Something is flickering in my chest, I can feel it.
“Uh, um …”
A nervous voice brings me out of my stunned train of thought at the end of the match.
“S- … Sensei, um …”
“Look here.”
“Huh?”
“What would you have done if I made this move?”
“Oh, well, um … this.”
Going back a few moves, we say what we were thinking at the time.
It’s a study method unique to Shogi called a “review session.”
Even pros don’t always make the best moves.
Time and endurance are limited, so the winner is decided by who made the least number of mistakes. We’re human after all.
“Shogi is a game where the one who made the last mistake loses.”
There’s a reason for this saying.
But we can relax during these review sessions, relive the match and see what the best move was without the pressure. We can pursue true Shogi without all the restrictions. It’s the most fun part of playing for me. A bit irritating after a loss though.
“… I see. You’re pretty strong.”
Confirming Ai’s ability to read the board, I’m impressed by her strength in the late game once again.
“Your early and mid-game strategy could use some work, but you have an excellent feel for the late game. You’ve also got a knack for choosing when and how to attack.”
“N-no, not really … um, thank you so much … Hehe♡”
“Do you do Double Wing Attacks often?”
“Often … well, actually, um …”
Ai shyly drops her head and quietly makes a shocking confession.
“This is … the only way I know how ………”
“Say what?!”
Blushing, Ai leans forward to hammer her point home even as I shriek in disbelief.
“I saw your title match in person and was amazed! So I started playing Shogi myself! I wanted to play like you, Sensei, so I copied your style.”
“Hold up! … What? So what you’re saying is …?”
Her proclamation throws me for a loop.
The only opening formation she knows is the Double Wing Attack? So her only starting move is to advance the Pawn in front of the Rook? She’s that new to Shogi? What if her opponent used a Ranging Rook style?
No, before that: she started playing after seeing my title match … right?
“So, then … you’ve only been playing for three months?”
“U-um … Yes. Sorry …”
She must think I’m scolding her, giving a dejected apology like that.
No, no, no, no, no. This is … almost headline news.
A grade school girl who started playing Shogi three months ago challenged the Ryuo to a match with no handicap is an incident in and of itself, but the more startling news is that a grade schooler (practically a beginner) with the ability to put the Ryuo against the ropes in the late game even exists.
“Um … Sensei?”
“Eh? Oh, what is it?”
“M-My … My test … um …”
Eyes getting wetter by the moment, she keeps looking up at me only able to say “um” over and over.
“Test?”
“To be … um, your apprentice …”
“Oh, right.”
That’s what this was. Her entrance test. That’s right, that’s right.
I was going to turn her down either way, and completely forgot about it.
“Hmmm. Let’s see …”
Pretend to think really hard, taking her as an apprentice or not didn’t really seem to matter much anymore.
I just wanted to keep playing Shogi with this girl.
“I still don’t know enough to make a decision. So how about another match for now?”
“P-Please!!”
Her face brightening in the blink of an eye, Ai cheerfully starts lining up pieces.
Time absolutely flew by from there, the two of us continued to play Shogi without stopping to eat anything.
Until dawn. All the way through the night.