Noriyuki Nakayama 7p, Tales of Men Crazy about Go, trans. John Power (Abridged) wrote:
Some years after I had learnt to play go, I encountered an extraordinarily strong player in a Shinjuku go club. [H]e was a descendent of a samurai.
He sat down heavily on the tatami mat, placed the bowl with the white stones between his knees, looked doubtfully at me and muttered: "Shall we have you try three stones?"
I was stupefied. I played on even with Takeda Toshiro, the strongest player at this go club. With three stones, I was confident I could hold my own even against Go Seigen, who at this time was at his peak.
This game took place 30 years ago, but I still remember the fuseki. The moves up to 22 are the perfectly ordinary two-space pincer joseki. While I was wondering how White could expect to win playing straight forward moves like this, the samurai played in a strange place with 25.
I now realize 25 is a magnificent move. I had no idea how to answer.
"What's up? You're taking your time," laughed the samurai. I don't remember how I played after this, but I do remember that White forced me to resign.
This samurai was Takehara Kintaro, known and feared throughout the amateur go world as 'Devil Takehara'. He enjoyed his heyday in the period before the Kikuchi-Murakami group came to prominence.
Some people dismissed him as a braggart, but this was because of his unconventional personality. Year later, at a function organized by the magazine, he scored an easy win on black against Watanabe Shokichi 9-dan, which shows that he was no mere braggart.
He sat down heavily on the tatami mat, placed the bowl with the white stones between his knees, looked doubtfully at me and muttered: "Shall we have you try three stones?"
I was stupefied. I played on even with Takeda Toshiro, the strongest player at this go club. With three stones, I was confident I could hold my own even against Go Seigen, who at this time was at his peak.
This game took place 30 years ago, but I still remember the fuseki. The moves up to 22 are the perfectly ordinary two-space pincer joseki. While I was wondering how White could expect to win playing straight forward moves like this, the samurai played in a strange place with 25.
I now realize 25 is a magnificent move. I had no idea how to answer.
"What's up? You're taking your time," laughed the samurai. I don't remember how I played after this, but I do remember that White forced me to resign.
This samurai was Takehara Kintaro, known and feared throughout the amateur go world as 'Devil Takehara'. He enjoyed his heyday in the period before the Kikuchi-Murakami group came to prominence.
Some people dismissed him as a braggart, but this was because of his unconventional personality. Year later, at a function organized by the magazine, he scored an easy win on black against Watanabe Shokichi 9-dan, which shows that he was no mere braggart.
So where did White play 25?
is tengen 
(as tengen cannot be wrong... no.... it cannot, there is only one tengen... one to rule them all)