Dake-san Game
The "Dake-san Game" of Hikaru no Go
In Hikaru no Go, Fujiwara-no-Sai and Hikaru Shindo challenge a dishonest man named Dake-san (Mr. Dake) in order to get Yuki Mitani's 10,000 yen (about 90 U.S. dollars) back from Dake-san.
After the game is over, Dake-san stares in stunned silence at this board before muttering "Hon'inbo Shusaku":
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/51/c8bb28f07f91a22790610a6f5e43d140.png)
Fujiwara-no-Sai and Hikaru Shindo (w) vs. Dake-san (b)
Anyone recognize it?
Dieter: Not a chance this is a historical or contemporary pro game.
sergio0p: Dake-san stares at the board in shock and says only: Shusaku! Does anybody know if white play resembles Honinbo Shusaku's style? Why?
George Caplan I do not think it has anything to do with the style of play, simply the strength. My recall, without checking, is that Hikaru comments that he is about as strong as Shusaku when they begin playing, so I always concluded that was what prompted the comment.
CYP2D6? George Caplan: This is absolutely true, when asked about his strength, Hikaru answers: "About as strong as Shusaku".
iopq: I see white is ahead, but by how much? I am bad at estimating points this early in the game.
billybones: I'm not good at counting score either, but I just loaded the SGF up in CGoban and the score estimator has Hikaru/Sai winning by about 73 points.
chaos: Sai must have played for Shusaku (the character, not the real Shusaku) as he does for Shindo, therefore Shindo seems to be playing with the same style when Sai plays for him.
mafutrct: 73 points is too much, i think. My rough count sees about W+15.