Take One’s Wig Off, Shogi Player Made Shocking Performance

Suppose you've done your best in your chess game and just got checkmated. What are you to do? Of course, you are to pick your King and lay him flat on the board. In a game of Shogi, Japanese counterpart of chess, the loser will gracefully bow to the winner and murmur a few words meaning "You win." That is a protocol.

Here, a Shogi player, a 6-dan professional, took his "wig off" to admit his defeat. Oh, well, not that dramatic but more or less it so appeared to by-standers.

Shin-ya Sato, a 6-dan holder, was pit against his rival Takayuki Yamazaki, an 8-dan master, in a TV Shogi Tournament over NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, telecast August 23. The tournament was no ordinary event in that both players have one minute each to start the game with. It's tough as one must wrestle with time while playing the game proper. Participants in this tournament are aware they would need a lot more than skill to win through, hence varieties of tricks to encourage themselves and to puzzle the opponents.

Sato 6-dan had no sooner taken his seat by the chessboard than he said "One Moment" and took his shirt off, loosen his belt and took his wig off. This happened in no time and Yamazaki 8-dan was momentarily jolted but controlled himself. 

The game went on and Yamazaki 8-dan barely made it. Barely, because he admitted so, but he did not admit how the wig part of the game had affected him in any way. It was a close game alright, and when Sato 6-dan asked Yamazaki 8-dan if his King was "half mated", Yamazaki 8-dan half admitted "he might have been.....".Sato 6-dan half grinned and asked no more.

Well, what say you, my dear readers?