Cho, just back from lunch but alone, raised his head and said, "Oh, hello there!" then continued staring at the board.
Just before lunch at noon. Miyamoto had warned the press: "And now all hell will break loose." But Cho was in no hurry.
Moves 1 ~ 28
The game had been quiet in the opening but Black threw down the gauntlet when he showed natural fighting spirit by playing at 27. Although there was a possible cut at A after White 26, Black (Cho) felt defending there was too slack - and White does not have time to go cutting at will yet anyway.
After White attached at 28, Cho starting thinking a bit. He began doing this well before 12 o'clock and after a quick half-hour lunch he had come back early to the board to do some more.
According to the match rules, players are not allowed near the board when the clock is stopped for lunch or dinner. One of the organizers pointed out though that although pros often enter the playing room well ahead of time they've never been told to go and wait outside. As a Sankei Shinbun man put it, "The contestants have a clear view of the board whether they're behind it or not. The rule is just a formality as you cannot stop a player from continuing to think about the game."
Once Yamashita had also returned from lunch, at 1 o'clock, Cho played Black 29 within minutes. While he had been alone in the room contemplating, however, he really seemed totally content with just sitting there, be it for 3 or 30 minutes or even 3 hours, Cho obviously is in love with the game.
Move 29
The game move, Black's hane at 29, however, is the most common move here and does not seem to justify the amount of time Cho spent before putting it on the board. To referee Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan, however, this is what Cho is all about. "He does that in every game. In situations where another pro will decide on playing the natural move in only a short time, Cho just sees things and goes off at a tangent."
Some time ago, when talking with Cho's friend and fellow Kitani pupil Tsuchida Masamitsu 9-dan and his wife, they said Cho had mellowed quite a bit compared to when he took his first title. Well, that was after all 33 years ago! It feels safe to say, though, that in recent years Cho seems to consider the result of a game as a minor detail compared to just sitting behind the board and looking at any situation from every possible angle to see what there is to it. It's unbelievable, even for a go pro, that he can be that intensely focused in every game and not burn out.
In the press room, though, referee Yamashiro would repeat his words a number of times before the end of the game: "No, Cho! Don't start thinking there. Use your time for when it really gets difficult!"
These words, by the way, are rather similar to what Go Seigen had to say, somewhat critically, about Cho's performance in an international match some years ago. "Cho, spending all his time in one corner only to put down not that difficult a sequence - what is he thinking about!"