On Sunday, January 26, favored with fine weather, the Pro Pair Go Ricoh Cup Championship 2003 final game was held at Ebisu The Garden Hall in Tokyo. The pair of Ms. Yoko Inori and the 25th Honinbo Mr. Chikun Cho beat the pair of 7-dan Ms. Mika Yoshida and Gosei Mr. Koichi Kobayashi to win the championship for two years running.

The winning pair gained superiority in a hard capturing race that greatly excited the audience.

More than one hour before the start of the game, there was already a long line of Go fans waiting to enter the hall. Many of them were old people but some were children. Among the children were those who were taken by their grandfathers to the hall. It appeared that those children enjoyed waiting beside their grandfathers.

The four players arrived at the hall as early as the spectators. They entered the waiting room reserved for each pair and began to discuss how to play against the opponent. Through the door of each room, they were heard whispering in low voices. Also, the flick of the stones being placed on a board was audible. The pair of Ms. Yoshida and Mr. Kobayashi were placing stones according to some patterns of fuseki and working out tactics against each fuseki. "How should we cope with this?"

"Our tactics may be meaningless because the actual game should be different," said Mr. Kobayashi, laughing. Anyway, they must have warmed up for the game. Ms. Yoshida revealed her seriousness by earnestly asking questions to Mr. Kobayashi.

From the waiting room of Ms. Inori and Mr. Cho also, I heard them placing stones on a board. When reporters looked into the room, however, they showed some embarrassment and said, "We don't make any preparations." After we left the room, we heard the stones being placed again.

Both pairs shut themselves and stayed in the waiting rooms until just before the start of the game.

The hall was filled with as many as 800 spectators. When the opening time (13:15) was approaching, there were still people waiting in line in front of the entrance. All staff members were mobilized to handle those people to start the game as scheduled. Before the game, Go fans visiting the hall cast answers as to which pair would win. To some of those who guessed right, presents would be handed by the players after the game. The entry to this guessing game was closed immediately before the opening time.